Here are two of my favourite red wine sauce or jus recipes. I usually make this for steak but you can serve it with pretty much anything. Both of these can be made in advance.
Red wine and shallot sauce
This is from the Marco Pierre-White recipe called, “Scotch beef confit of shallots and garlic with red wine and shallot sauce”.
Ingredients
- 400ml red wine
- 50ml port
- 50ml red wine vinegar
- 10 shallots, chopped
- sprig of thyme
- 1/2 bay leaf
Add when cooking:
300ml veal or beef stock
100ml chicken stock
15g butter
Add the butter last.
Method
- Mix the shallots, red wine, thyme, bay leaf, port and red wine vinegar. Leave to infuse overnight.
- Bring to the boil and reduce by two-thirds. Remove the thyme and bay leaf. Add the beef and chicken stock, bring back to the boil and reduce by half.
- Add the butter and make waves to the saucepan to incorporate it. Check the taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.
Red Wine Sauce
The reductions for this red wine sauce can be prepared in advance. It can then be finished with the butter at the last moment. It is good served with eggs, fish, poultry, meat or game. Use a stock appropriate for the main ingredient – fish stock for fish, chicken stock for poultry / game etc.
Makes 4 portions.
Ingredients
- 500ml good red wine
- 100ml port
- 500ml chosen stock
- 50g chilled unsalted butter, diced
Method
- Pour the red wine and port into a suitable saucepan and boil to reduce by one-third.
- In another pan, boil the stock to reduce it to a good coating consistency – it should lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon.
- Add the red wine and port reduction, then add the butter dice and allow it to melt.
Red wine jus – basic
This recipe will give you enough sauce for 4 steaks, however you can easily double or triple the quantities if you’re catering to a larger group.
Ingredients
- 250 ml dry red wine, whatever your drinking
- 125 ml beef stock
- 125 ml chicken stock
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 sprig of fresh rosemary
- Pepper
Method
Grab a small saucepan and put it over a low heat.
Smash 2 garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife and drop them into the saucepan.
Pour in the wine and submerge the rosemary sprig. If your rosemary is too long to fit in the saucepan cut it in half.
Let the red wine simmer with the herbs over a medium heat until the volume has reduced by half. This should take about 20 minutes depending on how hot your stove is. Give it a swirl around the pan every 10 minutes to combine.
Once reduced, pour in the beef and chicken stock along with a couple of turns from your pepper grinder.
Again, let the sauce reduce by half over a medium heat (let it simmer, but not boil) for about another 20 mins.
You can make this ahead of time and reheat. Leaving it on a lower heat for longer will give you a much more concentrated sauce.
Strain through a fine sieve, or just spoon out of the saucepan over your favourite steak