Mushroom in Red Wine Sauce with Bean Thread Noodles

Some baby bella mushrooms with pearl onions came together in a rich-flavored simple sauce for this dish, served with mung bean thread noodles.

Cook bean thread per package directions, or serve with rice sticks, or just plain jasmine rice; or with quinoa, or even brown rice.

Ingredients
pearl onions, peeled
baby bella mushrooms, chopped if to big
2 Tbsp canola oil
salt to taste
water as needed

For garnish: cilantro and spring onions

For the sauce:
½ cup red wine (I used some Gato Negro Shiraz I had handy)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp oregano powder or 1 Tbsp crushed dried oregano (+/-)
½ tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp brown sugar or 1 Tbsp Agave nectar
1 Tbsp minced garlic

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a pan, sauté the pearl onions and mushrooms a bit, remove from pan, keep aside
2. In the same pan, add the tomato paste and garlic, sauté till tomato paste turns rich red and aromatic, add the spices, wine, and half to one cup of water, cover and allow to simmer and reduce a bit
3. Toss back in the mushrooms and pearl onions, simmer together to desired sauce consistency; add water as needed

Cranberry Wine

We brew beer quite often, usually standard recipes for porters and stouts and some fruity wheat beers, but, every once in a while we make cider and wines.

This Cranberry Wine recipe is from First Steps in Winemaking by C.J.J.Berry. It turned out quite fine, not too sweet, not too syrup-y, just a bold cranberry flavor and enough fermentation to make it taste like wine, or, perhaps more like cider.

We have a couple of 5-gallon glass carboys, gallon jars, airlock, large strainers, funnels and large pots we use for brewing beer. If you are planning to try out this recipe for the first time, a few equipment are needed as listed below.

Ingredients
3 lbs fresh cranberries
2¼ lb sugar
1 Tbsp citric acid
1 gallon water
1 pkt Red Star® Côtes du Rhône yeast

Other eqipments: 2 gallon bucket, 1 gallon jar, fermentation air-lock, strainer

Preparation

1. Boil half the water and pour over the cranberries, stir in the sugar, and allow to cool
2. Add the remaining water cold, citric acid and yeast, cover and ferment on the pulp for 4 or 5 days
3. Strain into a jar and fit the air-lock and let it sit for 5 to 6 weeks
4. Strain and pour into a bottle for convenient serving
5. Enjoy!