The Tastes of Spain: Part 1

After another amazing trip to Italy, it was time to make our way back to Glasgow. But first we had to make a quick stop over in Barcelona. This was out first trip to Spain. We were excited about spending the last few days of our trip, eating tapas, drinking sangria and relaxing on the beach. 

As we walked the streets of Barcelona, I couldn’t help but notice the many influences in the food and drinks. Some of the bars and restaurants were very much influenced by Mexico, offering nachos, tortillas, enchiladas along with margaritas. Then I noticed the popularity of Mojitos and Caipirinha’s (Cuban cocktails) throughout many establishments. It’s not what I expected in Spain.  Despite the wide variety of food and drinks, there is one Spanish icon which is sold everywhere you go, Sangria. A Sangria is a mixer of red (or white) wine, fruit juices and chopped fruit pieces. It’s also common to add some herbs and spices to your sangria for extra flavour. If you’re interested in the history of the sangria, I covered it in a previous blog post (“The Sangria”).  

We were both very excited about trying a new cuisine during our time in Spain. No surprise one of the most popular dishes in Barcelona is 'Paella’. Paella is a simple dish which consists of rice, meat and vegetables, all mixed together and cooked in a large pan. In fact, the word “Paella” comes from the latin word ‘patella’ which means pan.  It was first served in Valencia in the mid-19th century, and today it is seen as Spain’s national dish.  Paella is not often cooked for only one person. It’s a dish which is made in large quantities with the idea being that you share your meal with the people you are with. The sharing philosophy is relevant to most of the food and drink in Spain. The sangria is shared amongst the group, as is the tapas and the paella.  

On this occasion, Cara and I decided to order the chicken paella to go with our sangria. But looking at the menu, there seemed to be endless choices of paella. Offerings of rabbit, duck, pork, seafood, vegetarian and even snail paella all seemed to be popular. It came out from the kitchen still sizzling. After our long day, we didn’t waste time waiting for it to cool down, we dug straight in. What we both loved about the paella is the level of flavour from such a simple dish. The chicken was well seasoned and marinated. This helped to also flavour the rice and vegetables. There was also a strong saffron flavour throughout the dish which is common in many paella’s. Coriander and thyme also featured  heavily in our meal.  There was also a nice smokey taste, which comes from cooking over an open fire. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. We knew that it would not be our last paella whilst we were in Spain.

It was a warm night in Barcelona, so after our meal, we walked back to the hotel enjoying a hot summers night, similar to Australia.  On our walk we reflected on the day and looked ahead to the rest of our time in Spain. We both agreed that we needed to seek out some quality spanish tapas before we leave. Many of the places we had passed were of course offering many dishes on their tapas menu, but we found it to be much like Italian anti-pasti. We wanted something different, something that we’d never seen nor tried before. So the search was on.   

Why Not Heat & Spice Your Wine?

As summer comes to a close in the UK, we look ahead to the chilly winter and all of the tasty hot beverages which seems to be a tradition in the UK. One hot drink which Cara and I had not heard of before our travels is “Mulled” wine. It’s a popular concoction served in all the pubs and at all the winter festivals. During our visit to the Tower of London, I managed to pick up a sachet of mulled wine spices to mix on a cold winters night. Although winter is not here yet, I couldn’t resist trying it out early.

The term ‘mulled’ means to simply heat and spice a liquid. Red wine is the most common beverage to mull, but other drinks such as cider and mead are common too. Originally mulled wine was served as a medicine to keep people heathy over the cold winters. But it is now a popular winter beverage, most commonly drunk around christmas. 

One simple way to make mulled wine is to start with a cup of water (measurements may vary depending on how much you’d like to make). Add spices such as cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Boil the spices until most of the flavour has been extracted. Next add a cup of red wine, with a tablespoon of sugar. Bring the mixture to the boiling-point. Once all the sugar and spices have been dissolved, take the mixture off the boil. If you prefer a stronger drink, add a dash of brandy to the mixture. If you are a sweet tooth, you could also add honey with you mulled wine. If you fancy more citrus flavours, you could boil the wine with lemons or oranges. The flavours you add is only limited by your imagination. When serving mulled wine, It’s usually finished of with a slice of orange, but as mentioned, you have no limitations. Overall, you get a warming drink, which is a well balanced blend of spices and citrus flavours together with the smooth tannins of the red wine. 

I look forward to testing out some new mulled wine recipes over the winter. 

Red Wine…. More than just a wine.

I love a nice drop of red, and for a while now, I've been playing around with the use of wine in cocktails. So whilst doing some research, I came across a couple of recipes which I had too make. The first was a home made red wine sorbet which I came across in one of Jamie Oliver's cookbook's.  Red wine being a drink which is usually served at room temperature, I was curious to see how refreshing this would be served sweetened and frozen. Like most Jamie Oliver recipes, this is a simple concoction. I mixed together red wine, lemon juice, lemonade and sugar syrup. You need to make sure this is stirred together well and pour into a few containers and then freeze. Due to the alcohol content,  this takes a little bit longer to freeze. The result is a refreshing summer dish which I like to serve in a martini glass and finish with a sprig of mint. I made this for my work colleagues and the response was quite positive. Even for the "non red wine drinkers", this goes down a treat. The refreshing citrus flavours of the lemon juice and lemonade takes the edge off the spicy qualities of the red wine. 

Another recipe which caught my eye was a "Merlot Martini". I've made many martinis in the past which used rose wine, sauvignon blanc, champagne, etc, but this was a unique cocktail which I was keen to try. The merlot martini starts with muddling 5 - 6 fresh red grapes, followed by 30ml of merlot, then 15ml cognac, 15ml Chambord and 15ml Creme de Cassis (blackcurrant liqueur). Add ice to your shaker glass and shake all ingredients together. Double strain into a martini glass and garnish with a strawberry. The cocktail is rich and sweet. The sweetness of the chambord and the creme de cassis work well together, and the dryness and smokey finish of the red wine and the cognac balanced it out nicely which makes this cocktail easy to drink. Having said that it, it does suit the sweet tooth, more so than the dry spirit drinker.

"Red Wine Sorbet”

Serves 6

300ml Sugar Syrup

300ml Red wine

300ml Lemonade

The juice of 1 lemon

“The Merlot Martini"

In a shaker glass:

Muddle 5 - 6 red grapes 

30ml Merlot Wine

15ml Cognac

15ml Chambord

15ml Creme de Cassis

Add ice and shake well

Double strain into a Martini Glass

Tasting the Local Drop

In Australia and especially South Australia, we are very fortunate to have top quality wines right at our door step. In France, the reputation for producing top wine is much the same as Australia. So during our time in Paris, we found a wine bar which specialised in French wine. The Chateau wine bar in Paris, allowed customers to taste a small sample of some of the most exclusive wine France has to offer and at a resemble price. We could not resist trying the local drop while we were in France, so we were excited about what they had to offer. When we arrived at the Chateau Bar, we were instantly impressed with the range of wines. Hundreds of French wines all temperature controlled and measured in specially designed refrigeration systems. These guys took their wine very seriously. I was a little hard to understand the menu, as it was written in French, but the bartender was helpful in explaining to us the qualities of the wine on the menu.

We decided to try 4 wines, 2 whites, a rose` and a red. We started with a Chenin Blanc from the wine region of ‘Vouvray’ (south west France). Chenin Blanc grapes have been growing around Vouvray since the 9th century, but it wasn’t until the 16th and 17th century that chenin blanc grape vines were planted and production of wine began. The chenin blancs of Vouvray are said to have a higher acidity than usual. Characteristics are honey, figs, apples, nuts and ginger. We found this wine to be quite refreshing. It would be perfect on a warm summers day.

Next was a Pinot Gris from Alsace (north east France). The wines from Alsace have a strong German influence because of the town being located so close to the border.  German grape varietals are said to be more aromatic and floral and their wine generally is produced with a higher percentage of alcohol. So when we tried this wine, we could definitely taste the German influence. It had a stronger punch of flavour. The higher alcohol of the wine meant, you could only take very small sips to really appreciate it. Don’t get me wrong, it was a top drop, but one glass would probably be enough.

We then moved on to Cara’s favourite type of wine, the rose`. This rose` was made at Chateau de Romillac in the small town of Corbieres (South France, not far from Marseille).  The region of Corbieres specialise in only producing red wine and rose`s. Due to the colder climates from the north and the warm Mediterranean whether of the south, this region is able to grow many different varieties of red grapes. The rose’s of Corbieres always use a minimum of 2 grape varieties. When we tried this wine, we could straight away taste the Mediterranean influences. Very light and refreshing. It would be very easy to drink on a hot day. It had both dry and sweet qualities. Sweet when it first hit the palette, but then with a dry finish and after taste.

Last, we tried a red wine. It was a Mourvedre from the town of Bandol (south France, half way between Marseille and Nice). Wine has been made in the region for around 2,600 years, since the ancient Greeks. The area is known for producing some of the best spicy, full-bodied red wines in the world, and the wine we tasted was no exception. When smelling, it had very subtle flavours, but then when you tasted, it gave you a spicy and peppery kick. It was definitely a wine worth savouring, so i was taking as smaller sips as possible out of my sample. It was delicious. It would be the perfect wine to drink on a cold winters night.

We thoroughly enjoyed our wine tasting. We could have tried everything on the menu, but we might have to save that for another trip, another time.  

A little taste of Venice

So far our summer has not been the kind that we're used to. However it has been a typical English summer. Mostly in the low 20's, rain and the very occasional spurt of sunlight. When we woke up one sunday morning and felt some warmth and could not see a cloud in the sky, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go and visit a place in London that we had been saving for a day like this. We had heard of a place called "Little Venice", right in the heart of london. As the name says, Little Venice consists of a mini maze of canals just like the real venice. So we decided to walk the banks of the canals and explore the region.

As it was a rare warm day in London, the people were out in numbers. The pubs, bars and restaurants were packed. Everyone fighting to get a prime seat outside on the canal bank. We came across a popular bar called the "Waterside Bar".  Everywhere we looked all we could see were jugs of Pimms & lemonade. We found a nice spot in the garden near the canal bank to sit and selected a cocktail from the menu.  We decided to try some champagne cocktails. Cara doesn't mind a bit of lychee in her cocktails so she went for a drink called a "She-She". This consisted on muddled lychee and cucumber with lychee syrup shaken and double strained into a glass and topped up with champagne. For me this drink was a little too sweet, but Cara liked it. However she did say that the cucumber over powered the lychee. Lychee is such a strong flavour, and not many things over power it, so it was interesting to hear that the cucumber was the predominate flavour.

I ordered a drink called "Aszu like it". What interested me about this cocktail is that it consisted of a Hungarian wine known as Tokaji Aszu. Tokaji Aszu is a sweet white wine which is added to muddled grapes and sugar syrup and topped up with champagne. A simple cocktail,  but like the 'She-She', it was so sweet. The sweetness of the wine plus sugar syrup certainly made it perfect for the sweet tooth.

I did like both of these cocktails and I like the concept of muddling fresh fruit and topping it up with champagne. It follows the idea of the classic Bellini cocktail. However I do believe that they need to ease off the use of sugar, but thats just my personal opinion.

After another walk along the banks of 'Little Venice' we made our way home. We had a great day and couldn't think of a better way to spend a sunny afternoon in London.



"She-She"
In a shaker:
Muddled lychee & cucumber
Add a dash of lychee syrup
Shaken and double strained into a champagne glass
Topped up with champagne


"Aszu like it"
In a shaker:
Muddle grapes
Add a dash of Tokaji Aszu (Hungarian white wine)
15ml of sugar syrup
Shake and double strain into a champagne flute
Topped up with champagne

The Taste of London Festival

After our trip to Brighton, we returned to London to begin the task of getting ourselves a place to live and a job. After a busy week of getting all of this organised, we decided to reward ourselves by attending the "Taste of London" food and wine festival in Regents Park. The 'Taste's" festival consisted of some of London's top restaurants and chef's coming together to serve up just a little sample of what their particular restaurant has to offer. The great thing for us as the customer as we got to walk around the park trying lots and lots of top quality food.

As we made our way around the festival, we tried such things as honey roasted pork, smoked Strasbourg sausage gourmet  hot-dogs, penne-pasta plus much more. After trying many dishes, we could eat no more, so we turned to the vast range of drinks available. Aside from the food at the 'Taste's' festival, wine and spirits were also available for us to try. We forget how lucky we are in Australia to have such great wines at our doorstep. We choose to sit a tasting session on Italian wines. The wines on offer were delicious. They'd be great to have with many different foods. But when the host of the session heard that we were from Australia, she was very jealous and confirmed to us that we are so lucky to be surrounded be great wine makers. Along with wine, we were able to try many different cocktails, spirits and beers. Rum seemed to be one of the more popular spirits featured. Along with the rum, was of course the most popular of rum cocktails, the Mojito, which we could also try.

It was great fun walking around trying many different products, but we noticed that there was many different masterclasses being held for us to attend and learn more about food, wine, mixology, etc. With us being bartenders, we decided to attend an interesting mixology masterclass, hosted by the worlds international rum ambassador, Ian Burrell. This was a cocktail class with a twist. It was all about making top-quaility "Mock-tails" or cocktails with no alcohol. We had the opportunity to learn and try some of Ian's unique mocktails which featured a wide range of fruit juices and herbs. These drinks were amazing, and still very simple to make and serve.

We left the Taste of London festival very satisfied. We had tasted some amazing food, tried a range and wines and finished off with some delicious mocktails. It was a great way to end our week.

The Sangria

If you asked me to name one cocktail or drink that sums up creativity, fun, socialising with friends and partying, I'd have to say that not many would rival the sangria. The great thing about this drink is that there is no official recipe for it. It's completely up to you. Every bartender who i know who makes this drink has there own slight twist, and there is nothing wrong with any of them. The other great thing is, you don't need to be a master 'mixologist' or a cocktail guru to know how to put one  of these together. Any combination of red wine (or white wine for a sangria blanco), juices and fresh fruit does the job and it's always a hit at parties or when your out with a big group of people.

The Sangria was first invented in Spain. The word sangria is actually the Spanish word for bleeding, which refers to the look of the red wine which is used in a traditional sangria recipe. It is always served in big pitchers or jugs like a punch. The people of Spain and later Portugal, have been drinking this cocktail for hundreds of years. Some say as far back as the 1700s. There is no proof of this though. However, the story goes, back in the 1700's, the water in Spain was to dirty and not safe to drink. Water back then was only used for bathing and washing their horses. People's alternative was to drink milk, but milk was seen as being a babies drink. So the other safe alternative was wine. So to make the wine less alcoholic and therefore suitable for children, people added freshly squeezed juices and fruits, and the very first sangria's were born. In modern times, spirits have been added to the recipe to give the cocktail more kick.  This party drink exploded on to the world stage at the 1964 worlds fair in New York.

As mentioned earlier, everyone makes sangria different. I suppose there is no right or wrong way of serving it. I personally like to make it as tropical as possible. Start with chopped oranges, some strawberries and some pineapple pieces. I like to also add mango puree' and passion fruit pulp, but this is not essential. One ingredient that i do recommend you use is cinnamon. By throwing in a  couple of cinnamon sticks with your mixture, it can give the drink a nice little spice as you sip on your sangria. It also works well with the flavours of the red wine. Now add 15ml white rum, 15ml dark rum, 15ml brandy and 15ml Cointreau (or any type of triple sec). Next, add about 90ml of any type of red wine and top it up with orange juice, pineapple juice and apple juice. If you want, you can also add a little bit of soda water or lemonade.

As I'm sure you've gathered, the sangria is a drink with hundreds of different variations. So it's important when making your sangria that you put you own little personal touch on your drink.  I hope I've given you some ideas. Have fun!!!

In a Jug or Pitcher Add:
Chopped Oranges, Pineapples and strawberries
Dash of Mango puree and Passion fruit pulp (Optional)
2 - 3 Cinnamon Sticks
15ml White Rum
15ml Dark Rum
15ml Cointreau
15ml Brandy
90ml Red Wine
Top up with Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice and Apple Juice
(Soda Water or Lemonade Optional)

The Gin & Tonic Re-Invented

The gin & tonic is said to be the first cocktail ever created. Even though today we consider this drink a simple mix drink, the gin and tonic still has great significances in cocktail history.  I decided to re-invent this classic drink, and turn it from being just a mix drink, into a modern day cocktail. 

When getting inspiration for my new gin & tonic, i turned to the history books and decided to try and recreate the rivalry between England and France but in the form of a cocktail. How can i possibly do this i hear you ask, well it's simple. I begin with Plymouth Gin, but not just normal Plymouth gin, i chose Plymouth sloe gin. Sloe (pronounced "slow") gin is gin which is made with sloe berries, also known as blackthorn berries. The gin is made by distilling the spirit with these plum-like berries. Sugar is then added to make the gin sweeter and takes the edge off the bitterness of the berries.  Plymouth gin has been produced in England since 1793. So with 30ml of Plymouth sloe gin (representing England), we add 30ml of french pinot gris wine. Pinot gris is a European grape varietal made in the french style of wine (obviously representing France). 

Now to explain why…. Pinot gris is a full flavoured fruity wine. To be more specific, when smelling, it has floral characteristics, then when tasted, you may pick up fruits like pear, apple or melon, depending on the producer.  This fruity wine works in perfect harmony with the sloe berries.   So now we have covered the rivalry between England & France. My point being, even 2 great rivals can still come together and combine to make something special.

I finish this "G&T" cocktail with the juice of half a lime (which always compliments gin well, and is commonly served with a traditional gin and tonic), lastly a pinch of cracked black pepper, just to give the drink a subtle kick when it hits the tongue.  Now, just add ice and top up with tonic water.

If your tired of the traditional "G&T", this might be a funky alternative for you.

This cocktail may sound complex but it is really simple. 

In a tall glass:

30ml Plymouth sloe gin

30ml Pinot Gris Wine

juice of half a lime

pinch of cracked black

Add ice

Top with tonic water

The Queens Boulevard

South Australia is famous all over the world for it fantastic wine regions. So as my first post on this blog, i can think of no better way to start than to pay tribute to my home state of SA and share with you one of my most popular cocktail creations, The Queens Boulevard.

Rockford winery in the Barossa valley, is well known for its famous Alicante' Bouchet, A rose' which uses grenache as the main grape. It's a grape that is soft, lightly coloured yet full flavoured. It's main characteristics are strawberries and raspberries. There are not to many people around who can't drink this wine. It appeals to the masses, so it was a perfect starting point when creating this drink.

To compliment the Rockford rose', i chose to use Chambord black raspberry liqueur. Chambord is a french liqueur. It's legend began in 1685, when King Louis XIV visited Chateau Chambord. There he enjoyed a sweet liqueur made from wild black raspberries.  Today Chambord is an iconic liqueur, used in many different cocktails by bartenders all over the world.

So after 30ml of Rockford Alicante', and 30ml of Chambord, i had a nice combination of flavours, but something was lacking. I needed a 3rd dimension in this cocktail. I turned to vanilla. One of my favourite desserts is the classic vanilla slice, so maybe i was a bit bias when i decided to add vanilla to this drink, but it did finish it off nicely. just a dash (15ml) of Absolut vanilla vodka.

Combine these 3 ingredients into a shaker, add some sugar syrup and the juice of half a lime and shake together with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass and serve.

I find this drink to be perfect for the sweet tooth. It's very rich and full bodied. It is also very attractive and elegant to hold. It makes other people in a bar look at what your drinking and often entices them to order one too.

Hope you enjoy the Queens Boulevard

30ml Rockford Alicante Bouchet Rose'
30ml Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur
15ml Absolut Vanilla Vodka
Dash of lime juice
Dash of sugar syrup
Add ice, shake and strain into a chilled martini glass