Rosemary Fries & White Wine Tomato Sauce

“Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most  natural things of the world that has been brought to great perfection, and it offers a great range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing”

– Ernest Hemingway

I couldn’t agree more!!!

I absolutely enjoy girls night in with my closest buddies, and such occasions are never complete without  a nice movie, warm socks, some hearty laughs ,and to top it all off, some good wine. We all try to imitate Olivia Pope sipping her wine after her intense gladiator-white-hat-wearing work days and decide who makes the best imitation.I know, we have a problem. But its the crazy things that make life fun, right? I find it strange that we all love wine, but then again, birds of a feather flock together.

Wine is not only one of my favourite drinks, but it also makes a fabulous ingredient to cook with. I occasionally add it to my food to infuse deeper flavors but also to make our everyday food more special, because I believe wine makes everything magical!

I was craving some fries and I decided to make some at home and fry them in oil that has rosemary and coriander infused in it. To make it more savory, I made this show stopping white wine  tomato sauce that made every bite rich and memorable. If you are yearning for a meal that will give your taste buds one grand party and you have 30 minutes to spare, this is what you need to make!

Besides taking a short time to make, this sauce can be eaten along side almost anything from rice, to ugali, to mashed potatoes or you can even use it as a dip for samosas! To add to this awesomeness, you can tailor it to suit you taste by substituting wine with rum, whiskey, beer or fresh fruit juice. It does not get any better than this! I used wine because of my obsession with it.

There are so many rules about what drink should be used with what ingredients or what a certain drink should accompany a certain meal, but I say, rules were made to be broken. You need to experiment and play around with ingredients and that’s how you learn, grow and make your very own masterpiece dishes.

This is what you will need for this dish:

*Makes one plate

For the fries:

1. Two sliced Medium Sized potatoes
2. Fresh Rosemary
3. Fresh Coriander

Step One: Put your vegetable oil in your frying pan. While the oil is still cold, put the rosemary and coriander stems in the pan on medium heat. This allows their oils to slowly diffuse into your vegetable oil you are using for frying. If you them when the oil is hot, they will shrivel and burn too fast without serving their intended purpose.

Step Two: Let the rosemary and coriander cook in the oil until the rosemary turns brown and the coriander shrivels and stiffens. Mine took 5 minutes, but yours may take longer or shorter depending on your quantities.

The kitchen smelt so good at this stage!!!

Step Three: Increase heat to high, then after testing if the oil is hot enough, put your potatoes. Let them fry until they are just as you like them, take them from the heat, drain the excess oil and plate them.

For the Sauce:

You will need:

1. One finely chopped small onion
2. Two grated ripe tomatoes
3. 1 table spoon of tomato puree
4. Finely chopped coriander
5. 1/4 Tea Spoon of black pepper
6. 1/4 Tea Spoon of ground garlic
7. 1/4 Tea spoon of ground coriander
8. Pinch of salt
9. 1/4 cup of white wine

*** You can substitute the white wine with red wine, rum, whiskey or whatever you like.

Making the sauce took such a short time that I couldn’t take photos of each step, but I will take you through it as I did it.

Step One: Saute the onions in your vegetable oil until they soften.

Step Two: Add the grated tomatoes and let them fry for about two minutes. To this, add the tomato puree, mix and let them cook for about three minutes. If it sticks to the pan surface, add a little hot water and be careful not to put too much as this will make the sauce watery.

Step Three: Take half of the coriander you had chopped and mix them together with the tomatoes. Immediately after, add the black pepper, ground garlic, ground coriander and your salt.

Step Four: Add your wine and mix. I let mine simmer for 3 minutes to burn off the alcohol, but yours  may take longer if you are preparing a larger quantity.

Step Five: Add the rest of the chopped coriander and mix with the rest. Serve immediately after.

Easy! Right??

I seriously cannot stop thinking how out-of-this-world this sauce would taste as a dip for samosas or kebabs!!! *drools*

The fries have the rosemary and coriander flavor which makes the perfect marriage when eaten with this thick, spicy, wine cooked sauce drizzled over it. Once you eat this fries, it will beat logic to buy plain fries elsewhere when you can make super fries at home.

Home Fries 1   –   Bought fries 0

I cant wait for you to try this! 🙂

My parting shot for you today is this quote by Bob Blumer, which I hope will inspire you:

” In the abstract art of cooking, ingredients trump appliances, passion supersedes expertise, creativity triumphs technique, spontaneity inspires invention and wine makes even the worst culinary disaster taste delicious”

Till our next adventure, Cheers!

Kaluhi.

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