It’s surpringly difficult to find a recipe for the basics sometimes, especially Christmas stuff.
Based on Jamie Oliver’s recipe, this one for mulled wine involves making a basic syrup base before adding most of the wine on a low heat. It means you get quite a high alcohol level in the final drink.
- 2 clementines or 1 large orange
- 1 lemon
- 1 lime
- 200 g caster sugar
- 6 whole cloves
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 3 fresh bay leaves
- 1 whole nutmeg , for grating
- 2 bottles Italian red wine
Peel large sections of peel from your clementines, lemon and lime. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and squeeze in the clementine juice. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and about 10 to 12 gratings of nutmeg. Stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.
Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until you’ve got a thick syrup. When your syrup is ready, turn the heat down to low and add your star anise and the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine and after around 5 minutes, when it’s warm and wonderful, ladle it into glasses and serve.