Lemons, flamenco, and a summer sangria recipe
It's an upside-down summer day.
A thank-goodness-it's-almost-Friday day.
A tomorrow-is-my-friend-Cindy's-50th-birthday day.
So please, just for today, make the recipe first. Get it into the fridge. You'll have plenty of time to read all about the lemon and its many attributes while the sangria is chilling.
Sangria
Of course you'll want to invite some friends to celebrate the end of the week, or even the birthday of someone you don't know, so double or triple this traditional recipe.
Ingredients
1 bottle red wine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1/4 cup Triple Sec, Cointreau or brandy (optional)
1-2 cups sparkling water
Directions
Add the sugar, water and the end fruit slices (6 total from the ends of the lemon, lime and orange) to a pan and heat until boiling and all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Meanwhile, pour the wine (and optional Triple Sec) into a big pitcher and add the uncooked fruit slices. After the syrup has cooled, remove the end slices and add the syrup to the pitcher. Squeeze as much juice out of the end pieces as you can into the pitcher and then discard. Stir.
Make this a couple of hours before serving, or the day before, and refrigerate. When you are ready to serve, add a cup or more of the sparkling water, to your taste. Serve over ice.
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Okay. Your sangria's chilling?
Now it's time to kick back.
Listen to the wonderful flamenco guitar of the incomparable Paco Peña, sip some cold sangria, and read everything you ever wanted to know about lemons.
And if you feel like some tapas -- and how could you not, with the music and wine to influence you? -- prepare some small plates of calamari salad, marrow beans, artichokes, or shrimp in garlic.
It's an upside-down summer day, hazy, hot and humid, and we're taking it easy.
More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Lemon-currant johnnycake biscotti
Zucchini-lemon muffins
Spiced lentils with squash and raisins
Lemon-yogurt cake
Confetti spaghetti
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Is this Ted's famous recipe? By chance? Regardless, I'm making it. I'm overdue for a little hit o'sangria this summer, and my no-fail recipe is also one that starts with 9 liters of wine, so it's, um, really only appropriate for me and 50 of my closest food blogging friends to drink all together...
Sangria is trully one of favorites. Ever since my job as a server i learned to love sangria!!
This sounds great. I will definitely be trying this on the weekend. I always feel silly when I buy bottles of sangria.
Refreshing. I love sangria and make pitchers of it often for our grill parties! Sometimes I add a splash of prosecco to get it more bubbly!
Welcome back from SF...good to see ya in the pics at Kalyn's site.
I love Sangria and the possibilities are endless for combos.
that´s interesting, I´ve never seen sparkling water added to sangría. we usually make it with "Casera", a sort of white lemonade like Sprite, or with a bottled lemon drink. Lazy people...
Love the music while reading the post!
Just in time! My brother and his family will be visiting in two weeks and I'm planning a tapas party. I was just thinking the other day, "I wonder what sangria recipe Lydia serves with her tapas?" I'll let you know how the party turns out!
You can never go wrong with sangria--definitely a fun, relaxing, summery drink, and this is coming from someone who's generally not too keen on mixed drinks. I love the first photo, too, by the way...
nice music, great home-made wine concoction and shrimps make the perfect party!
I love , love sangria and all about the Spanish South (for me the real Spain)
Perfect drink to celebrate
Looks perfect. I'd love a sip or two. ;-) Happy birthday to your friend.
Paz
It's the birthday girl here and I love Sangria. I am going to have to make it tomorrow. Thank you for the wonderful music which reminded me of my favorite painting in the Gardener museum "El Jaleo". http://jssgallery.org/paintings/El_Jaleo.htm
I'm going to add summer berries to the Sangria recipe; yum.
Oh! I love Sangria--a great summer refresher. Thanks for the reminder to make it (and your recipe sounds divine!) xo
Wonderful! I love sangria in almost any form. The best I ever had was at a Cuban restaurant in Florida, on the waterfront; the waiter brought everything separately on a tray, and mixed it up right in front of us. Several pitchers later and a few mojitos...well, it was a good trip. Lovely and refreshing recipe!
We do quite a bit of sangria in the summer. It's so refreshing!
Happy Birthday, Cindy! Sangria makes a celebration, doesn't it?
Looks great - what an awesome site!
Genie, Ted has tried a few recipes, and this is one of them. But we'd love to try your 9-liter recipe, too. That sounds like a party!
DeliciousChronicles, welcome to The Perfect Pantry. I think sangria is everyone's favorite.
Kirsten, no need to buy when it's so easy to make your own. The owner of a local wine shop advises that you not spend a fortune on the wine; just buy something moderately priced.
Meeta, prosecco is such a great idea!
Peter, we had a great time at BlogHer.
Lobster, almost anything fizzy seems to work -- I like the idea of white lemonade.
Laura, thanks. Paco Peña is one of my favorites.
TW, sounds like you have a very fun family! A tapas party is a great idea, especially if your family is hands-on and likes to help with the prep. I do have some great tapas recipes that I'll be posting in the next few weeks.
Mike, thank you. The photo was an afterthought -- taken in haste, in the kitchen, with flash -- but when I looked at it afterward, I really liked it.
Noobcook, wouldn't it be fun if we could all get together for sangria and flamenco?!
Sylvia, you're absolutely right. I hope Cindy celebrates her birthday with some of this sangria.
Paz, I'm sure sangria is good for whatever ails you!
Cindy, happy birthday!!!
Rebecca, divine, and oh-so-easy.
Marilyn, I've never seen sangria mixed at tableside. That must have been grand! I love those over-the-top theatrical presentations of food, don't you?
Andrea, I've been making lots of tapas lately, and lots of sangria to go along with those menus. Great for summer.
Susan, you betcha.
Meredith, thank you.
Do you think it would be good with white wine? I can't have red. :(
I don't even like sangria, but your photo and narrative make me want to make some anyway!
what a fantastic blog you have!!!
Lydia, you know you don't need to convince me of using lemons, right? :)
I love sangria!
Yum! Sangria is so good. Maxine made a good sangria recipe awhile back. Love yours too!
Hi Lydia,
A perfect summer beverage! I also make it in cooler months when I am serving spicy food at a dinner party. No one seems to mind :-)
Have a great weekend and enjoy the 50th birthday party.
nora
Peabody, I'll bet it would be delicious with a robust white wine.
Ann, my work is done!
Bee, thanks for visiting, and for your kind words.
Patricia, I know this is something you will enjoy!
Hillary, there are so many delicious variations of sangria; it's hard to go wrong!
Nora, I think the sweetness of the sangria is a perfect match for spicy food, but of course I am a bit partial to anything spicy...
sangria with lemon sounds fantastic!
I made the sangria to go with our dinner last night. It was yummy! Thanks for the recipe.
Oh I love the feel of this post... somehow you have managed to capture the feel of my vacation (although that might have more to do with all the wine & tapas bars I've visited while traveling, and yes, many kinds of sangrias I've sampled!) Thank you for prolonging my trip a few moments longer! This recipe is divine!
Dhanggit, this is really delicious. Please try it!
Paula, hooray -- I love to get feedback like this. Hope you had a wonderful party.
Sandie, by now you are probably home, but I hope that reading this will remind you of some of the good spirit of your vacation. Or, mix up a pitcher of sangria, listen to the music, and get back to that "vacation place"!
Hola Chica-I haven't checked to see where you are but an invite to WEEKLY flamenco juergas in Harrisburg PA is open to you if you are ever near here...my sangria recipe (straight from my close Spanish friend in Spain) is literally the cheapest red wine, a 2 liter of orange or lemon DRINK not soda, a good slosh of rum or vodka or whatever (usually a whole 5th) NUTMEG, CINAMMON and SUGAR and a whole whack of fresh fruit. If you add the spices you will never make it without again. It is so amazing.....so come on over down or up to Harrisburg for some flamenco in the kitchen (no really, RIGHT next to the pantry) (every Friday for the last 17 years) :)
Kim [email protected]
Oh....I probably should have put this in the last comment: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4PBkMD-6KMU This is a video taken one evening a few years ago in la cocina flamenca, a friends kitchen. Welcome to all who pass through Harrisburg PA who love flamenco (every Friday night just email me)...
Chicaflamenca, I've never heard of sangria with cinnamon, but I am definitely going to try it! And after watching your video, I think we might all be detouring to Harrisburg on a Friday night.