The Easiest Way to Make Mulled Wine

~  Menu  ~

Creamy Peppered Salmon Pâté

Nubbly Toast

Glass of White Wine

A modicum of Vanilla Ice Cream with a drizzle of Mulled Wine Syrup

I had peppered salmon for dinner last night – just fillet of salmon generously sprinkled with ground pepper and pan fried.  That’s it, simples!  It was very good with sautéed potatoes, salad and Alfredo Sauce but I couldn’t eat it all – luckily!

Today I was considering a simple salmon salad sarnie but I spied the remnants of a pack of Boursin in the fridge so I pestled or mortared, or whatever the verb is, the salmon and the cheese together and loosened the mixture with a little cream and a squeeze of lemon.  It was so good one would have thought I’d planned it!

This morning I made some Mulled Wine Syrup for Christmas and had a little too much to go into my allocated bottle.  I drizzled it over a little vanilla ice cream and tidied it away - what would you do? 

Mulled Wine Syrup

This makes 75ml which, as luck would have it is sufficient to mull one bottle of wine and 2 tbsp of syrup is enough to mull 1 standard glass of wine.

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1 orange

1 lemon

250g light brown sugar

60ml red wine

1 cinnamons stick

1 vanilla pod

2 slices of fresh ginger

a generous grating of nutmeg

~   Remove the zest from both fruits in long strips – make sure not to get any of the white pith involved.

~   Squeeze the juice from the orange (set the bald lemon aside to do something else with sometime) and put in a small (non reactive is best) pan with the zests, the sugar and the red wine.

~   Stir together over medium heat till the sugar has melted.

~   Add the spices, turn up the heat and cook at a gentle boil for about 5 minutes to form a light syrup.

~   Cool to room temperature before removing the spices then strain the syrup pressing on the debris to get out all the delicious juices.

~   Pour into a clean bottle and keep in a cool place till needed.

How to Use Mulled Wine Syrup

Warm the syrup gently over low heat, add the red wine and heat through.  Don’t allow to boil or some of the alcohol will evaporate off.  Speaking of alcohol a little brandy could advantageously be added to the glass when serving.

Useful tip ~ to clean the pan warm a little wine in it stirring till the syrup has melted and have yourself a tester.

My opinion ~ this is a much better way of mulling wine than the traditional method of heating a whole bottle of wine with the flavourings; quicker and easier at the time of serving and, crucially, a lot less wasteful of Alcohol!

This is just one of over 50 recipes in my book Easy Festive Food for a Stress Free Christmas ...

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