Augh what a weekend! My sister popped up from Hobart on Friday so we went for a very quick bite to eat at Mamasita (delish) followed by a trip to the footy (Cats vs Hawks). Now we’re not massive fans of football (and we don’t particularly support either of these teams) but this was one of the best games I have EVER seen! We decided to go for the Cats which is my niece’s team (which she chose because she likes pussy cats – cute!). On the final siren the cats ended up kicking the winning goal… nail biting stuff! There’s nothing like the atmosphere of the footy at the MCG, a real Melbourne night out!
Sunday was a very busy day baking, photographing and celebrating as we had Seb’s Aunty’s 70th birthday that afternoon (HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER - I know you’re reading this). She’s Adeline & Lumiere’s biggest fan! So to help celebrate I made a few little goodies. I started off with a batch of Madeleines, these are now my fail-proof, fall-back recipe (check out my recipe for these here). I also made a little something else… but you might have to wait until next week to see what that is!
For this weeks post I decided to make a batch of wonderfully spicy, winter-warming mulled wine. My friend Jenna has been talking about mulled wine for the past few weeks which inspired me to make some for myself! And with the end of winter just around the corner (THANK GOODNESS!) I thought I’d better get a wriggle on. I’ve read quite a few recipes for mulled wine, all of which vary quite significantly. My recipe has taken (in my opinion) the best ingredients and techniques from a range of recipes and tweaked them again for good measure. I’ve said this before; I’m no wine connoisseur and I’m DEFINITELY not a mulled wine connoisseur either but I think this tastes delicious. Of course it goes without saying, if it doesn’t have enough ‘zing’ for your liking, add a few more spices to taste.
Happy hiccup drinking.
x e.
Best Ever Mulled Wine
750ml red wine
150g castor sugar
1/2 cup orange juice
peel of one lemon
peel of one orange
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
5 cloves
1 tsp fresh nutmeg
pinch of ginger
1. Place all ingredient except the wine into a large saucepan and place on medium heat. Add just a small glug of red wine to the pan to ensure the sugar is covered and let it cook for 4-5 minutes until it becomes thick and sticky. This should let all the spices infuse well.
2. Once the mixture has become sticky enough, add the rest of the wine and turn down the heat. You don’t want the wine to boil otherwise all the alcohol will evaporate!!! Let cook for 5 minutes and serve hot with slices with fresh orange.
Let’s go find a log cabin and drink mulled wine!