Food & Wine pairing with Millesima

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My audience often asks me about wines. They love my writing about food but wonder about my favourite tipple. Our trusty chemical friend ethanol can spice up any recipe, whether it’s a tasty something cooked up for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or in between (brunch French toast with pinot noir syrup, anyone??). When it comes to drinking, I’m a UB40 gal: red, red wine!

I thought I’d tell you guys about one of Millesima’s fantastical, scrumptious red wines. I have a thing for Côtes du Rhône especially. It’s no wonder that I am a huge fan of Millesima’s 2015 Côtes du Rhône, created by Famille Perrin in the Rhone Valley. Its floral bouquet with woodland notes was great to taste. Indeed, this was not only a fine, quality wine to taste, but worked perfectly as an ingredient in a rich ragu – a meat sauce. 

Some people use beef stock there instead – but hey, who wants to be boring? I used it in bolognese for a delicious spaghetti, but you could also use it as the base for a lasagne or moussaka. It creates a ragu that is rich – and full of flavour. This is an easy recipe that creates a richly flavoured meat sauce.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, halved and finely chopped

1 celery stick, finely diced

1 large carrot, finely diced

600g pack minced beef steak

3 tbsp tomato puree

2 garlic cloves, finely grated

2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

150ml red wine (Millesima’s 2012 Donatella Cinelli Colombini : Casato Prime Donne Brunello di Montalcino Prime Donne)

500ml beef stock

400g spaghetti

50g grated parmesan, plus (if you like) extra to serve 

side salad, to serve

Method

Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a large pan before adding your onion, celery, and carrot. Fry them over medium heat for ten minutes, stirring intermittently until they are softened and starting to colour. Stir in and cook the mince until browned, making sure to break up any clumps of meat with a wooden spoon. Add tomato puree, garlic, and thyme, cooking for 1-2 minutes or more. Now pour in Millesima’s Côtes du Rhône wine and increase heat to boil off the majority of the alcohol. Reducing the heat, stir in the stock and season. Cover the pan with a tight lid and leave to simmer gently for between one hour and one hour and fifteen minutes. By the end, the meat should be tender and the sauce thick. Now remove the lid and keep cooking for a further fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Keep a mugful of the cooking water, and then drain the spaghetti and add to the ragu and parmesan. Toss together well, adding a small amount of pasta water to help the sauce coat the spaghetti. Then serve.

The ordering experience and the receipt of the product were perfect. The delivery was prompt and the wine as well (but not over-) packaged. I get packaging rage and worry about the environment so this was especially welcome. You guys could easily use any of Millesima’s fantastic red wines in your recipe – the website is so user-friendly and aesthetically appealing it’s almost addictive – I have found myself spending a great deal of time browsing the site, I’m calling it wedding wine research!

Much like the illustration in the picture, I was Happy, ‘Wined’ and Fed after this meal! Thankyou, Millesima!

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