Dinner: Home Cooked (Italian)

We decided to make dinner at home again to try and save a little bit of money. We decided on Italian because we have not written about Italian food and wine. We also wanted to try cooking with wine… which since we have never cooked with wine before we felt that Italian was a good way to start. We looked at what we already had before making a list for the store. We went to the store hungry which was the first mistake haha. We started off in the cheese section to get some fresh Parmesan for the pasta dish we were making. They had samples of cheese out and we ended up walking home with an aged cheddar and a Gouda cheese. We then decided that we wanted to grab some grapes too. We knew that we wanted to put some veggies in our pasta dish and we had mushrooms at home, but we were trying to decide what would go well and add some color. We decided to buy a zucchini to sauté with the mushrooms. Next it was on to find the ground turkey for the meat part of the sauce. We were trying to stay very lean and I heard that turkey tastes better. We decided to buy a jar sauce and add stuff to make it taste better. We decided on a Bertolli olive oil and garlic.

Our snack: Cheese and Grapes (Gouda)

When we got home, we immediately went for the cheese and grapes. We were so hungry that we couldn’t cook before having a little snack. 

Prepping the pots

Our pasta!

We started off by boiling the water for the past and didn’t start the meat until the pasta was cooking. 

Cooking the ground turkey... it looked pretty gross.

While cooking the meat, we added some spices (oregano, Italian seasoning, and some garlic). 

Veggies with the added wine. It was a great success.

In another pan, I started sautéing the veggies with olive oil and the same spices. After they had cooked a little, I added some wine to them. I’m not sure if this is how things are supposed to be done, but it smelled amazing. After it simmered for a little while longer, I added the turkey and sauce. I let everything merry for a little while before serving it.

The dinner was amazing. 

The finished sauce; it tastes better than it looks.

The wine :)

We used the Le Lapin Multiplicity to cook with and drink. It has a variety of different grapes petite sirah, zinfandel, cabernet sauvignon, syrah and refosco. It is from the Paso Robles region of California, a non-vintage that cost $6.95. The wine review said: Multiplicity is a blend of grapes that rabbit ridge is keeping under wraps for now. The nose is black cherry, blackberry, a little plum and some spice, with a touch of forest floor. The palate is full of fruit and spice, with flavors of black cherry and a slight cranberry note. Nice firm tannins and a medium finish. This time when I tasted it alone it smelled very spicy to me and woody. I tasted some fruit and spice, blackberry and it was very smooth. With the Gouda cheese, the wine tasted very spicey, there was no other flavor because the spice took over. The pasta with sauce made the wine spicy at first, but after letting it meld with the taste of the food it has a berry taste. It was very good with the pasta. I decided to make garlic bread as well. With the bread, the wine was definitely fruitier and less spicy. It had a very smooth finish. Overall the cooking experience was awesome and I am more confident to experiment cooking with wine. I want to try using it in a dessert next time. I’m thinking a sweet red with brownies would be great. But, we will see. 

The finished product: garlic bread, grapes and cheese, and of course the pasts dish and wine.