I love really good, fresh fish. Sadly, my husband is allergic to everything that comes out of the ocean, (including Sponge Bob Square Pants).

Since I still love my husband, I only prepare fish when he’s out of town. We hate it when he’s gone, but having Forbidden Seafood ever so slightly makes up for it.

This summer at the EVO conference in Utah, one of the sponsors was Holland House, maker of cooking wines and vinegars. They hosted some fab cooking classes.

Since we eat vegan at home on the weekdays, vinegar and cooking wines have been vital in making simple, plant-based meals delicious and full of flavor.

Holland House sent me a bottle of White Wine with Lemon cooking wine. My first instinct would be to use it on a chicken dish, but I saw some beautiful halibut in my Whole Foods and could not resist this treat for me and my kids.

This is a quick and easy sauce—your basic white sauce given zing with cooking wine and mustard. I adapted it from Holland House’s own recipe.

I substituted olive oil for the butter and unsweetened coconut milk for dairy milk to make it vegan. Yes, I put a vegan sauce on fish. The point being, this delicious recipe is a perfect way to add flavor to any entrée. Also, it makes an excellent dipping sauce if you want an easy way to get all fancy with some chicken nuggets.

The trick to cooking with a cooking wine is to have a light hand with additional salt. Cooking wine has salt in it already. This makes cooking wine great for brining. I’m looking forward to using some of Holland House’s brining techniques. I’d never thought of the differences between a hot-start brine and a cold-start brine, but they cover it in their brining basics.

Then next thing I want to cook is their Wine and Rosemary Infused Roasted Chicken. The best part of being a Weekend Omnivore is a roasted chicken for my family on Sunday nights. It makes me feel like a Norman Rockwell painting.

Here’s my adaptation of

Lemon Mustard Sauce

NGREDIENTS
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. white pepper
3/4 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (almond, rice, or coconut)
1/4 cup Holland House® White Cooking Wine with lemon
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. Whole Grain Dijon mustard

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in small saucepan and whisk in flour and pepper. Cook over medium heat until smooth and bubbly. The mixture should smell a little toasty. Gradually add non-dairy milk and cooking wine. Cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and stir as it thickens, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice and mustard.
Yields 1 cup.

Feel free to use butter instead of olive oil and milk instead of a nut milk. I don’t recommend using skim milk because of flavor and consistency of the finished sauce.

Check out the Holland House website for more recipes and cooking hints. Also, like them on Facebook for tips and giveaways.