Vino!

Hello!

Sorry this post is so late! I’ve been swamped with midterms, projects and a knife skills test. Culinary school is a lot of work (although I can tourne potatoes like a pro now)!

Last weekend Annie, Taylor and I got together for a wine-filled dinner. The only requirement was that each dish contain a little (or a lot ;)) of wine. We had such a great time cooking together, chatting, laughing and just hanging out.

As always the food was delicious. And the best part about cooking with wine? You get to drink what you don’t use after!

We had dinner at my house last week which meant Annie got to spend some quality time with my dog

and we got to make use of some ridiculous wine napkins I have lying around my house!

See? So silly.

I’m also pretty pumped to be able to say that today we were named eRecipe’s Blog of the Day! They gave us a fun little badge for our blog, which you can see over on the right.

But now for the recipes. Annie made a tuna pasta with capers and white wine sauce, Taylor made filet mignon with a mushroom-wine sauce and sautéed spinach, and I made some champagne cupcakes. YUM!

Tuna Pasta with Capers and a White Wine Sauce: 

Via

Ingredients:

• Salt
• 4oz. pasta (we used rotini)
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• Pinch chili pepper flakes
• 1 6-oz. can tuna packed in olive oil, drained
• 1 tbsp. capers
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tbsp. chopped flat leaf parsley
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add salt (1 teaspoon for every quart of water), return to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions until cooked through, but still firm (al dente).
2. While the water is coming to a boil and the pasta is cooking, prepare the rest of the recipe. In a large, wide sauté pan, heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat. Add the chopped onion and chili pepper flakes and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes or so. Mix in the canned tuna, the capers, and the salt. Add the wine, bring to a simmer then lower the heat to low. Cook for 10 minutes or longer, while the pasta is cooking. If the mixture begins to dry out, add a little more wine.
3.  When the pasta is ready, drain it and add it in to the pan with the tuna. Toss to mix. Drizzle on a bit more olive oil over it all, then add the chopped parsley and a few grinds of black pepper to taste.

Filet Mignon with Mushroom-Wine Sauce: 

Via

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup low-sodium beef broth
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. black pepper
• 2 4-oz. steaks
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup sweet Marsala

Directions:

1. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat.
2. Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl.
3. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steaks to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove steaks from pan. Add mushrooms to pan, and cook 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove mushrooms from pan. Remove pan from heat; add Marsala, scraping the pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat to medium. Return pan to heat. Add broth mixture to pan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in mushrooms.

Champagne Cupcakes: 

Via

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup champagne/prosecco/sparkling wine (I used prosecco)

Champagne Pastry Creme Filling: 

• 1/2 cup heavy cream, divided
• 1/2 cup champagne/prosecco
• 2 tbsp. corn starch
• 5 tbsp. granulated sugar
• 1 whole egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Champagne Frosting: 

• 1 cup plus 1 tbsp. champagne/prosecco
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, set aside.  in a medium sized bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup champagne and 1/2 cup sour cream (mixture will fizz and bubble a little).  Add flour and champagne mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour.  Batter will be thick.
3. Fill cupcake papers with 1/4 cup level measures of batter.  Bake for 17-22 minutes.  Set aside.

Filling: 

1. In a medium bowl, whisk cornstarch in 1/4 cup of heavy cream. Combine the remaining heavy cream, sugar and 1/2 cup champagne in a saucepan; bring to a boil then remove from heat.
2. Beat the whole egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch/heavy cream mixture.  Pour 1/3 of boiling champagne mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs do not cook.  Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil.  Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
3. Cut a divot into the top of each cupcake and fill with pastry cream.  Trim the cut-out cake pieces flat to make a “lid” and place on top of the filled divot.

Frosting: 

1. Place 1 cup of champagne in a small saucepan.  Simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Transfer to a small bowl or condiment cup and allow to cool.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream softened butter and powdered sugar together.  Once the frosting is thick and fluffy, pour in the reduced 2 tbsp. champagne plus  1 tbsp. champagne from the bottle and mix well.
3. Frost the cream-filled cupcakes

Happy eating, everyone!!

Tagged: champagne, champagne cupcakes, culinary school, food, friday night dinner, friends, fun, pasta and white wine sauce, steak with mushroom wine sauce, vino, wine