How to make Sangría! Olé!

Sangría is the traditional Spanish version of a wine spritzer…

We have been focusing on España for our Spanish Course Soleado. And, speaking of Spain, what could be more perfect for a warm summer evening than Sangría?

So last week we decided to do a video of Patricia making Sangria. The video (how to make Sangria while learning a bit of Spanish at the same time) is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLQHXQ_4kCQ&feature=youtu.be. The recipe is below.  And for your amusement, at the very end, I have included a bit about making the video…

pouring the vino tinto into the jarra – just look at that light!

Here is the recipe (receta) for Sangría en español (and in English también!)

Sangría	Sangria
Paso 1.	Step 1.
una botella  de vino tinto (un vino tinto de España, claro)	one bottle of red wine from Spain, of course
de 2 a 6 cucharadas de azúcar	*2-6 tbsp. sugar
una copita de brandy español	a small glass of Spanish brandy
Mix until sugar is dissolved. *Note that you won’t need to add any sugar if you use a lemon-lime pop such as 7Up instead of club soda.
Paso 2.	Step 2.
dos naranjas de Valencia	two oranges from Valencia
un limón	a lemon
una lima	a lime
Slice some perfect ‘wheels’ from the middle of the citrus fruits. Cut these wheels in half, remove any seeds and put into the pitcher for decoration. Then squeeze the juice from the remaining bits n’ pieces into the sangria. las frutas: naranja, limón y lima Note: other fruit can also be used, cut-up and apples (manzanas) and peaches (duraznos) being the most popular.
Step 3.  (Optional) Store in the refrigerator for a few hours to allow the flavours to meld and the sangria to chill.
Step 4.  Just before serving add:
unos cubitos de heilo	ice cubes
una lata de soda club	**a tin of club soda (or 7Up)

*EVEN MORE ABOUT SUGAR: When we first discussed making the Sangria, Patricia was horrified at how much sugar some people put in their sangria – 6 tablespoons! When I finally got to try the finished sangria using her recipe, I found the result quite tart and ended up adding more sugar to my glass. In fact, I would personally recommend 5 or 6 tbsp. if you are using club soda for the fizz. Patricia later admitted to usually adding a litre of 7Up to her sangria. How much sugar is there in a litre of 7Up? Probably 6 tbsp, at least! The sangria lasted several days and over this time period I tried several additions to sweeten it up – ginger ale (didn’t work) and Triple Sec (WOW!). 

**MORE ABOUT  SODA: I prefer to add the club soda directly into the wine glass for a nice fizzy finish… 

Serve in a regular wine glass. Enjoy!

Serve the Sangría in a regular wine glass. Personally I prefer adding the club soda to the glass just after pouring for a perfect ‘fizz’. We served a spicy olive tapa with the Sangria.

Manchego cheese, a sharp sheep’s cheese from Spain, is another easy tapa that goes perfectly with Sangria. If you can’t find manchego cheese, I have also seen ‘pepper jack’ recommended.

A bit about videotaping

We set up at about 5:30 when the light was absolutely spectacular. Of course, I hadn’t realized that at this time of day everything would be backlit, and when I did realize it, I completely forgot about the lamp attachment for the camera that is designed to help with situations like this. My only excuse was that I had been running around like a madwoman, trying to find the ‘perfect’ vino español, Spanish brandy, oranges from Valencia, photogenic limes and lemons, ‘tapas’, una jarra, etc. etc.