Re-Wined: Leftover Wine Recipes

Waste not! If you’ve popped one too many bottles at your last bash and you’re confronted with leftover wine that’s gone flat, we’ve got the recipes for you. We’ve tapped top chefs and beverage pros for tips on how to put that precious grape juice to good use.

By Joseph Hernandez

Recipe courtesy Marcus Samuelsson, chef and TV personality, Red Rooster, New York City

There are few things as classic as short ribs cooked low-and-slow. Use the remainder of that leftover Bordeaux or Washington Syrah from Saturday night’s party to whip up Sunday night’s family dinner. The long cook time yields oh-so-tender meat and a rich sauce.

4 short ribs, about 6 ounces each
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil, divided
1 carrot, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 chopped celery stalks
4 stalks lemongrass, sliced
1 1-inch knob ginger, roughly chopped
1 Spanish onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
5 sprigs thyme
5 sprigs parsley
4 bay leaves
1 cup plum sauce
1 cup soy sauce
2 quarts veal stock
½ cup red wine
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 300°F.

Season the meat well with salt and pepper on all sides. Heat a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add the ribs and sear on all sides, about 2 minutes a side.

When the short ribs are seared on all sides, remove the meat from the pot. Add the remaining olive oil and heat until shimmering. Add the carrot, celery, lemongrass, ginger and onion. Sauté until golden brown and translucent, about 8–10 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté one minute more.

Add the thyme, parsley and bay leaves. Toss to combine.

Deglaze the pan with a little bit of plum sauce, scraping the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to loosen any caramelized bits. Add the veal stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover. Place the pot in the oven and cook until the meat is tender, about 5–6 hours.

When the meat is cooked through, remove the short ribs from the liquid. Place in a shallow bowl or pan and add a small amount of the cooking liquid. Keep covered and set aside. Strain the remaining cooking liquid and discard any remaining solids.

Return the sauce to the pan over medium heat, add the red wine and maple syrup, and reduce until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Plate the short ribs topped with the red wine sauce. Serves 4.

Recipe courtesy Alex Guarnaschelli, chef and TV personality, Butter, New York City

This easy-to-make dish, created by Iron Chef Alex Guarnaschelli, puts leftover red wine to perfect use. “This recipe makes a great condiment that is tasty when spread on a roast pork or roast beef,” says Guarnaschelli. “A spoonful in a salad dressing can also add a special flavor to greens or roasted vegetables.”

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
4 large red onions, peeled and cut into thin (¼ inch) slices
3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 cups dry red wine
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ cup honey
Juice and zest from 1 lemon

In a medium sauté pan, heat the oil and add the onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook over high heat until the onions give up their liquid, about 3–5 minutes, then add the red wine. Lower the heat and cook the onions until the wine reduces almost completely, 12–15 minutes.

Add the vinegar. Continue cooking until there is little liquid left in the pan and the onions are glossy and coated with the wine, approximately 2 minutes.

In a separate small pan, heat the honey over medium heat until it begins to bubble and froth. Cook for an additional 2–3 minutes or until the honey turns a light caramel color.

Add the lemon juice and zest and shut off the heat. Pour the honey over the onions and continue cooking them over low heat until all of the juices are absorbed and the onions are a jam-like consistency, approximately 10–15 minutes.

Transfer to a bowl to cool until ready to serve. Makes about 2 cups.

Recipe courtesy Scott Roberts, owner, The Salt Lick, Driftwood, Texas

Roberts jokes that this dish is Texas’s answer to coq au vin. By cooking the chicken in an aromatic white-wine broth, not once but twice, the flavor is enhanced. Accompanied by gravy and quick-cook dumplings, this comfort food is kicked up a notch.

1 chicken, about 3½ pounds
2 cups Salt Lick BBQ White Wine, or a light white, like Pinot Grigio
3 large stalks celery, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme
1 bay leaf
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced

Place all the ingredients into a pot with 6 cups water. Add additional water to cover if necessary.

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer, cooking until the chicken is firm and tender, thigh juices run clear and vegetables are tender. Strain broth into a pot, cover and refrigerate. Remove skin and bones from chicken and discard along with the bay leaf.  Cut or shred the chicken, cover and refrigerate along with the vegetables.

When ready to prepare the dish, when the broth is cool enough that it separates, skim the fat from top of broth and discard. Reserve ¾ cup of the liquid for use in the gravy (recipe below), which thickens and adds a creamy element to the dish.

Place the pot of broth over heat, add back the chicken and vegetables, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Meanwhile, prepare the gravy.

For the gravy:

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
¾ cup milk, divided
¾ cup chicken broth
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter

Place the flour into a bowl, add ½ cup milk and stir to make a batter with no lumps.

Place the broth and remaining milk into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until thickened. Stir this gravy mixture into the chicken broth.

For the dumplings:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Stir in milk and oil. Let rest a few minutes.

Drop the mixture from tablespoon into simmering gravy until the surface is covered or you’ve used up all of the dough. Tip: Dumplings slide off the spoon easily if you dip spoon in the cooking liquid each time.

Cook uncovered, simmering for 5 minutes. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Ladle chicken and gravy into warm bowls, top with dumplings and serve. Serves 6.

Recipe courtesy The Blue Room, Cambridge, MA

Mussels get the luxe treatment with this recipe, which relies on Muscadet to further flavor the cooking liquid.

Fumet

3 pounds fish bones or bodies
1 bottle Muscadet, 1 cup reserved
1 bulb fennel, plus ½ pound fennel
2 medium Spanish onions, plus ½ pound onion
2 stalks celery, plus ½ pound celery
1 leek, plus ½ pound leeks
4 shallots
Sachet of thyme, parsley, bay leaf, tarragon, black peppercorns
½ pound russet potatoes
5 pounds PEI mussels
5 cloves of garlic
4 bulbs celeriac
½ gallon milk

Start with the fish bones in a large round high-sided saucepot and gently steam the bones with the white wine, reserving 1 cup. Add the whole fennel bulb, one onion, celery stalk, whole leek, shallots and sachet, and then add water until everything is covered.

Bring the stock to a simmer while skimming anything that floats. Lower the heat and strain the fumet after 2 hours.

Cut the additional ½ pound of potatoes, celery, onions and fennel into a medium dice. Sauté on medium heat with canola oil until al dente. Set aside.

Slice the remaining leeks into rounds and rinse the rings if needed. Blanch the leeks in salted boiling water and shock quickly.

Soak the mussels in cold water and clean the beards, discard any that are open or have chipped shells. Steam all of the mussels in a large pot with the remaining wine until they all open. Take out the mussels being, careful to reserve the wine in the pot. When cool enough to handle, remove the mussels from their shells and set aside.

Sweat the second medium onion and garlic in a pot until translucent; add the celeriac and milk. Slowly simmer until the celeriac is tender and the milk has reduced by half. Puree until very smooth. Set aside.

To finish, add the fumet to the mussel cooking liquid and bring to a simmer. Whisk in the celeriac puree and add the sautéed vegetables and the mussels. Serve in a bowl and garnish with pickled fennel. Serves 6–8.

Recipe courtesy Le Creuset

Not a fan of fish? This update on the classic Provençal fish stew substitutes chicken but still packs all the classic flavors. A recipe for faux rouille further enhances the dish.

For the rouille:

½ cup mayonnaise
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon paprika (preferably Hungarian)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
French bread cut on the diagonal and toasted for garnish

For the bouillabaisse:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1½ tablespoons chopped garlic
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped fennel bulb (remove tough cores)
8 skinless and boneless chicken thighs, fat removed
2 (14½-ounce) cans diced tomatoes with liquid
¾ cup dry white wine or dry vermouth
1 (14½-ounce) can low-sodium chicken broth
¼ teaspoon crumbled saffron threads
16 baby Yukon Gold or red new potatoes (cut in half, if not tiny)
680g kielbasa sausages (lower-fat turkey is fine)
2-3 tablespoons Pernod
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fennel fronds (the feathery tops)

Combine all the faux rouille ingredients and set aside.

Mix the olive oil and the next 9 ingredients. Add the chicken and turn to coat the surfaces with the mixture. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Return to room temperature before proceeding.

Place the chicken mixture in a heavy-bottomed, high-sided pot and add the tomatoes and their liquid.

Combine the wine and broth and stir in the saffron. Add this mixture to the pan along with the potatoes. Cover, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and boil gently for 15 minutes.

Cut the sausage into bite-size pieces, and add to the pot. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Check that the chicken is cooked through by cutting into a piece to test. Stir in the Pernod with the tarragon and fennel fronds.

Ladle from the dish (this pot makes an impressive serving dish) into wide shallow soup plates. Top each portion of the chicken and sausage with a spoonful of the faux rouille. Or place a dollop of the sauce onto a toasted French bread slice and arrange two slices atop each portion of the bouillabaisse. Serves 6–8. 

Belinda Chang, Champagne Educator of Moët Hennessy USA, knows a thing or two about Champagne—and that includes how to make the most of those rare post-party bubbles. 

“Remember that Champagne is essentially Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, so any recipe in which you would use white or red wine, you can also use it—and often to a better, more delicious effect,” says Chang.

Deglaze a Pan: Don’t scrub out the caramelized remains from sautéeing a grip of vegetables or searing meat. Instead, pour in a glug or two of Champagne. “As professional chefs know, adding Champagne to a still hot pan will not only release the goodness left behind, it will also make those bits into a delicious sauce,” says Chang.

Make Stock: While cooking the vegetables or browning bones in a stockpot, add leftover Champagne or bubbly. The alcohol will evaporate out, while the wine contributes complexity to the flavor of any stock or soup.

Cook up Risotto: Many risotto recipes call for white or red wine, but “substituting Champagne gives these dishes more refinement and elegance,” says Chang. This trick also works when cooking other grains with wine, such as farro or quinoa.

Roasting Chicken or Turkey: “I like to rest my roasting bird on top of a bed of vegetables and this is another nice place to empty the remainder of a bottle. It keeps things moist and also adds flavor,” says Chang.