Amsterdam Foodie

Ok, so I screwed up. My Aussie friend and I had this genius plan to sell sangria and tortilla on Queen’s Day whilst dancing around to Latino music. It wasn’t very Dutch, admittedly, but who likes orange clothes and Heineken anyway? The plan was going – well – according to plan, until I actually told people about it. And then several of those people said we needed a licence to sell food and alcohol, and to play music… But still, never let the law get in the way of a good party, eh? Only then we started doing our little amateur profit & loss thing, and that wasn’t looking good either. Plus, when I looked at my diary, I had Hidden Kitchen events and cookery workshops booked up every weekend between now and the royal birthday itself. When did I even think I was going to organise all this?

It seemed I’d made a mistake, and – to make matters worse – I’d promised you all a party I can’t deliver. But, as a small consolation prize, I’m giving you the recipe for the sangria-that-never-happened. I adapted it from a few different recipes I’d read on the Internet, but this one is simple, quick, fruity and fresh.  Rather sadly, I only made this for a couple of glasses, rather than the giant jug I had in mind, so you’ll need to up-scale the quantities if you’re planning a party.

Queen’s Day Sangria
200 ml red wine
100 ml ginger ale
dash cointreau
handful of grapes, halved
several slices of orange and lemon
1 dessert spoon gomme/sugar syrup (If you don’t have this, you can use sugar.  If you’ve never heard of this syrup, I suggest you look here. You can make a jar of it, keep it for ages and use it in every cocktail that requires sugar – it just ensures that you don’t end up with that grainy, undissolved sugar in the bottom of your drinks.)

Add all the liquids (already chilled in the fridge if possible) to a jug with a load of ice. Stir in the fruit and serve with a Latino wiggle.