There are many ways to use wine in food; spaghetti and clams, mussels, steak, etc. However, my favorite is a red wine reduction sauce with chicken and sautéed mushrooms. This dish is one of my favorites to make because it is relatively quick and easy, but it is flavorful and sophisticated.
The ingredients necessary for this dish are;
Chicken breast
Red wine (preferably inexpensive dry red wine) for the sauce
Sliced and washed mushrooms
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Butter
Step 1: Prepare two pans with olive oil, salt, and pepper. One pan can be a little smaller (for the sauce) and the other is for cooking the chicken. Turn both burners on low and wait a few minutes. (If possible, try to cook the chicken at the same time as you cook the sauce to save time, but it is not necessary).
Step 2: Once the olive oil is heated up (be careful of oil splatter) , add chicken to the larger pan. Add butter to the smaller pan. Wait until it is melted then add red wine. The trick for the red wine sauce is to smell it. When it no longer has a strong alcohol smell that means it is cooked. The bubbling will also indicate a cooked sauce.
Step 3: Once the sauce is cooked, pour into a separate bowl. Be careful, it will be hot.
Step 4: In the same pan you used for the sauce, add some more olive oil. Once that heats up, add the mushrooms. Flip the mushrooms consistently until they are thoroughly cooked. They will shrink once sauteed.
Step 5: Add the sauce back to the mushroom pan and let mushrooms soak in the wine sauce. This will let the mushrooms absorb the sauce a bit.
Step 6: Cooking the chicken; once the olive oil is heated up in the larger pan, add chicken. Cook on low to medium, but cook as desired. I like to cut open the chicken to check before I add the sauce, but it is up to you whether you want to cook it longer.
Step 7: As mentioned above, now you add the red wine and mushroom sauce. This will let the sauce soak into the chicken.
Step 8: Sides are up to you of course. I enjoy some small potatoes or sweet potatoes with my chicken!
Step 9: Plate your chicken and enjoy!
There are many other recipes for red wine reduction sauce such as Food Republics shallot red wine sauce: https://www.foodrepublic.com/recipes/basic-red-wine-reduction-sauce-recipe/
There is also a recipe that adds broth to the sauce. This creates a different consistency which would be yummy with steak : https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238062/red-wine-reduction-sauce/
