Portuguese | Red Wine Port Sauce

Posted on January 23, 2018

I needed a sauce for beef filets as part of a Portuguese dinner and came up with this. I've made many wine sauces over the years so I combined things I learned with Portuguese flavors. I've made it twice, one time a single batch, and one time a double batch. It is a bit harder to do the double batch because it takes a lot longer to reduce.

Yield: single batch is enough for 2 to 4 people

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 yellow onion, medium dice

1 large carrot, medium dice

1 stalk of celery, medium dice

1 cup dry red wine - Portuguese preferred

3/4 cup ruby Port - Portuguese preferred

1 cup veal stock - Stock Options brand preferred / freezer section of store

6 sprigs of thyme

6 sprigs of parsley

1 dried bay leaf

2 whole garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

3 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter

kosher salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

parsley, finely chopped

 

Method

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan, I use a Dutch oven, over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and sauté until tender. Stir in wine and Port. Boil 5 minutes. Add stock, thyme, parsley, bay leaf and garlic. Boil until the liquid is reduced to 1/3 cup, about 12 minutes. Strain sauce and set aside. Can be prepared a day or two ahead.

Prepare beef.

Warm sauce up to almost a boil. Remove from heat and gradually add in butter, whisking until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon over beef. Sprinkle with parsley.

 

(Recipe by Brenda.)