Travels for Taste

Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice

Vin Chaud – Hot French Mulled Wine with Red Wine

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Last week Sunday was mostly grey and rainy , but I wasn’t feeling blue about the weather, I spent the day mostly curled up with a good book watching Netflix with the hubster around. We also decided that since it was the day the lights went on at Regent’s street it was the perfect day to get out the ladder and reach for the large brown carton which contains amongst other odds and ends our plastic Christmas tree neatly folded and wrapped, all our precious baubles and ….the neatly wrapped bundle of lights…..

As the crowds gathered around to watch the lights go on at Regents Street around 3pm, as hubster was gently snoring away after a rather delicious (if I may say so myself) meal of fried king fish, red lentil curry and rice, I decided that it was perfect time to take stock of what was in my store cupboard and check on my dried fruits which are now steeping in a rather rich alcohol base – ready for the day I will make the Christmas pudding. It was then that I found a beautiful tin with 2 packets of gorgeous spices to make Mulled wine, which was part of my goody bag given during July at the Christmas Show by waitrose.

There is something absolutely magical and heartwarming about opening a packet of spices , it is like flipping through an old album, happy memories of holidays spent with family , turkey carved, gifts unwrapped on Christmas morning….. all seem to come tumbling out of my blue tin spice jar which has a picture of Santa pulling his sleigh along the snow. The light brown tightly curled cinnamon sticks and hard dried orange sitting amongst deep red dried berries and fragrant cardamom… like a bouquet of aromas…

Waitrose Cellar had sent me a case of carefully picked red wines to let me experiment and come up with a recipe for mulled wine, from a country of my choice and taking inspiration from their Mulled wine page .They have a beautiful collection of recipes for mulled wines from around the world.  They also sent as part of the case a bottle of wine that was mulled by their team of wine experts.

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I remembered reading a recipe for Vin Chaud  or Hot French Mulled Wine on  David Lebovitz’s blog long ago and I knew I wanted to pick this French version of mulled wine and create it using the red wine – Marqués de Calatrava Organic Selecci´on Reservada Tempranillo from my wine case sent by Waitrose. Priced at £8.99 it is described as having notes of juicy strawberry with subtle spices and vanilla. This  fruity red made from Tempranillo grapes grown in the La Mancha region. It is a medium to full-bodied wine with a rich palate. It sounded apt for making Vin Chaud as it would marry well with the ginger and pepper required in the recipe used by David Lebovitz, which was inspired by a recipe Food52 cookbook. He has very rightly mentioned that adding cinnamon into the Vin Chaud which is actually made with white wine, overpowers the taste of the other warming spices in the hot French mulled wine.

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I also found another recipe for Vin Chaud by Rebecca Franklin a French food expert on about.com and it recommends the addition of cinnamon and cognac –  now Cognac –  I am a huge fan of. Friends who know me well, tire of my boring old way of almost always ordering a large peg of cognac with hot water when we go out during winter season. It’s just something to do with the rich, strong ,smooth and warm drink sipped slowly that warms my blood ,like a mini warm toasty log-fire inside my body, an internal thermostat of sorts…  🙂

So I decided to use combine both the recipes and both hubster and me are really satisfied with the end result. So much so that we ended up greedily pouring ourselves a more than generous portion of the Vin Chaud to perilous after effects which involved both us falling fast asleep while the tv played a few episodes of Breaking Bad to no one in particular – humm

Note to self – do not guzzle wine on an empty stomach especially Vin Chaud made with a large ‘splash’ of Cognac added in….

This warm festive mulled wine infused with hot spices and spiked with Cognac, honey and pepper is a great choice for serving at Christmas Parties and for sipping on co during cold, winter evenings – imagine drinking this fab French mulled wine in the dead of winter when you have just stepped in after braving the wretched winter winds , as the heating and warm socks work their effect on the outside, the hot wine induces a sense of warmth and festivity within – no one will judge you if you do go a bit overboard…

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Vin Chaud – Hot French Mulled Wine

Serves:6

Ingredients:

  •  1 bottle of Marqués de Calatrava Organic Selecci´on Reservada Tempranillo
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 3 cloves
  • 2 slices ginger
  • 1 whole star anise
  • 1/4 cup i.e 60ml Cognac
  • 1 dried orange slice
  • a generous sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper

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Method:

  • Pour the red wine into a saucepan add in all the ingredients and simmer over the lowest setting on your hob.
  • Keep stirring and do not allow the wine to boil
  • Heat until the wine begins to bring up steam
  • Strain using a sieve or a cheesecloth lined funnel
  • Pour into glasses and enjoy the warm, spicy mulled wine.

I do hope this festive Hot French mulled wine warms the cockles of your heart this winter. Cheers!

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*With thanks to Waitrose Cellar . No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own. Thanks to David Lebovitz for his inspiring post on Vin Chaud.

Christmas Pudding

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Last year we had a supermarket pudding , the intense flavours, the dry fruits steeped in alcohol the soft delicious feeling of putting a spoon through a perfectly set pudding on christmas night ummmm… I decided that the next time I MUST make one at home !After sifting through a few recipes I knew it had to be Nigella’s Ultimate Christmas pudding.

I have now promised myself that I shall plan months ahead and soak the sultanas much in advance but well this year I soaked the sultanas and a nut mix for 2 nights in sherry. The variations in ingredients recommended by Nigella are my use of a regular apple, supermarket sherry and a currant and dry fruit mix off a shelf. But the resultant mixture and the process of slow steaming gave me a deep rich colour, a lovely texture and 2 yes two puddings instead of one and that is what was the MOST satisfying part of this process! Landing up with 2 awesome well set perfect puddings , one to eat at home and one to share with a special close pal made christmas special 🙂

Oh yes and a big thank you to Lakeland for making such an awesome product, my pudding steamer with a lid that fits so well and is really easy to clean. The pudding just slipped out after a gentle tap and sigh…. I couldn’t stop admiring the perfect shape, the dark colour …I almost burst into song !

Well now for the list of Ingredients:

  1. 150 grams prunes – mine were soaked in syrup and came from a cam but they served the purpose just the same, I squeezed the syrup out before adding them to the sultanas.If yours are out of a packet they need to be snipped into smaller bits.
  2. 150 grams sultanas
  3. 150 grams currants or a currants and nut mix for puddings available in all leading supermarkets.
  4. 175 ml sherry of your choice
  5. 100 grams plain flour
  6. 125 grams white breadcrumbs
  7. 150 grams suet – I used beef suet, if you are considering a vegetarian option I haven’t used vegetable suet , if anyone has tried it please share your experience.
  8. 1/4 ground cloves
  9. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon – I used a ready-made powder
  10. 3 medium eggs
  11. 150 grams dark muscovado sugar
  12. 1 teaspoon baking powder
  13. 1 lemon large zest and juice
  14. 1 cooking apple (ideally) peeled and grated , I used 2 small red apples.
  15. 2 tablespoons honey
  16. 125 ml Vodka

Method:

  • This mixture gives 2 full-sized puddings , I have a 1 litre pudding steamer with lid from Lakeland and I had enough to make two full-sized puddings.
  • I must say our pudding is still sitting on a plate as I type this on the last day of 2012 , it’s asking to be microwaved and gobbled with some Remy Martin laced cream lying in fridge left over from Christmas, we had it Champagne cream on Christmas day and I assure you we had a feast and some very sleepy house guests after that …yes made me chuckle with satisfaction too.
  • Mix the sultanas,prunes and currants into a large bowl and let them steep in sherry overnight or upto a week. I let them soak for 2 nights.
  • When you are to start making the pudding mix take another large bowl and add all the ingredients in any order and then stir in the soaked sultana mix, scooping all of it off from the bowl.
  • Fill a large saucepan with enough water such that your pudding basin is soaked in it and use butter to grease the pudding bin and the lid as well.
  • Add the mixture into the basin and steam for 5 hours, checking ever so often and add some water to the saucepan. I must add that my pudding basin lid fits real well and after 5 hours were done it was quite easy to remove the basin from the saucepan and leave it aside to cool . No tying of strings , no foil and no danger of burning, besides like I mentioned cleaning is a breeze.
  • Keep aside your wonderful pudding which is done now, I peaked inside and it looked so good I had to really take a deep breath and stop myself from turning it onto a plate and start digging right it, but NO it’s meant for the Big Day!
  • Ok so now on D-day, steam the pud in its basin for 3 more hours, yes I trust Nigella’s recipes and hence the success for me a first time pudding maker 🙂
  • Well after it has had its steam and had cooled to an extent when you can open it and turn it on to a serving dish , it needs a gentle tap this basin and Viola! a rich dark well set pudding is there for you to admire and show off.
  • I did not add any charm before I started to steam it and I did not flambe’ it either but by all means use vodka and flambe’ to impress your guests !

Do leave your comments !

The sultana currant and prune mix in sherry Ground some CinnamonThe SuetThe mix is almost ready to go into the basinTa - Dah ! Here it is !Sigh, Pudding Perfection , I loveeed making this !Thanks Nigella!

 

 

Chocolates n memories ummmm

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Toblerone ….It’s not JUST another chocolate

To date this awesome pyramid shaped yummie remains the single most popular chocolate that all uncles’ aunts and doting parents get for the kids on the family from a holiday abroad.

I have very very fond memories of my dad returning from work abroad with a BEEEEEGGG bag crammed with chocolates amongst other goodies.

I am a chocolate lover and have always caved in, in the ace of temptation. Before I left Mumbai to come to London early last year , the Cadbury’s new introduction SILK was my all time fav guilty treat. I kept one stashed away in the fridge even when I stayed with my in laws for a while and my father in law and me gobbled it up turn by turn of course we had to ensure the wrapper stayed crumpled in the fridge lest the watch full eye of my sweet mil was to see how fast we were downing calories into our systems!

I found new chocolate heaven in LINDT chocolates over Christmas last year though, I must say for that few minutes when you pop a LINDT into your mouth it’s like sitting under a chocolate waterfall as the tongue is enveloped in a beautifully smooth taste and every taste bud is awake and singing out aloud in pure joy, the melting chocolate transports me into food nirvana EVERY single time J

Anyway back to the TOBLERONE, I was in the supermarket  a few days back, tired after a day’s work wanted to get a nibble to satiate the rumbling in my tummy till I got home, I wandered into the chocolate aisle and there it was sitting quietly amongst the others, I for a minute thought “why something  that’s gifted to me so often” .It’s then I realised that it’s actually been a really long time since any uncles or even my dad has got me one of these .

Seems a long time away in time that I was a kid or a youngster even…

So until some doting relative or parent gets me one of these I have decided to stock up on this goody for my sweet cravings and allow each bite to take me back to some happy growing up memory.

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