Red Wine Sangria

I used to make this recipe a lot, and even made dozens of batches of it for a wedding once. It was always a recipe that I could count on the be stored safely in my brain; now I realize that might not be the best place to store something. So this brings me to last week, when I did my best to recreate that old faithful red sangria recipe. I think this pretty close to the original recipe…

In Vancouver there used to be a Spanish restaurant called La Bodega, where they served a delicious red wine sangria. A friend once told me the secret to their awesome sangria was, surprisingly, adding orange pop. And, yes, it does make a delicious drink!

What you need:

• 1 bottle red wine, chilled (nothing fancy)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Triple Sec or Cointreau (or 1/4 cup triple sec and 1/4 cup brandy)
• 1 apple
• 1 orange
• a few strawberries (optional)
• 1 can of orange pop
• lemon or lime slices for garnish (optional)

What you do:

1. Cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces. Combine the Triple Sec and sugar, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the fruit to this and let it sit for about 1/2 an hour, up to a few hours ahead of time.
2. Combine the chilled wine, orange pop, and the fruit concoction. Add ice if you wish. If you are using the citrus fruit, cut into slices to place in the sangria.

Drink it while it’s cold!