Sangria Sundays!!

After a couple of margaritas on Saturday night my friend Heather and I decided that it was a genius idea to start Sangria Sundays. Brilliant, don't you think?!?! 

Ive had a few sangria recipes that I have been waiting for an excuse to try and Heather quite rightly pointed out that Sunday was as good as excuse as any!

So allow me to present the first in what I hope will be a regular segment for The Puuurple Kitchen.

My first foray into the wonderful world of sangria comes from the Better Homes and Gardens website, and was a rather delicious sparkling sangria. 

Sparkling Golden Sangria

• 3 cups white grape juice, chilled
• 1/2 cup Cointreau
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1 medium nectarine, chopped
• 1 orange, quartered and thinly sliced
• 3/4 cup sweet cherries, pitted and halved, or canned mandarin sections, drained
• 3/4 cup raspberries
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1 bottle prosecco, or other sparkling white wine

1. In a large pitcher or punch bowl combine grape juice, Cointreau, sugar and honey. Stir until sugar has dissolved
2. Add the fruit and herbs and stir. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to 24 hours, stirring occasionally
3. Just before serving, add the prosecco
4. Drink!!

This was a very tasty and refreshing drink to enjoy on a warm evening, although it was a little sweet for my taste (which probably means it would be crazy sweet for a lot of people!) I couldn't find cherries so I used the mandarin which may have made it a bit sweeter so I would definitely like to try it with cherries next time. I think I will also play around a little with the amount of sugar and honey next time.

To accompany the sangria, I also knocked up a little guacamole - another first for me as my friend Katy makes such good guacamole I would always make something else to bring to the table.

A quick search took me to the Food Network website and this recipe sounded good to me.

Guacamole

• 3 Haas avocados, halved seeded and peeled
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (the recipe only called for 1/2 a jalapeno but I was feeling brave!)
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro (I used about 3 tablespoons as I LOVE cilantro)
• 1 clove garlic, minced

1. Place the avocado and lime juice in a large bowl and toss to coat. Drain and reserve the juice
2. Mash the salt, cumin and cayenne into the avocado
3. Fold in onions, jalapeno, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic
4. Add 1 tablespoon of the reserved lime juice
5. Cover and leave to sit at room temperature for 1 hour before serving

The recipe actually makes about twice this much, but I forgot
to take a photo at the start - whoops!

Again, this was a successful first attempt at making guacamole, but again there are a couple of changes that I would make for next time. The onion made it a little too sweet so I think I would either reduce the amount or use red onion instead. I would also increase the seasoning as it could have had a little more character. Maybe try an extra 1/4 teaspoon of cumin and cayenne and see how that goes?

All in all, they were the perfect accompaniments as Heather and Kelly joined me to watch the Monaco Grand Prix last night and I look forward to making both of them again, as well as bringing you the next installment of Sangria Sundays!

UPDATE 06/24/13

I got to make the guacamole again for a World Cup party last weekend and made it with 3/4 tsp each of the salt, cumin and cayenne, and I reduced the jalapeno to 1/2 a pepper. This time it had a much punchier taste and still just the right amount of kick, and is definitely how I will be making it in future!