Linda’s Tips and Travel Notes

Fred Tasker, Miami Herald wine columnist gave these sangria party suggestions and recipes on Linda Gassenheimer’s WLRN NPR radio show, Food News and Views.

The perfect wine for a party featuring paella is good old Sangria. It’s really a wine punch. It’s casual and it’s fun and it’s cheap — so you can serve it when you have lots of guests.

Sangria was invented – although invented is probably too strong a word – in Valencia, the sunny Spanish province between Madrid and the Mediterranean. Valencia was also where paella was invented, and the two grew up together.

Sangria came to be because the wines of Valencia, mostly reds, in olden days were so powerful and tannic they were hard to drink by themselves. So you cut up a few famous Valencia oranges, maybe some lemons, toss in a little sugar and made it far more drinkable.

That’s basic Sangria. But even in Valencia, every family soon had its own recipe. And today millions of wine fans around the world have their own recipes.

Today a basic Sangria recipe might be a bottle of cheap red wine, a tablespoon of sugar, a shot glass of brandy, orange and lemon juice to taste and sliced oranges and lemons to boot. Let it sit in the fridge overnight to blend, then, if you like, add an eight-ounce bottle of seltzer or club soda.
Or you can use white wine, and call it Sangria Blanca.

But if you google sangria today you’ll see that other people add gin or vodka or triple sec, others add chunks of peaches, pears, apples, even strawberries and cooked-down cranberries. If you really want to be trendy, I suppose you could add pomegranate and call it an anti-oxidant health drink.

You want it spicy, you can add two red chiles – seeded and quartered. That’ll make you thirsty for more.

Maybe the best part is that you don’t need top-quality wine in this. All the other ingredients cover up its taste anyway. So a $5 bottle of any red or white wine will do fine.

Oh, and if I wanted to make a Catalonian Sangria for Linda’s Catalonian Paella, I’d make it with Cava, the sparkling white wine from that region. Then you have sparkling Sangria.

Basic Sangria

• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 2 ounces brandy (optional)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Juice of 1 large orange
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 1 large orange, sliced thin crosswise
• 1 large lemon, sliced thin crosswise
• 1 cup club soda

Combine ingredients except for club soda in a large punch bowl or pitcher, mixing well. Refrigerate overnight. Add club soda just before serving. Serve chilled, over ice.

Serves 4.

White Sangria

• Apple juice, for ice cubes
• 1 1/4 cups (10 fl. oz) water
• 1 small bunch fresh mint
• 1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz) sugar
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 3 1/4 cups (26 fl. oz) dry white wine
• 2 medium peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 2 small pears, cut into chunks
• 2 medium oranges, sliced crosswise
• 2 small lemons, sliced crosswise
• 3 cups (24 fl. oz) sparkling apple cider (for adults, you can substitute one bottle dry white wine)
• Mint leaves, to garnish (optional)

To make the apple juice ice cubes, pour the apple juice into two ice trays and freeze until the sangría is ready to serve.

Combine the water, mint leaves, sugar, and cinnamon in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for several minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, remove and discard the mint and cinnamon sticks.

Transfer the remaining mixture to a large serving bowl. Add the wine, peaches, pears, and the orange and lemon slices to the serving bowl. Mix well, and refrigerate overnight. Immediately before serving, mix in the sparkling apple cider and the apple juice ice cubes. Garnish with fresh mint leaves, if desired.

From www.spain-recipes.com/white_sangria.html

Cranberry Orange Sangria

· 1 cup water

· 1/4 cup sugar

· 2 whole cloves

· 1 cinnamon stick

· juice of 3 lemons

· 2 lemons sliced thin

· juice of 3 oranges

· 2 oranges sliced thin

· 1 cup cranberries

· 1 bottle white wine

· 4 tablespoons brandy

· ½ pint strawberries, halved.

· 1 cup seltzer

Combine water, sugar, cloves, cinnamon stick, lemon and orange juice and cranberries – reserving sliced fruit. Simmer over medium heat until all cranberries have burst. Remove pan from heat. Add tea bags, and let steep for 5 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove solids. Put in large pitcher, add wine and brandy, strawberries and orange and lemon slices. Refrigerate overnight. Add seltzer just before serving. Serve over ice.