what's cooking wine wednesday

A few of my favorite things all combined into one fabulous night each week. When school is in session, my pal Camille and I meet up to have girl's night. After working all day we want to put on comfy, casual attire and lay on the couch... while eating fantastic food. Wine Wednesday's were established about this time last year and have served as a great mid-week break from work and life's daily agenda. Last night was the first official What's Cooking Wine Wednesday of the 2010-2011 "school year." Let me explain why this a school year based event. Camille's fiance, Derrick is studying civil engineering at NYU and has a full schedule of classes, meetings and studying. Usually we make Derrick a plate and put it in the frig for him to have when he comes home, but sometimes he gets finished early and gets to dine with us.

That's the background. This is the transformation from merely Wine Wednesday to the new and improved What's Cooking Wine Wednesday. Established September 22, 2010 on York Avenue. In the past we would chat over wine and cheese or if it had really been a bad day at work, we would spring for Chinese take-out, but not anymore. Camille and I now like to put on our chef hats and get cookin' in the kitchen! Our first "gourmet" meal was a collaboration of what each of had in our frig and cabinets. I had shiitake and button mushrooms, as well as all the ingredients for my new favorite recipe, fontina crostini's. Camille had all the necessities and picked up pork-chops on her way home. I got to her place a little early to take Tucker (the beautiful German short-haired pointer I often dog sit) out before it rained and Camille called to have the wine delivered shortly after. Ready, set, COOK!

Pan 1: a little olive oil, a little red wine, freshly minced garlic and two pounds of mushrooms. A new thing i read about sautéing mushrooms: Put in skillet and turn on heat and leave alone for four to five minutes. If you toss them to early they will stop absorbing the marinade and begin to steam. Who knew? Apparently Mario Batali was harboring this secret. Before tossing I added in a couple tablespoons of butter and let the mushrooms work their magic.

Pot 1: pork-chops, bottle of Brooklyn Lager, and a mixture of spices. (Not sure what Camille put in... I was watching my mushrooms).

Cookie sheet 1: unbaked crescent rolls unrolled. Cream cheese spread on dough then topped with bacon bits. Rolled up and placed in the oven.

Pan 2: Pork-chops put in skillet along with some marinade goodness, which created a delicious dipping sauce for the meat and mushrooms... and well, the bread to.

Cookie sheet 1... reused: fresh baked baguette sliced into about 3/4 inch thick pieces. After rubbing in a little olive oil to the top, I added fresh chopped sage and then sprinkled with freshly grated fontina cheese. Put in the oven for a couple minutes, just to let the cheese melt.

Pan 1 + Pot 1 + Cookie Sheet 1 (2x) + Pan 2 = an amateur gourmet dinner for three.

Are you hungry yet? Sorry, there were no leftovers to be found. Here are the pictures from the first WCWW! Stay tuned to see what we mix up next week.