Warm mulled wine

 

To conclude the Icelandic I try to eat healthy week, let’s finish with a heartwarming winter and festive drink: the warm mulled wine!

It’s ready in 20 minutes or so.

Ingredients

• 1 clementine
• 1 orange
• 1 lemon
• ¼ cup of honey
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cinnamon stick
• ½ teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon of coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon of black peppercorns
• 1 bottle of Merlot red wine
• ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• 1 star anise

Preparation

Using a vegetable peeler, peel large strips of peel from the clementine, orange and lemon. Juice the clementine and orange (but not the lemon!). Set aside.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the peels and juice, honey, clove, cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, coriander, and black peppercorns. Just cover the peels and spices with some red wine (about ½ cup) and stir in the vanilla extract. Bring to a light boil stirring often to dissolve the honey, and cook for about 5 minutes to make a syrup (the mixture will thicken slightly and will be flavoured).

Then turn down the heat to low, add the remaining red wine and the star anise, and simmer for 5 minutes to warm up the wine (without boiling it).

Serve the warm mulled wine in heatproof glasses (I strain the wine through a small sieve placed on the glass to remove the spices).

Adapted from Jamie Oliver’s mulled wine