I’ve had so many dodgy mulled wines in my time that when I was planning a family drop-in Afternoon Tea last year, I was determined that no one was going to be a) indecently inebriated by teatime, and b) doubled over and requiring an ambulance due to the addition of a bottle Cherry Brandy that Auntie Madge brought back from her honeymoon in Tenerife 15 years previously..
It’s taken me some work, but I know you’ll appreciate all that excessive amount of tasting that I had to do to perfect this recipe for you 😉
This is a decent-sized recipe, and you could always reduce it if you thought it necessary, but then there’d be no leftovers for you, so that would just be silly, wouldn’t it?
EQUIPMENT:
- Your biggest saucepan
- a grater
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 litres of Cider – this year I used Magners original, last year it was Olde English Vintage cider, which is paler in colour
- 1 bottle (750ml) of Apple juice – I always use Barnhill apple juice from Co Armagh – this year the variety was Cox’s
- 4 cloves
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4-6 Star anise
- 1/4 of a nutmeg, grated
- 1 vanilla pod, split, or a couple of capfuls of Vanilla extract
- 1 dessert spoon of Vanilla sugar (I only used this because I had some, ordinary caster sugar is fine)
- Juice of a large orange
- 2-3 sliced mandarins
METHOD:
- Put all of the above into the saucepan, and bring gently – gently! – to the heat. Don’t let it boil.
- Cover, and let it sit on a low heat for a little while to absorb all the flavours, stirring occasionally.
- Taste for sweetness, and adjust to your taste.
- It’s best to strain this before serving unless you want a random bit of cinnamon stick in your teeth; or even better, to bite into a clove.. so definitely strain it!
- Pour it back into the cleaned pot, and add some fresh mandarin slices.
- keep it warm on the hob, and serve as required.
- Watch your guests become gently cheerier, and apparently not notice the state of your house or the fact that the decorations were obviously thrown up with gay abandon 30 minutes earlier!
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx