Recipe 24: Red wine sauce

Now we all like a bit of gravy. The gravy that’s been made from the oil and fat from a roast, mixed with wine, mustard and the a little flour and poured over that self-same roast on a chilled autumnal evening – the kind of flavour that makes you have just one more roast potato just so that you can soak up that lovely, meaty gravy.

Well I’m not making gravy today. I’m moving beyond the realm of Sunday roast gravy and the instant Bisto (other brands available) for a sauce for chops or juicy chunks of meat: it’s red wine sauce time! Since having tried this out, I've made it again and again; great for keeping in the fridge or freezing for later use mid-week when you need a taste of luxury to raise the game of your choice of lamb, cow, fowl or even game itself!

This recipe is good to halve but, with these measures, makes about 900ml.

Ingredients:

2 litres chicken stock	1 onion, chopped
1 bottle of red wine	4 celery sticks, chopped
150g red currant jelly (or other flavour as desired – left over cranberry sauce worked for me) or jam (gives a sweeter taste but not as thick)	Handful or parsley stalks (rosemary just as good, or better if having it with lamb)
100g berries (blackberries or other as you like)	Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the chicken sauce/stock base, wine, redcurrant jelly and blackberries in a saucepan over a high heat to melt the jelly. Add the onion and celery and continue boiling until it reduces down to 1/3 of its original volume, skimming any fat off the surface as necessary.

Remove pan from the heat and add the parsley stalks to infuse, uncovered for 10-15 minutes.

Pas the liquid though a fine sieve (with muslin even better) and leave to cool completely. Cover and chill for 12 hours so any fat on the top can be removed (I find it’s fine just to use it once passed through the sieve).

When ready for use, heat up and reduce to a sauce consistency. All done and flavoured brilliance!

Today’s learning:

Just make a batch of this stuff and it will bring joy to a weekday dinner. Great with duck [best with creamy mash but here with duck and egg noodles]!

Top tip:
Those little gin bottles you get on flights make excellent individual storage bottles for sauces and salad dressings. The vodka ones too!

Recipe adapted from: Kerridge, T. (2013). Proper Pub Food. Bath: Absolute Press.