Mulled Wine
Ingredients
2 bottles of full bodied red wine (Ottonal Rioja)
2 Clementine’s
1 Lemon
1 Lime
150g Soft brown sugar
6 Cloves
1 Cinnamon stick
2 Bay leaves
1 Star anise
1 Vanilla pod
1tbsp Ginger syrup
Splash of dark rum
Fresh nutmeg
Special Equipment
Muslin Cloth
Cooking String
Method:
- Pour half of one of the 2 bottles of wine into a large, heavy based pan and use a speed peeler to add large pieces of peel off the clementines, lemon and lime into the pan.
- Halve the clementines and squeeze the juice into the pan. Add the sugar.
- Place the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and star anise in a mortar and crush with the pestle but don’t grind down to a powder. Tie these up in a small sheet of muslin cloth and tie together well with the cooking string. Add to the pan.
- Slice the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds. Add both the seeds and the pod to the wine.
- Bring the wine up to the boil whilst stirring to help the sugar to dissolve. Keep the wine boiling rapidly for about 6 – 7 minutes until you get a thick syrupy consistency that just covers the back of a spoon.
- Turn the heat down to a simmer and then add the ginger syrup along with a couple of gratings of fresh nutmeg.
- Pour in the remaining wine and the dark rum and heat through very gently. This will take around 5 minutes but be careful not to boil the wine again as the alcohol will burn off. Serve immediately.