The Pink Elephant: Red Wine Reduction & Mug Brownie

I bring you a recipe that looks like it took no time and actually was a bit of work and one that looks like it took a lot more time than it did.

Let's start with the one that required a lot of prep, but was worth the effort. It was a Josh Otto request and he sure was an appreciative husband. The rest of the meal involved him grilling steaks and me heating up leftovers so it was actually quite fun to make this labor of love while sipping some wine, listening to tunes and visiting with my sweet middle sis (for her belated bday dinner).

Red Wine Reduction

3 T butter

½ yellow onion, chopped

½ red onion, chopped

2 large shallots, chopped

2 t. minced garlic

1 roma (plum) tomato, chopped

1 lb. carrots, chopped

¾ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

1 (14 oz) can beef broth

1 ¼ c Melot wine, divided

This is quite a lot of ingredients for a sauce, right? My sister looked at me like a full on crazy person and laughed when she arrived and my hand was red from all the chopping. Especially when I informed her it was a full pound of carrots. It was like I had two heads and zero brain. I started questioning myself at this point. Did I read something wrong? Was their a typo and I am THIS big of a rule follower? But I carried on.

Chop 1/2 sweet Vidalia onion, 1/2 red onion, 2 large shallots, 3-4 gloves garlic, 1 roma tomato, 1 lb. carrots, 4 oz. baby bella mushrooms, 4 oz. white mushrooms. (I sauteed the rest of the mushrooms for our dinner) Your hand will be very tired and sore after all this so drink a little vino.

Heat 3T butter in very large saucepan over medium-high heat until melted. Add all the chopped veggies and cook until carrots are softened and onions are transparent, about 10-15 minutes.

Pour in the beef broth and one c. of red wine and bring to a boil, scraping bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat and simmer until the veggies are very soft and the pan juices have reduced by half, about 20 minutes.

Carefully place large bowl under strainer and strain out sauce from vegetables; setting vegetables to the side.

For all the work, you won't be left with a lot of sauce at this point.

Return the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat, stir in 1/4 c. red wine and reduce heat. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by 1/4 of its original volume, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.

We saved the discarded vegetables and gave some to Olivia and then Bailey made a vegetable soup with the rest.

We were left with about 1 c. of sauce and we divided into 3 individual gravy boats to ration out our delicacy.

Then Bailey jokingly put Olivia at the dinner table and she sat in our fourth chair like a human....for the entire time we blessed the food, ate dinner and conversed. It was very, very strange, but also quite entertaining. She wasn't even really begging, just staring at us.