Summer’s heat has me pondering my favorite warm-weather cocktails — mojitos (especially fabulous when muddled with mint plucked from your own garden), the margarita (but I’ll take a rocks margarita mixed with quality tequila any time of the year), and sangria.
Nothing goes down easier than a refreshing glass of fruity sangria. (My thought process reverses course to recall a memorable glass of sangria sipped in the Plaza Mayor of Madrid, or was it was Salamanca, the summer between my junior and senior years of college. Oh that was one of the best summers ever.)
But back to the recipe at hand. Whenever I make paella at home, this sangria serves as the house cocktail. I imagine it would feature nicely at a saucy little tapas party too.
- 1 lemon, sliced
- 1 lime, sliced
- 1 orange, sliced
- 1 cup rum
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 bottle dry red wine, chilled
- 1 cup orange juice
- Combine the fruit, rum and sugar in a glass pitcher. Chill for at least 2 hours to develop the flavors. When ready to serve, stir in the wine and orange juice. You may add any fruit you like at this point such as strawberries, apples, peaches and/or grapes.
-alyce eyster
might make a margarita…maybe some liquor will put me to sleep