This is my favourite Sangria recipe. Ann. Home Cookin 4.8 Chapter: RECIPES FROM THIBEAULT'S TABLE Spanish Sangria =============== 1 bottle, dry full bodied red wine 2 tablespoon orange liqueur (Grand Marnier) 1/3 cup of simple syrup 1 lime thinly sliced 1 orange thinly sliced 1 lemon thinly sliced Juice of one orange 1 cup club soda Combined wine, syrup, brandy and orange juice and stir. Add sliced fruit and just before serving add the soda water. Do not let the fruit slices sit in the Sangria for more than one hour before serving as the peels can cause the drink to be bitter. Simple Syrup 1 cup sugar 1 cup water Bring water and sugar to a boil and simmer until liquid is clear and the sugar has dissolved. Pour in to jar and refrigerate. Keep for 3 weeks. Servings: 4

Thank you! All the recipes sound wonderful. I am definitely going to try the prawns, and if I can ever find blood oranges, the Sangria will get made, too! Linda

As for what fruits go good in Sangria, well it is basically a wine punch so you have to know something about wine to figure that out, since wine already has "notes" of flavors in it which is what the fruit enhances in the punch. And I agree, go with just one type of wine unless you know a whole lot about blending wines. There are blended wines out there that you can buy, such as "Menage a Trois" which is a blended red wine that I like. I'm interested in blended wines and I have tried a few and found that a lot of them I don't like, so that's why I say you have to be careful and if you're new to Sangria I would agree with Sushipup, start with the basics and you can branch out from there. Also, there are certain fruits that seem to go more with red wine and others that go with white wine, which is why there are recipes out there for both types of Sangria. It has to do with the flavor notes of the wine. For example, I would say that kiwi would be good with some white wines but I can't imagine it with a complex red wine, but I can imagine blueberries going OK with a red. Another example is peach, which I think goes extremely well with white wine but just gets lost in a red wine. Same with strawberries--they are great with wine but would be lost with a strong red wine. Cherries and apples and blackberries, on the other hand, would go well with a red. I love to eat grapefruit, but in my experience with trying it in mixed fruit things and salads, etc., it just doen't play well with too many other tastes. It is one of the flavor notes of some wines though, but I'm not sure which ones. But if you're not a wino and don't know all the nuances of the different wines, best to start and stick with the tried and true.

My Sangria recipe is 2 bottles of wine - your choice, 1 bottle of Trader Joe's pomegranate juice, 1 orange - juiced, approx. 1 cup crushed strawberries (fresh or frozen, thawed), 1 orange sliced thinly & 1 lime also thinly sliced(optional), plus sugar or other sweetener to taste (I add a couple of tablespoons @ a time - it depends on the wine). You can add distilled spirits if desired to give it more 'kick'. Our fave is an herbed potato salad, dressing is half plain yoghurt/sour cream & half mayo w/ lots of minced fresh herbs from the garden (parsley, celery, marjoram, oregano, basil) green onions & a small amount of minced fresh garlic plus a tablespoon or 2 of Dijon mustard, salt & pepper. 2 cups of dressing will cover about 4 - 5 cups of potatoes. A long time ago, when I worked in a very popular family-owned restaurant, I learned from the head chef/matriarch to toss the still warm potatoes - cubed or sliced - w/ a couple of tablespoons of cider vinegar before mixing in the dressing. She also insisted on everything (except potatoes) being minced very finely. You can also add some grated carrot & minced sweet pepper, if desired.