Even though I cannot understand Dutch, when I visit the foreign countries supermarkets, i would not miss a chance to browse through the free copies of their recipe magazines.

Here in Holland, I was browsing the Summer Hits Issue from Albert Heijn, their QUICK Sangria caught my attention instantly, because of the word ‘Quick’ and the use of lemon soda. It makes me thinking of a lot of people teasing the Mainland Chinese mixing Cola or other soft drinks into expensive French wines which is a total waste and do not know how to appreciate a bottle of nice wine. I agree totally that it’s a waste to do this but on the other hand, they are the first ones to put soda or soft drinks into red wine, but for Sangria, people would use a top notch bottle of red wine but also not the cheap cheap carton wine. Anyway, while we are in the Bungalow park, we have some friends coming for dinner the other night and we have taken several bottles from Switzerland. At the same time, I came across a pitcher which only cost EUR 2. So I adapted the Albert Heijn recipe to the following, the taste was very good and it’s proven that it is possible to make Sangria this fast. The original recipe even says you only need to infuse for 15mins which I find a bit too short and have extended to 30 mins.

Ingredients:

• Juice of 2 orange
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 orange, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 1 apple, peeled, deseeded, cut into cubes
• 2 peaches (fresh or canned with fruit juice), peeled, pitted and cut into small cubes
• 1 can of pineapple or use fresh ones if you can get hold of
• 750ml Spanish tempranillo wine
• 500ml soda water
• 350ml Fanta Lemon (carbonated lemon soda)
• 100ml orange liquor (Cointreau or Grand Marnier)
• Ice cubes for serving

Directions:

1. In a wine pitcher or a large punch bowl, combine all ingredients except the soda water and lemon soda. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins or longer, so the fruits can infuse into the wine.
2. Just before serving, mix in the soda water and lemon soda so make the Sangria staying slightly fizzy.
3. Ladle into wine glasses with ice cubes. It’s important to serve the sangria ice cold. If chilled enough, you can skip the ice cubes.

Cheers!!!

Useful links:

• Quick Sangria from Albert Heijn
• Do you need a Sangria recipe?
• How to make ‘Traditional’ (standard) Sangria