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Three Refreshing Spanish Summer Sangria Recipes
The first taste of sangria I ever had came from a colorfully labeled triangle shaped bottle and it was awful. So I stayed away for years. Then I went to Spain. After nine hours crossing the Atlantic, I gathered my baggage and took a cab to my hotel. It was early morning, and I was determined not to sleep my first day in Madrid away, so I tossed my bag on my bed and grabbed a cab to the Prado where I stared in awe at paintings by Velázquez, Goya, El Greco, Bosch, Titian, Rubens, Raphael, Botticelli, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Artemisia Gentileschi.
By lunch I was exhausted, and starving so I shuffled into the nearest cafe where the bartender was pouring tall glasses of sangria from a pitcher laden with fruit. "Uno sangria, por favor." Oh my was that ever so much better. Soooooo refreshing, so thirst quenching, not so sweet.
Over the next two weeks I tried perhaps a dozen different sangrias. Here is what I learned. Sangria comes from the word sangre, which means blood, and it is available in most corner bars and even fancy restaurants. It is usually made with good, but not great red wine, brandy, fresh fruits, especially oranges from Valencia, sugar or honey, and lemon juice, but because it is really a fruit punch (wine is, essentially, grape juice), there is no set recipe. You can even make it with white wine if you wish. It is good as soon as you've made it, but a few hours of aging allows all the juices from the fruit to mingle and marry. So here's how I make it, and you can riff on it.
Classic Simple Sangria Recipe
Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours
Ingredients
1 (750 ml) bottle of good inexpensive red wine, preferably Spanish
1 lemon
1 cup good inexpensive brandy (Spanish to be authentic) or dark rum, or more after you taste the final blend
4 tablespoons sugar
1 peach, washed, pit removed, cut into wedges
1 apple, washed, quartered and core removed
1 orange, washed, ends removed, cut in 1/2" slices
12 ounces club soda, more or less to taste
Optional. You can add more or less sugar to your taste, and switch the club soda to lemon-lime drinks like Sprite or 7-Up.
Do this
1) Cut the lemon in half and squeeze all the juice from it.
2) Stir all the ingredients except the club soda together in a large pitcher and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is even better.
3) Just before serving, add the club soda. Pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Fish out the orange slices and float one on top of each glass.
Sangria Blanca Recipe
Sangria in Spain is almost always red, but you can make it from white wine.
Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours
Ingredients
1 (750 ml) bottle moscato wine
1/2 cup triple sec orange liqueur
1/2 cup peach nectar
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices
1 lime, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices
1 orange, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/2" slices
1 peach, pit removed, cut into wedges
12 ounces lemon-lime carbonated drink such as 7-Up
6 mint sprigs
Do this
1) Stir all the ingredients except the carbonated drink together in a large pitcher or punch bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is even better.
2) Add the carbonated beverage just before serving, pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Fish out the orange slices and float one on top of each glass and garnish each glass with a mint sprig.
Sangria on Steroids
Yield. 6 tall glasses
Preparation time. 15 minutes
Aging time. 3-24 hours
Ingredients
2 lemons, washed
1 lime, washed
2 oranges, washed
1 (750 ml) bottle of good red wine, preferably Spanish
1 cup Grand Marnier orange liqueur
1 cup good brandy (preferably Spanish) or dark rum
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 tablespoons sugar
1 peach, pit removed, cut into wedges
1 vanilla bean sliced in half lengthwise
6 strawberries, stems removed, and cut in half
1 kiwi cut in 1/4" slices
1/2 cup canned pineapple cubes and juice
1/2 cup blackberries, crushed
1/2 cup fresh blueberries, crushed
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 cinnamon stick
12 ounces ginger ale
1 orange, washed, ends removed, and cut in 1/4" slices for garnish
Do this
1) Cut the the lime, lemons, and one orange in half, and ream the juice from them into a large punch bowl. Add the empty hulls.
2) Stir all the other ingredients except the carbonated drink together in the bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Overnight is better.
3) Add the carbonated beverage just before serving, pour through a strainer into glasses with ice cubes. Slice the remaining orange into 1/4" disks. Float an orange slice on top of each glass.
This page was revised 10/19/2009
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