What a week. Winefest and Chautauqua.

Soon to arrive, visitors from all over the state to attend all the Colorado Mountain Winefest Activities. What a happening it has become. Also arriving Thursday for Chautauqua; Babe Ruth, Irene Castle, CoCo Chanel and PT Barnum (AKA professional, National Chautauquans). Fred and I will be attending both great events. However, since the main focus of this column is food, I ask you “how could I not write about cooking with wine during this week?”

Also arriving, highly talented chefs for Viking/Kimball’s “Chef Demos” at Riverbend Park Saturday. After all, I do owe it to you, our readers, to take notes on their “Cooking with Wine” demonstrations to add their tips and hints to my following list. See, I’ll do just about anything for you.

A few years ago I started cooking with wine a bit and found it to add a special touch to many dishes. I have talked with winery owners, chefs and everyday cooks who love to experiment and cook with wines. Hence my list of collected tips that seems to be growing every day. Come to Winefest, you’ll be able to talk to many experts in the field and learn more.

Wine experts: Here’s a question that ties in with our Chautauqua stars. What wine would you serve with a Babe Ruth candy bar, peanuts, popcorn, Cracker Jacks and hot dogs?

What wine did CoCo Chanel drink while designing those fabulous fashions? Did Irene Castle have a glass of wine after all that dancing? A question for you — should I stop trying to tie in events? Never, I say. Now let’s cook with wine.

• Cook with wine you like to drink, otherwise you’ll not like the dish.

• Don’t use “cooking wine” found in the stores; it is salty and has other additives.

• Use non-reactive cookware like enamel, glass, etc.

• Substitute some or all (depending on the amount) the water in a recipe with wine. I carried it to the extreme by replacing water in, of all things, an angel food cake one step mix with a merlot for a beautiful and tasty dessert; top with cream whipped with a little brown sugar and a tablespoon of wine.

• Freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays and then bag the cubes. They’re good for adding to sauce, saut&233;ing and more.

• Chefs are always using wine for deglazing and then reducing it for amazing sauces.

• Go easy on amount of wine added, wait for 10 to 15 minutes after adding; then taste for adjustments.

• Try adding wine to oil for basting meats.

• A chef’s trick: Add a tablespoon or two of red wines to gravy; simmer for rich gravy approved by Fred.

• General rule: Red wines for cooking meat dishes; white for seafood, sweet desserts, poultry and vegetable. And don’t forget, rules can be broken.

Early Harvest Chicken Dinner

Recipe courtesy of Sue Phillips, Plum Creek Winery. It’s National Chicken Month so it all fits. www.plumcreekwinery.com.

Serves 6

6 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 cup blanched almonds

1/2 cup bread, torn into small pieces

4 cloves garlic, chopped

Small pinch saffron

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

4 chicken breasts, quartered (or 4 drum sticks and 4 thighs)

Sea salt

1 dried red chili

1 Spanish onion, sliced

1/2 cup Plum Creek Chardonnay (or dry white wine)

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup pitted green olives (preferably mild)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large braising pan; add the almonds, bread and garlic. Cook over medium heat so garlic softens and bread toasts. Scrape in food processor; let cool for 5 minutes, add saffron, parsley and pulse to a coarse paste.

2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Season chicken with salt; dust with flour. Add 2 tablespoon oil to pan; place over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown all sides, then remove to a plate. Add remaining oil, chili, and onion slices and cook until softened; discard chili. Place chicken in the pan, pour in the wine and reduce by half.

3. Add the almond mixture, onion and the broth, bring to a simmer, cover pan; braise in oven until chicken is almost tender; then about 40 minutes. Stir in olives, cook until the chicken is very tender, 10 minutes more. Serve from pan.