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Come Party With Me: Almost Meatless Thanksgiving - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:00:06 -0800

Kick-start your Thanksgiving meal with a refreshing sangria-style glass of white wine. Made a day in advance, this wine is infused with oranges, Grand Marnier, and Pernod. Bay leaves and whole cloves give it an herbaceous, aromatic appeal that's sure to pair perfectly with baked brie and walnuts.

For the main course, select a versatile wine varietal that can support a lot of flavors. An affordable Chardonnay or light red are great options. Chat with your local wine shop owner for more suggestions. Tell him what you plan on serving and your budget, and he's sure to provide you with lots of ideas. For the orange wine recipe - this would also make a great Thanksgiving hostess gift! - read more.

Spiced Orange Wine
From Gourmet

Ingredients

2 (750-ml) bottles dry white wine
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier
1/4 cup Pernod
2 whole cloves
4 Turkish or 2 California bay leaves
2 navel oranges

Directions

Bring all ingredients except oranges to a boil (reserve wine bottles and corks), stirring until sugar has dissolved.
Remove zest from oranges in a continuous spiral using a vegetable peeler and cut off any white pith with a paring knife. Reserve oranges for another use and divide zest between empty wine bottles.
Fill bottles with orange wine and cool, uncorked, 1 hour.
Cork bottles, then chill at least 4 hours.

Makes 2 (750-ml) bottles.

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Happy Hour: Sage Sangria

partysugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:00:50 -0700

Just because Summer is long gone but that doesn't mean you have to stop enjoying sangria. Depending on the ingredients you employ, the wine-based punch can be sipped all year round. Instead of using a warm-weather fruit like peaches, this sangria is infused with Fall's most woody herb, sage. The recipe is simple, but the resulting drink is complex and earthy, perfect for sipping in front of a roaring fire. Honey adds a subtle sweetness and the sage makes this concoction an ideal pairing for any Autumnal dinner. Want the easy recipe? Keep reading.

Happy Hour: Basil Sangria

partysugar — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:00:50 -0700

From wine spritzers to cabernet caipirinhas, this Summer, I've been all about sipping wine-based cocktails. The one I'm most infatuated with is sangria. I've experimented with tropical fruit sangria and floral liquor sangria. However, before I made this version, I had never enjoyed a sangria with fresh herbs. The star of this sangria is basil. It infuses the wine with an aromatic earthiness. Fresh-squeezed orange juice further flavors the sangria and club soda provides a subtle effervescence. To enjoy this refreshing drink, that's perfect for sipping on the deck, get the recipe and read more.

Basil Sangria
From Food & Wine

I was unable to find Thai-basil at my grocery store, so I simply used regular basil.

Ingredients

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
8 Thai basil sprigs
Zest of 1 lemon, peeled in 3-inch strips
Zest of 1 orange, peeled in 3-inch strips
2 bottles chilled Pinot Grigio
3/4 cup brandy
1/2 cup fresh orange juice, strained
Ice
Chilled club soda
12 thin orange slices, for garnish

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.
Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the basil sprigs and lemon and orange zests. Let the syrup stand, stirring often, until cooled to room temperature, about 20 minutes. Discard the basil sprigs and zest strips.
In a large pitcher, combine the basil syrup with the wine, brandy and orange juice.
Pour the sangria into ice-filled glasses, top with club soda and garnish each drink with an orange slice.

Serves 12.

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Come Party With Me: Outdoor Concert - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 11:45:09 -0700

Why do I love sangria so much? Let me count the ways. It's wildly delicious and refreshing. It can easily satisfy a crowd and tastes best when made in advance. Essentially, sangria recipes takes inexpensive wine and turns it into something extraordinary. Oh, and it's perfect for sipping in the Summer at an outdoor concert!

Simply make in a pitcher with a lid and pack in a cooler. This recipe uses no hard alcohol, but instead combines wine with fresh fruit. The ingredient list calls for strawberries, peaches, and bananas, but any combination of fruit works well. To take a look at it, read more.

Sangria
From Gourmet

Ingredients

1/ 2 pound strawberries, washed and halved
2 ripe peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
2 bananas, peeled and sliced
juice and rind of 1 lemon
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 bottles ordinary red wine
ice

Directions
In a large pitcher put strawberries, peaches, bananas, the lemon juice and rind, sugar, and cinnamon. Add red wine and stir the mixture thoroughly, mashing the fruit slightly. Let the sangria stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour. Just before serving, add about 20 ice cubes and stir the mixture briskly until it is ice cold.

Serves 8-10.

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Happy Hour: Peach and Mango Sangria

partysugar — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:00:02 -0700

Recently my parents hosted an impromptu barbecue. When I asked if I could make the specialty cocktail, my dad said, "nah, that's too much work." Then I politely reminded him that a specialty cocktail doesn't always involve muddling and exotic spirits. It can be as simple as a chilled sangria. Since sangria is my classic fall-back cocktail, he caved and let me experiment with a new mango-peach variation. Although the recipe doesn't require the sangria to be made in advance, I threw it together a few hours before the party to allow time for the flavors to blend. Choose peaches and mangoes that aren't too ripe, you want them to hold their shape when sliced. Beware: this sangria is wildly crowd-pleasing. I doubled the recipe, but ended up making four more batches throughout the night! To check it out, read more.

Mango-Peach Sangria
From Food & Wine

Ingredients

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1 cup Grand Marnier
1 bottle Viognier
1 mango, chopped
2 peaches, cut into thin wedges
1/4 cup mint

Directions

In a saucepan, cook the sugar and water until the sugar dissolves; transfer to a pitcher and refrigerate until cold.
Stir in the Grand Marnier, Viognier, mango, peaches and mint and serve over ice.

Serves 4.

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Happy Hour: Blackberry and Cabernet Caipirinha

partysugar — Fri, 29 May 2009 16:00:12 -0700

After being inspired by San Francisco Cocktail Week, I've decided that this Summer, I'm going to experiment with different spirits and mixers. First up is the Brazilian sugarcane rum known as cachaça. The caipirinha is the classic cocktail that features cachaça. Normally it consists of muddled lime and sugar, but this recipe takes a sangria-like approach to the drink and combines the potent rum with red wine, fresh citrus juice, and smashed blackberries.

The final concoction is punchy, flavorful, and wildly fruity. Be careful though: while this caipirinha is perfect for sipping on a warm afternoon, it's a deceptively potent cocktail. Enjoy one too many and you may end up passed out on the couch. The straightforward recipe is ideal for a party because it's easy to double (or triple as I did) the batch. It requires at least one hour of chill time, so mix it well before your event begins. Check out the recipe and read more.

Blackberry and Cabernet Caipirinha
From Duggan McDonnell of Cantina

Ingredients

24 blackberries
4 ounces simple syrup
12 ounces cachaça (potent Brazilian sugarcane spirit)
4 ounces Cabernet Sauvignon
8 ounces fresh orange juice
2 ounces fresh lime juice
Ice
6 lime wheels and 6 orange wheels

Directions

In a pitcher, muddle 12 of the blackberries with the simple syrup.
Add the cachaça, Cabernet, and the orange and lime juices and refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour.
Stir well and strain the drink into ice-filled white wine glasses. Garnish with the remaining 12 blackberries and the lime and orange wheels.

Makes 6 drinks.

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Happy Hour: Sangria Flora

partysugar — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:00:39 -0700

Last weekend I hosted my first outdoor dinner of the season. While I had grand plans to serve a crazy new cocktail, in the end, I went with a crowd-pleasing standby, sangria.

Sangria is one of my favorite drinks to pour at a party because it's wildly refreshing, can be made in advance, and serves a large group. From white to red to sparkling to rosé, there's hundreds of recipes, so I rarely make the same variation twice. This time, we sipped a white-wine sangria spiked with elderflower liquor. It was wonderful! It's slightly sweet and floral, incredibly fruity, and highly drinkable. My guests went through three pitchers in a matter of minutes.

If you're planning a warm-weather get-together, put this easy concoction on the menu. To give the fruit time to flavor the alcohol, assemble several hours in advance. For the recipe, read more.

Sangria Flora
From Food & Wine

Ingredients

One 750-milliliter bottle Sauvignon Blanc
1 1/2 cups St-Germain elderflower liqueur (or elderflower cordial)
1/4 cup Cointreau
6 strawberries, sliced 1/4 inch thick
6 raspberries
2 peaches, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 orange, thinly sliced crosswise
1 pound green and red grapes
Ice

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a pitcher and let stand at room temperature for 3 hours, or cover and refrigerate overnight.
Serve in wineglasses over ice.

Serves 6-8.

Note: Peaches weren't in season, so I left them out of the sangria. There was a buy one get one free sale going on at my grocery store for strawberries and instead of using raspberries, I doubled the amount of strawberries.

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Come Party With Me: My Half Birthday - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:50:18 -0800

Months ago, I ripped this recipe for rose sangria out of Food and Wine magazine. The recipe has haunted me - I've tried to make it several times, but on each occasion, I've run into problems. The first shot I didn't realize the syrup needed a night to macerate. The second try I thought I had Port in my wine rack, but didn't. The third attempt I could no longer find fresh cranberries at the local market. However, I've decided I WILL make it for my half birthday picnic. There is plenty of time between now and then for me to make sure I have all of the necessary ingredients. A batch can be whipped up in advance and kept chilled in a cooler on the ride out to the Hog Island Oyster Company farm.

Besides the sangria, I'll pack beer, water, and champagne. To look at the recipe, read more.

Rosé Sangria With Cranberries and Apples
From Food and Wine

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 large cinnamon stick
4 allspice berries
3 whole cloves
1 star anise pod
2 cups cranberries
2 Granny Smith apples, diced
One 750-milliliter bottle Spanish rosé
1/3 cup ruby port
1/3 cup Cointreau
1/3 cup cranberry juice
Ice cubes, for serving

Directions

In a saucepan, mix the water, sugar, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and star anise. Simmer the syrup over moderately low heat for 15 minutes.
Strain into a bowl and add the cranberries and apples. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Strain the fruit, reserving the spiced syrup.
In a large pitcher, mix the rosé with the port, Cointreau, cranberry juice, fruit, and 3/4 cup of the spiced syrup. Refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour. Serve over ice.

Serves 12.

Make Ahead: the sangria can be refrigerated for up to 6 hours.

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Come Party With Me: Chinese New Year - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 12:30:25 -0800

For a large dinner party select a specialty cocktail that can be made in advance and in a large batch. This recipe for a white wine sangria gets an Asian twist with the addition of canned lychees and sake. It will pair perfectly with spring rolls and Chinese noodles.

To make it a truly festive celebration stock up on Asian beer (Tsingtao is a nice option) and good sipping sake (I like Sake One's selection). To check out the recipe for the shinsei sangria, read more.

Shinsei Sangria
From Food and Wine Cocktails 2008

Ingredients

3 pears, sliced
3 oranges, sliced
6 Granny Smith apples, sliced
24 canned lychees, drained
1 1/2 pineapples, peeled and cut into large chunks
One 750-milliliter bottle vodka
One 750-milliliter bottle Sauvignon Blanc or other dry, citrusy white wine
One 750-milliliter bottle sake
Ice

Directions

In an airtight container or large bowl covered with plastic wrap, combine all of the ingredients except the ice and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
Strain the mixture into a punch bowl, discarding all of the fruit except for the lychees.
Add enough ice to chill the sangria to serving temperature. Serve in ice-filled white wine glasses.

Makes 18 drinks.

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Come Party With Me: Election Night - Drinks

partysugar — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:00:24 -0700

Elixir, the bar where LibertySugar and I are hosting our town-hall style election-night bash, is offering guests a selection of drinking specials for the party. With fabulous names like "Bye Bye Miss American Rye," the menu will feature only American brands like Bluecoat gin, Square One vodka, and Sam Adams brew. I plan on ordering the "Red, White, and Night" a potent, sangria-like concoction made with vodka, red wine, and lemonade. To serve up this slinger at your own election-night soirée, get the recipe and read more.

Red, White, and Night
Inspired by Elixir

Ingredients

3 ounces red wine
1 ounce simple syrup
1 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce vodka

Directions

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice combine the wine with the simple syrup, lemon juice, and vodka.
Shake for 30-45 seconds.
Strain into another glass filled with ice and enjoy!

Makes 1 cocktail.

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