Tag

sangria

Last of the Season Sangria

written by Ali

We are already in the middle of September, and to celebrate, I’m sharing this last of the season sangria. We’ve had sunny lovely days the last few weeks. But the nights have just a touch of autumn in the air and rain is in the forecast again. I’m a seasonal wine drinker: when it’s above 60 degrees, I’m much more inclined to drink white wine. When the temperatures dip consistently below that, I hibernate and start drinking red.

The last of the season sangria is the last hurrah for white wine. I used my favorite nostalgia wine for this sangria: Bridgeview’s Blue Moon Riesling. I’ll admit that the first time I bought Blue Moon Riesling, I was totally attracted to the bottle design. I knew it was a white wine, but had no idea the difference between a Riesling or a Chardonnay or any other wine in between. I just thought the bottle was pretty. I also call this my nostalgia wine because it always reminds me of my very first trip to Oregon, nearly twenty years ago. I had no idea at the time that I would eventually end up living in this beautiful place, much less living on the Oregon coast. I didn’t have any idea I’d also develop a deep appreciation for Oregon wines, but here we are.

This last of the season sangria has the velvety flavor of caramel. I combined brandy, orange juice, and Riesling for the base of the sangria, and then tossed in the fruit I had on hand. In this case, it was the stragglers from the last blueberries from the farmer’s market, a lemon, slices of orange, and slices of apple. You could also make this with plums, pears, etc. I highly encourage you to make this last of the season sangria, sit back on the patio on a warm autumn afternoon, and enjoy!

Yum

Last of the Season Sangria

Ingredients

1 bottle slightly sweet white wine (Riesling or similar)
Juice from one orange
1 cup brandy
Assorted fruits (apples, oranges, lemons, blueberries, pears, etc.)

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large jar or carafe. Refrigerate for a few hours. Serve over ice.
Enjoy!

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September 15, 2017 0 comment

Beverages Farmer's Market

Blackberry Peach Sangria

written by Ali

Here we are at the end of August – thought it might be time to share one of my favorite Friday cocktails: Blackberry Peach Sangria. Sangria is one of my go-to drinks. It’s so easy to make with ingredients that are on hand. In this case, I’m taking advantage of all the late August fruit and combining to to make Blackberry Peach Sangria.

I’ve been pretty occupied on the weekends lately with canning. A big part of canning for me involves stocking up on jars. We recently discovered a local hardware store that has three really awesome cooking aisles (for the wives? Whatever – I’ll take some political incorrectness for the sake of being able to find fermentation and canning supplies locally). Of course, I had to buy a case of half-gallon Ball jars. Initially, I thought I’d ferment some pickles (which I will eventually get around to). As it turned out, half-gallon Ball jars make the best vessels for making sangria. I had no problem getting a cup of brandy, an entire bottle of wine, and a lot of fruit into the jar.

Since it’s Labor Day weekend, why not make up a batch of Blackberry Peach Sangria? Enjoy the rest of your summer, all!

In case you are wondering – I enjoyed my sangria CSA cucumbers and farmer’s market cherry tomatoes, along with olive and garlic fromage from Face Rock Creamery, and smoked salmon. I know how to have a good afternoon.

Yum

Blackberry Peach Sangria

Ingredients

1 bottle zinfandel or similar red wine
1 cup brandy
2 peaches, sliced into chunks
1 orange, sliced into thin slices
1 cup blackberries

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a large container. Refrigerate for several hours. Enjoy!

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September 1, 2017 0 comment

Beverages

One Glass Gin Sangria

written by Ali

So I have to admit that I made this cocktail weeks ago and am just now getting around to blogging about it. This is important to know, because one component that I used is highly seasonally dependent. Fortunately, that one component is not absolutely necessary to enjoy this one glass gin sangria.

Let me back up for a minute. As you may know, if you follow me either here or on Instagram, we moved to coastal Southern Oregon about six weeks ago. One of the things I noticed during my first few weeks was that the evergreen trees were sprouting new growth. Many years of following various foraging oriented blogs has made me savvy enough to know that spruce, pine, and fir tree tips (the brand new growth in the spring) are edible. Trees + tips + desire to forage = a lunch break wandering around where I work, quietly slipping fir tree tips into my jacket. Mind you, this was my professional suit jacket, but who’s counting. Fortunately, I was able to get them transferred into a bag when I went back to my desk. From there, it was a logical step to toss the fir tips into some gin and let it steep for a few days.

From there, I stumbled onto this cocktail. I started out making a Spanish G&T with the fir tip infused gin. But then I still had the various bits from the Spanish G&T in my glass and tossed in a little fruity rose, plus some strawberries, and a mandarin orange. And then I tossed in a shot of the fir-tip gin. One glass gin sangria was born in that moment.

I’m pretty sure you could infuse the gin with other aromatics and get a similar result. I’ll definitely be trying this again with some lime basil a bit later in the season. I might even try out some of my ginger mint and infuse it with gin. In the meantime, I’ll just leave you with these pretty photos of infusing fir tips, plus my one glass gin sangria.

This was after the fir tips had infused for a few days -wish I’d gotten a photo when they were freshly harvested – they are so pretty!

Yum

One Glass Gin Sangria

Ingredients

1 ounce gin (infused with herbs of your choice, or fir tips, or just plain)
2 sliced strawberries
1 sectioned mandarin orange
3 - 4 juniper berries (optional)
Fruit forward rose or white wine to top

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a glass and enjoy!

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June 16, 2017 0 comment

Beverages Foodie Lists

S is for Sangria – A Roundup

written by Ali

S is for Sangria, making it one of my favorite letters in the alphabet. Check out these fifteen beautiful sangria recipes in my sangria roundup post for this Friday’s Happy Hour. Sangria is one of my top favorite ways to serve wine and fruit, plus, Mother’s Day is Sunday and (for those who are 21 and older) what a great treat to make and enjoy with mom!

I’m finally all moved and settled in (mostly). One of the things I’m loving best about my new spot is the great big wide patio. I can sit out here and have a glass of sangria and just be quiet. It’s a bonus of living in a small town – it’s really quiet. There’s very little traffic noise and the breeze from the bay is heavenly. I’d imagine this summer I’ll be taste testing most of these recipes (while saving the pomegranate persimmon sangria recipe for this fall).

First up is a yummy looking white peach sangria from Just a Little Bit of Bacon:

Next is a non-alcoholic sangria from Watch What U Eat that blends pineapple, strawberries, and sparkling water for a refreshing afternoon drink.

I particularly love a good rose wine, so really liked the look of this Rose Sangria from Bourbon and Honey.

Caroline’s Cooking shared this yummy sounding white sangria with whiskey, apple and peach. I’ve never put whiskey in my sangria before – can’t wait to try this one out!

Sparking fruit white sangria from Mommy’s Home Cooking looks so good and refreshing.

Strawberries and basil are two of my favorite things. I’ll definitely be making this sangria from Living Well Spending Less this summer.

Kiwis and raspberries and prosecco are a natural match. Check them out in this easy cocktail from Luci’s Morsels.

I always have a few pomegranate seeds lurking in the freezer this time of year. What a great way to use them up by making pomegranate red wine sangria from A Fork’s Tale.

This summer berry sangria from Cooking With Curls will be so perfect for when it’s berry season again.

You can’t ever have enough recipes for sangria with rose wine. This sangria from Lean, Clean and Brie is a luscious mix of strawberries, lemons, and rose.

One of the great things about sangria is that it’s so easy to make use of the best fruits of the season, like this peach melba sangria from Garlic and Zest.

If my pineapple plant ever takes root and produces pineapple, I think I’d use it to make this champagne sangria with pineapple and berries from Fried Dandelions.

Sometimes, I just want a good classic sangria, like this one from Curious Cuisiniere.

Sangria isn’t just a summer drink. Fall and winter fruits make awesome sangria, like this one from Salt and Lavender that features pomegranates and persimmon.

Finally, here’s a tropical moscato sangria from Living Sweet Moments, perfect for a warm summer night.

May 12, 2017 1 comment

Beverages

Blood Orange Citrus Sangria

written by Ali

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you may have seen my posts about my recent blood orange windfall, which led to me making blood orange citrus sangria. A good friend of mine from Phoenix has a blood orange tree in her backyard (yep – I’m envious) that produced enthusiastically this year. She asked me if I wanted some of the blood oranges. My answer was an unequivocal yes. When the actual box showed up, I realized she wasn’t kidding around: some oranges was around 40 pounds of oranges. It was the best present, ever.

I spent all of New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (and the day after New Years), making recipes with blood oranges. I love to can, preserve, and infuse. I made several blood orange marmalades (one of which uses blood orange citrus sangria as a key ingredient), multiple pints of blood oranges canned in a light syrup, orange-cello (limoncello, but with blood oranges), and blood oranges preserved in salt. Our kitchen smells like blood oranges and that’s ok with me. I’m already literally salivating over the thought of the preserved oranges with strawberries over shortcake (and whip cream and I’ve just gone to foodie heaven).

Blood orange citrus sangria also let me use up some of the other citrus I already had on hand. It’s still Meyer lemon season, and I’m definitely not done with the sweet fragrance of these lovely lemons. I also discovered mandarinquats at one of our local organic groceries. Mandarinquats are a hybrid of mandarin oranges and kumquats. They look like large kumquats and can be eaten whole – peel and all. They do have seeds, though, so be forewarned.

Blood Orange Citrus Sangria

The fruit in the foreground is the mandarinquat. I think these are an adorable fruit.

I love the many hues of citrus. The blood oranges are at the top.

Yum

Blood Orange Sangria

Ingredients

2 blood oranges
2 mandarinquats or 4 kumquats
1 Meyer lemon
1/4 cup Triple Sec
1/4 cup brandy
1 bottle fruity red wine

Instructions

Slice the fruit and place in a carafe or pitcher. Add the Triple Sec, brandy and wine. Chill for at least two hours. Enjoy!

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January 6, 2017 0 comment

Beverages Farmer's Market

Apple Cider Sangria

written by Ali

I decided I needed to get on the apple cider train earlier rather than later this year. I’ve been very intrigued with the idea of making sangria with something other than wine – like hard cider. We also had a bag of apples that needed to get used up and I just didn’t have time this week to be creative. Apple cider sangria was clearly the answer.

I’m also moderately obsessed with Wild Turkey’s American Honey Whiskey. I’m not sure how I ended up with this in the liquor cabinet but I’m thinking it was because I needed it for a recipe for barbecue sauce this summer and all the other whiskeys were more expensive than I was willing to pay. Or I hadn’t had coffee yet, started making crockpot barbecued ribs and realized I didn’t have any whiskey and this is what I ended up grabbing at the liquor store. If the latter is the case, the moral of that story is either to always check your recipe before you do your week’s shopping or never buy booze first thing in the morning. Whatever the story is, I really like this whiskey – it’s sweet, making it completely unnecessary to add a sweetener to any drink it’s used in. It also has that smokey whiskey bite that I’m a fan of.

Back to the sangria – I used a hard cider that had a hint of ginger in it, which was a nice touch for this apple cider sangria. Serve this with a hearty stew or a dish with wild mushrooms and watch the leaves fall.

Apple Cider Sangria

Serves 4

1 bottle hard cider
2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup honey whiskey or similar
2 apples, sliced into 8 slices each

Combine all the ingredients in a carafe or pitcher. Refrigerate for at least two hours to let the flavor fully develop. Enjoy!

November 11, 2016 0 comment

Beverages Farmer's Market

Roasted Spiced Apple Sangria

written by Ali

Apples, pumpkin pie spice and wine – the absolute perfect combination as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been thinking a lot about the booze-forward sangria I had in Indianapolis several weeks ago and decided it was absolutely time for a sangria creation, so pumpkin pie spiced some apples, roasted them, tossed in some Chardonnay and a good dose of brandy and came up with Roasted Spiced Apple Sangria.

Roasted Spiced Apple Sangria is a great drink for the fall days we’ve been experiencing here in the PNW. Last weekend, we were thoroughly prepared for a massive storm, though what we got instead were some heavy winds and quite a bit of rain. It was a good weekend to curl up with the dog, a book, and sangria, with either Madeleine Peyroux or Pink Martini playing on the I-Pod. I was a little productive – I sorted through all of my summer clothes to decide what still looks good enough to be around next season and then finally un-boxed the box that was labeled winter clothes. I moved all my sandals to another closet to resist the temptation to try to pretend sandal season is still here and end up, instead, with soggy feet.

I can only imagine how tasty these roasted and spiced apples would be with a little freshly whipped cream, so I encourage you to double or triple the recipe and have a few of the apples on hand for other purposes. So pull out the blankets, listen to some jazzy music, and watch the rain fall with a glass of Roasted Spiced Apple Sangria in hand.

Roasted Spiced Apple Sangria
Serves 4

1 bottle chardonnay
1/2 cup brandy or apple brandy
2 apples, cored and sliced
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay out the apple slices on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Sprinkle the pumpkin pie spice and brown sugar over the apples. Roast for 50-60 minutes, turning the apples once or twice. The apples are done when they are soft and caramelized on both sides. Let the apples cool.

When the apples are cool, put them in a jar or carafe and cover with the brandy and chardonnay. Stir or shake. Let the sangria sit for at least two hours, but preferably overnight. Serve with a few more apple slices and some of the roasted apples. Enjoy!

October 21, 2016 0 comment

Beverages Farmer's Market Uncategorized

Peach Sangria

written by Ali

I found some of the largest peaches I’ve encountered in quite some time at Whole Foods this past week, so of course, had to immediately chop up one of them to make peach sangria. This is the sangria I’ve been waiting for all summer long – simple, quick and easy to make, and very, very easy to drink, especially after work on a Friday.

I made this with peach brandy, largely because I couldn’t find peach schnapps. Unlike many peach flavored things, the brandy had a nice, authentic peach taste which complimented the white wine. I can imagine that this would also be great served with tapas. It’s equally good for a lazy late summer weekend spent lounging around reading a book.

Peach Sangria
Serves 4

¼ cup peach brandy or peach schnapps
1 large peach (or 2 small ones)
1 lemon
1 bottle fruity white wine (Pinot Grigio or Gewurztraminer or Riesling)

Slice the peach into wedges. Slice the lemon into thin rounds. Add all ingredients to a pitcher or carafe and stir. Refrigerate for at least two hours to let all the flavors meld.

Enjoy!

August 26, 2016 0 comment

Beverages

Stone Fruit Sangria

written by Ali

I’ve been posting a lot this week about my urban garden. I have to back up a bit and say that there hasn’t been a time in my life since I was a pre-teen that I didn’t have some sort of garden going. I learned how to garden from my grandparents and my mom, and spent much time in my childhood outdoors, in the garden. Whether I was reading, playing with imaginary friends (and sometimes real ones, too), or actually planting seeds and weeding, the garden was a focal point throughout my summers. As a pre-teen, I started taking over small plots of land in my mom’s garden (I am responsible for the blackberry that refuses to die in her yard, as well as an entire swath of allium that have reproduced wantonly for the past thirty years). As an adult, I’ve lived in both apartments and houses, as renter and as owner, and in every single one, including my two-year stint in the Marshall Islands, I’ve had either a full out in-the-ground garden, or a set of containers as my garden.

I also developed an early appreciation for herbs – I think I was caught up in the romanticism of using plants to heal, which led to many years of planting and experimenting with herbs for both health and culinary uses. I’ve loved living in Oregon, as some more herbs that wouldn’t make it past Colorado and New Mexico’s winters, like rosemary and lemon verbena, do really well here and winter over without too much complaint.

In recent years, I’ve discovered using aromatic herbs widely in cocktails, so many of my summer happy hour recipes have herbs incorporated. This one is no different. If you aren’t a big fan of herby drinks, no worries – you can leave them out and still enjoy the wine and fruit.

We’re starting to transition from early berry season into stone-fruit season. In my mind, there is little to compare to a tree-ripened peach, even though it’s a fruit that’s not nearly as convenient as a berry (a takes a knife to open up or a willingness to get very sticky to just eat – hard to gorge on after having just picked, unlike a strawberry or blueberry). I happened to have some very fruity, very effervescent, very light Vinho Verde in the wine rack, which paired very well with the peaches and plums. I think a Riesling would work, too (I’ll confess, when I ran out of Vinho Verde, I threw in some Riesling, thus mixing wines. It was pretty good. I don’t mix wines regularly – it just somehow seems wrong).

Stone Fruit Sangria
Serves 4

2 cups assorted stone fruits (peaches, nectarines, plums), pitted and chopped
½ cup orange curacao
1 bottle white wine
4 or 5 sprigs of citrusy herbs (I used lemon verbena, lemon basil, and pineapple sage)
Mix all ingredients in a pitcher. Let sit for at least two hours for flavors to combine. Serve with pieces of the fruit and a few leaves of herbs.

Enjoy!

July 15, 2016 0 comment

Beverages

Basil Berry Sangria

written by Ali

It’s Friday, it’s cooled down a bit here in the PNW, and it’s time to have some Basil Berry Sangria to celebrate! Last weekend, on one of the hottest of days, Clay and I went to my favorite cousin’s house for a BBQ. This cousin is a particularly amazing woman: she’s worked on cars, went to culinary school and worked as a sous chef, traveled the world, and just is a plan all around extraordinary person. One of the greatest parts about living in PNW is that we live closer to her and her significant other and can hang out on a regular basis, including finally being able to take her up on invitations for great parties, camping, fishing, etc. We’ll also be going wine tasting soon and I’m sure I’ll be posting photos and sharing some of our great wine finds. All of this is a long prelude to say that at the aforementioned BBQ, she made some amazing sangria that had just the faintest herby hint of basil. I was smitten and had to make some for myself.

Of course, the current food mantra around here is it is berry season – eat lots and lots of berries – in everything! So of course, I had to make a berry sangria. This combines both berries and basil and makes me think I need to make more dishes with both ingredients and quickly. For now, though, this sangria will suffice.

Basil Berry Sangria – Friday Happy Hour
Serves 4-6

¼ cup basil infused simple syrup (recipe below)
¼ cup orange curacao or Cointreau
2 cups mixed berries (blueberries, blackberries, marionberries, etc.)
1 bottle dry white wine (I used a dry Riesling, but other whites or even a rose would do)

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher or carafe and stir. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least two hours or longer for the flavors to blend.

Basil Infused Simple Syrup
6 basil leaves, washed and patted dry
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and let sit until cool. Remove the basil before using.

June 10, 2016 0 comment

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