Tasty Friday: Mulled Wine

All you need on a cold winter's night is a big mug of steaming hot mulled wine.

You will need:
Red wine
Sugar
Cardamon pods
Whole nutmeg
Cinnamon stick
Fresh ginger
Orange
Cloves
Vanilla essence (or pod if you're rich)

Step 1:
Pour about half a cup of sugar into a pan large enough to hold all your wine and put it on a medium heat. Allow the sugar to heat up whilst you get the rest of the ingredients ready.

Step 2:
Crush a few cardamon pods and add to the pan. Next grate in some nutmeg, about half a teaspoons worth. Add half a cinnamon stick all broken up and grate in a centimetre or so of fresh ginger (no need to peel it as long as you give it a quick wash). Stick three or four cloves into a slice of orange and chuck that in (I had run out of cloves). Finally add a few drops of vanilla essence or a a vanilla pod with its seeds. Shake the pan a bit and allow all the ingredients to get nice and hot.

Step 3:
Just as the sugar starts to brown pour in your wine. Turn the heat down a little, whack on the lid and leave for a good 15 minutes to heat and infuse.

Step 4:
Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if needed. You might also want to add a little water, just a cup or so. Mulled wine goes down very easily and watering it down a little takes nothing away from the flavour but helps it go further! Strain into a Christmas mug and enjoy!