There was a time when cooking with wine would never be my thing, but then I had the opportunity to taste some dishes with red wine and oh.my.cow. y’all, sooooooo much flavor! When I had the opportunity to partner with Llano Estacado Winery, I jumped at it because I’ve been wanting to experiment more with cooking with wine. As a simple start, I took an old recipe I had and made a substitute, which became red wine carne guisada.
Now keep in mind, I’m no wine connoisseur but I have learned a few simple things over the years, with all my travel for blogging. With my limited experience, I have found that there are a good 3 common types of red wine; fruity, more acidic, and dry wine. These are things you’d keep in mind when adding to a recipe. For the carne guisada, I wanted a red wine that was just a little sweeter since I was replacing tomato sauce in the recipe. That’s where Llano Estacado Texas High Plains Montepulciano comes into play. This 2014 Llano Estacado THP Montepulciano is what I’d call a mellow red wine with a light fruity flavor. I know, I know y’all…I’m not so great a describing! lol I’m just a small town country gal with a shallow palette. I’m learning as I go. :) I sipped on it while I cooked because that’s a given, and found it delicious. Can you describe wine as delicious? Many folks prefer a dry wine but I don’t. I loved that this one wasn’t dry and not too sweet. It really was a perfect medium, one I could see enjoying a glass of on occasion.
After watching my husband wrestle with our cheesy corkscrew, it sure made me appreciate why it might be a good idea to buy a nicer one! I think now that we’ve found a couple of wines that we really enjoy, chances are, we’ll invest in a better corkscrew.
Let’s get to the carne guisada. What I love about this recipe, is that you can cook it over the stove and it tastes great, but if you let it simmer in a slow cooker, it’s even better.
Carne Guisada is like a Mexican stew. Guisada means “meat in gravy*. Carne Asada is just meat (dry). I love sopping up the gravy with fresh flour tortillas! As I mentioned earlier, I normally add tomato sauce but when I added the red wine instead, oh my goodness, it smelled amazing y’all!
Once you fry the meat, you’ll add a couple of tablespoons of flour. This will help thicken the gravy once you add your liquids. At this point, is where you’d decide if you want to cook over the stove or put in slow cooker. Whatever you decide, you’ll pour wine, water, and spices and simmer until done. Of course, you HAVE to serve with fresh homemade flour tortillas! ;)
Have you cooked with red wine before? If so, what’s your favorite recipe? Do you just drink it? That’s okay too!
Enjoy y’all!
- 1 Round steak
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. pepper
- 1 tsp. cumino
- 1tsp. garlic powder
- 2 Tbs. flour
- 2 cups chopped potatoes
- 1 cup of 2014 THP Montepulciano, by Llano Estacado
- 2 Tbs oil
- 1½ cups of water
- Cut meat up in cubes and throw in pan with oil.
- Dice up some potatoes while meat is browning.
- After meat has been browned, add flour, salt, pepper, cumino, and garlic powder.
- Add red wine and water to cover.
- Cover and cook for about 30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
- Serve with fresh flour tortillas!
Llano Estacado is the largestLlano Estacado is the largest, best selling Premium Winery in Texas, producing wines of World Class Quality, and has been an ongoing pioneer in introducing not just Texans, but also the entire world to the great wines made in the Lone Star State.
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I will be making this tonight! Thank you Lorie!