Jamie Oliver's delicious Christmas mulled wine and 'unusual' leftover recipe
MULLED wine is one of the most popular and delicious Christmas drinks. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver shared his favourite drink recipe which he described as "Christmas in a glass".
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Jamie said: “Come the festive season, there's nothing better than a spiced, warming glass of this mulled wine."
Ingredients
Two clementines
One lemon
One lime
200 g caster sugar
Six whole cloves
One cinnamon stick
Three fresh bay leaves
One whole nutmeg, for grating
One vanilla pod
Two bottles of Chianti or other Italian red wine
Two star anise
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Method
Peel large sections of peel from the clementines, lemon and lime using a speed-peeler.
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. Halve the vanilla pod lengthways and add to the pan, then stir in just enough red wine to cover the sugar.
Let this simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine, then bring to the boil. Keep on a rolling boil for about four to five minutes, or until you’ve got a beautiful thick syrup.
"The reason I’m doing this first is to create a wonderful flavour base by really getting the sugar and spices to infuse and blend well with the wine," Jamie explained.
It’s important to make a syrup base first because it needs to be quite hot, and if you do this with both bottles of wine in there you’ll burn off the alcohol.
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 five minutes, when it’s warm and delicious, ladle it into heatproof glasses and serve.
Jamie also shared an easy and delicious mulled wine sorbet recipe. He explained it is "a great way to put leftover booze to good use".
“Light, refreshing and really unusual, this festive sorbet is a great idea for Christmas lunch,” he said.
Ingredients
Two ice cube trays frozen mulled wine
Two tablespoons natural yoghurt or crème fraîche
Method
He explained: "When it comes to mulled wine, I have a simple rule: always make more than you think you’ll need. Whenever I go to a party it always seems to run out. If you’re worried about wasting any leftovers, don’t be. You can pour it into ice cube trays and it will keep for months if you freeze it. Then, whenever anyone says, 'Oh I feel like dessert’ you can just pop some cubes out and make this lovely little sorbet for a totally unexpected treat."
There are only two things you need to remember when making your mulled wine into sorbet: firstly, you have to cook off all the alcohol if you want the wine to freeze. And secondly, it’s important to give the mulled wine plenty of time to freeze, as the cubes need to be very hard for this sorbet.
Bring your mulled wine to the boil, and keep it on a rolling boil for around five to six minutes so the mixture becomes syrupy and the alcohol burns off. Let it cool completely then pour it into ice-cube trays and pop these in the freezer until you need them.
To make the sorbet, pop the cubes of frozen mulled wine into a food processor and give them one or two quick blitzes to break them down a little bit. Add your yoghurt or crème fraîche and whiz immediately until just blended.
Spoon the sorbet into little bowls or cups and either pop these back in the freezer to set a bit or serve right away with a biscotti or some lovely fresh fruit on the side.