Wine in Food?

If you know me.. then you understand my love for buttery, creamy Chardonnay wine!  There is something so relaxing and calming about standing in the kitchen after a long day at the office and putting all your left over energy into what ever you're cooking.  Am I right?  Add a glass of wine and it's perfect.

I have not yet made a red wine sauce but, I've used a few different variations of a white wine sauce.  Tonight I made spaetzle for dinner, which is a small German potato dumpling (it can be found in the ethnic food aisle).  Typically when my Mom serves spaetzle we'll poor the gravy from Sauerbraten over the top.  Mmm, German food.

Unfortunately, I have not yet learned how to properly make a Sauerbraten.  Therefore the gravy was not accessible.  I had the box of spaetzle sitting in my pantry for 5 months because I could not get passed the fact that Sauerbraten gravy was not going to join the spaetzle party.  So, I decided to create a creamy wine sauce that could easily trump my love for that missing gravy.

Creamy White Wine Sauce
- 2 TBSP of butter
- 2 TBSP of flour
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1/2 TBSP of French Tarragon
- Lemon zest (if you have it on hand)
- 3/4 cup of water
- 1 small clove of minced garlic
- Salt and Pepper

In a skillet or sauce pan.. add the butter and flour.  Stir continuously until it has thickened.  Add the wine and stir continuously until thickened.  I slowly added the water and continued to taste the sauce until the wine flavor was not very strong.  Add as much or as little water as you would prefer.  Add the garlic - not too much though, the wine is the star here.  Add the tarragon, salt and pepper.  Continue to taste the sauce as your mixing it - you can always add more wine or more water but, you cannot take it out.

This sauce was great over the top of spaetzle.  It would be perfect over grilled fish or even pasta.  I hope that you enjoy it!