Sangria; A Summertime Specialty

by Sheila

You may have read about our pool float parties.  I'm sure by now you know we like wine.  The natural pairing here is one of our summer favorites; Sangria.  We have been making this since the days we couldn't afford to drink anything else.  I am typically a white wine drinker (might be the heat of the desert), but for Sangria, I definitely prefer red.  This is great to make for  a crowd, and is best if made several hours prior to serving, if not the night before.

 

One of the advantages of a good Sangria, is that you can serve a wine beverage to a large group without breaking the bank.  Because you are adding sugar and fruit, there is no reason to use a high quality expensive wine.  A red that you like in the $5-7 a bottle range should do the trick.  I have been known to use the "leftovers" of a variety of red wines to create my Sangria on weekends that we were doing lots of entertaining, and this works great. This is my favorite all-time Sangria (I like it as well as any I've had in Spain) and this recipe is adapted from Cooks Illustrated.

2 large juice oranges, washed; 1 sliced, 1 juiced

1 large lemon, washed and sliced

1/4 c sugar

1/4 c triple sec

1 750 ml bottle inexpensive, fruity medium bodied red wine chilled (merlot or pinot?)

1.  Add sliced orange and lemon and sugar to bottom of pitcher.  Mash gently with wooden spoon until fruit releases some juice but is not totally crushed, and sugar dissolves.  Stir in orange juice, Triple Sec and wine.  Refrigerate for at least a few hours, and up to 12 hours.  

2.  Add ice to serve and stir briskly to mix up fruit and pulp. 

I have a large beverage dispenser that I like to serve this in, but be careful because the fruit can clog up the spout. I also like to garnish glasses with a slice of fruit as well.  And needless to say, I often double this recipe! 

If you read Heather's post on Monday, you know that we are signing off on our blog, at least for the time being.  It has been a great adventure, but adds one more thing to do in an already busy schedule. Blogging on a regular basis is not without its issues.  Like the time I was in a rental car down at Cranky Al's Donut Shop in Milwaukee using their free wifi at 11 pm at night the night before my post was to be published, trying to get everything done.  Crazy!  We appreciate your interest and loyalty and will be leaving all of our posts up, so if you want to double check one of Ann's recipes, or need some design inspiration from Heather, it will be there.  We have learned a lot along the way, and had fun sharing ideas and solving problems together.  We will continue our friendship "behind the scenes" and if we decide to start up again in the future, we'll post here.  Thanks for reading...

Salute!

Sheila