Monthly Archives: December 2011

Mulled Wine

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Nothing says Happy Holidays like a steaming glass of mulled wine… or a teacup. This recipe is extremely easy to follow, and the whole process only takes about 10 minutes.

All you need are:

  • 1 bottle of a dry red wine (750 mL)
  • 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
  • 5 or 6 star anise, whole
  • 1 to 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
  • 1 orange or lemon peel

Pop open your bottle of wine and pour it into a pot on low to medium-low heat. Add the brown sugar, star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and citrus peel and simmer on low heat for about five to ten minutes. Careful not to boil the mixture.

You can let the wine simmer for longer if you’d like a strong flavour. Serve hot.

If you need to make a bigger batch, careful not to add too many star anise to the pot – star anise has a strong flavour that can overpower. You only need an extra one or two per additional bottle of wine.

This recipe serves 4.

Happy Holidays!

Tomato salad

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This tomato salad is probably one of my favorite go-to salads to make. It’s quick, simple, easy, and lets the fresh ingredients speak for themselves.

Ingredients:

  • 3 to 4 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped or sliced
  • 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped (can also substitute with basil)
  • 1 buffalo mozzarella, sliced
  • 2.5 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • salt, to taste
  • ground pepper, to taste

Coarsely chop your tomatoes into eighths, or slice them. Whether your chop or slice your tomatoes is up to you. Either way, they should be relatively chunky with the seeds intact. Chop up your cilantro and slice the mozzarella.

If you substitute with basil, a trick I use is to arrange the leaves into a fan pattern, one on top of the next first, roll up the leaves and them chop across the roll. You will get the even strips of basil this way.

Throw your ingredients together in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, add the salt and pepper to taste, and give it a good toss so everything is evenly mixed together.

You’re done! Ready to serve. In less than 15 minutes.