Wine Love with Casillero del Diablo

I have always loved chilling a good ol bottle of wine and downing it with friends and family. Filipinos often love the sweet fruity type whilst I prefer the mildly stronger reds with notes and whites that have really good spice content on them. Now this was gifted to me a couple days ago and probably the first time I’m having Casillero del Diablo. I have had it during a post New Years Eve dinner and enjoyed the Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc much that when there were a few leftover wines, I thought of probably cooking with it.

If you’ve got good wine, cooking with it intensifies the flavors so I’ve decided to do a Coq Au Vin. Coq Au Vin simply means Chicken in Wine (it’s just a french fancy way of calling it) I have learned to cook this in a workshop I attended years ago and was surprised how relatively easy it was to do it.

In a pan simply put olive oil and about 3 table spoons of butter. Be careful not to burn the butter because it will taste weird in the dish. You put in a whole chicken or chop it in quarters, then brown all the sides until it turns golden. Don’t worry if you don’t cook it all the way because you’ll do it later. Take it off the pan and set it aside.

Put the chopped onions, carrots and celery in the same pan and saute it. If you’ve seen it cooked a bit and caramelized the onions, then pour the whole bottle of Casillero del Diablo and deglaze that pan. Make sure you take those brown things and scrape it because that’s where the flavor lies. Add a sprig of thyme and parsley then wait for the wine to reduce. A good Chef told me you should only use wine that YOU love to drink because what you will get in the end is a stronger version of it. When reduction occurs, put in the Chicken. If you see the chicken is not simmering, add chicken stock if you have some, else, just pour more water until it’s completely covered. Add potatoes and pearl onions (I have some bottled ones from France) then add the can of Tomato paste. Boil it again until the liquid reduces.

In a separate pot, blanch vegetables like carrots, brocolli, cauliflower. In a separate pan, put about half a stick of butter and melt it. Put fresh garlic, brown it a little then put in the veggies. Stir fry the vegetables and then place it on one side of the plate. Go back to your other pan and taste the sauce, adjust with salt and pepper if you see the need to do so. Arrange the chicken on the other side of the plate and season well (freshly cracked pepper will do wonders!) then pour the wine reduction on top of the chicken. This is your Coq Au Vin! Serve and enjoy!

For those who would have more Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc, Chef Sharwin Tee has his Spicy Mussel and Clam Binakol. Saute ginger, lemon grass in a pot with Olive Oil then add in Gochujang (chili paste). After a minute add in the mussels and clams plus a cup of Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc. Cover the pot until it cooks, it usually takes 2 minutes. Add enough coconut water and young coconut meat, when it boils turn off the heat. Garnish with basil and serve.

Red or White you’ll have to make sure your wine is good for drinking or cooking. Casillero del Diablo proves our point, it’s one of the wines distributed by http://www.flyacecorp.com so if you need some, you know where to go.

Cheers!

KUMAGCOW

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