Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Make Red Wine Sangria

Instructions








1. Find the largest pitcher or punch bowl you have. It's often a good idea to make extra sangria, because it tends to go fast at a party.


2. Fill the pitcher or punch bowl with one bottle of red wine. Any type of red wine will suffice, although some people prefer to use Spanish red wines. For a lighter sangria, use a lighter red wine, such as a Shiraz.


3. Cut an orange and a lime into wedges and squeeze the juice into the punch bowl. Remove the seeds beforehand if you have the time.


4. Drop the squeezed wedges of orange and lemon into the punch bowl. Leaving the fruit wedges in the mixture will give it a fruitier taste and make it more pleasing to the eye, as well.


5. Pour in about 2 tbsp. of sugar for every bottle of red wine you use in your recipe.


6. Add 1 shot of brandy to the mixture. Brandy is traditional, but it can be substituted with another liquor. For instance, rum and gin both make excellent additions to red wine sangria.


7. Put your sangria mix in the fridge and allow it to chill for about 12 to 24 hours.


8. Combine the mix with 1 3/4 to 2 cups ginger ale and serve immediately. This will give your sangria a nice kick of liveliness and effervescence.


9. Forgo the overnight chilling of the sangria if the party is a last-minute occasion and you do not have time. As red wine sangria needs to be served cold, you will need to use a chilled red wine, however, and plenty of ice in your punch bowl.


10. Experiment with your own sangria recipes and try adding additional fruits and berries. Bananas, strawberries, raspberries, peaches and other fruits make excellent sangria variations.

Tags: punch bowl, your sangria, bottle wine, have time, into punch, into punch bowl