Web: Jaleo's White Sangria Recipe
See More Restaurant Reviews For:
Alcohol Drinks Spanish Washington
"You might ask yourself the following question: is it worth spending the time and the money to assemble something this complex if you haven't tried it before? Our answer: yes."
Every once in a long while, we are so excited by something we come across at a restaurant that we take the time to try and make it ourselves. Our most recent project: Jaleo's White Sangria, served at the Washington, D.C. restaurant for $18 by the half-carafe. If you haven't had sangria before, think of it as wine with fruit, or wine punch; Jaleo's version happens to be different in that it's made with white Spanish Cava - a champagne - rather than the more common red, and uses two or three light fruits and mint.
Our version of this recipe is based upon two different recipes that are floating around online. We've been playing around with it for the past week trying to get it "just right," and have found that there's no single correct way to make it great: it's fun to experiment with the balances of ingredients to get them to your personal liking.
Ingredients:
750ml - a standard full bottle - of Spanish Cava wine. Jaleo most likely uses Segura Viudas Brut Reserva ($8), but any standard dry Cava can work. We've tried two even less expensive ones, Cristalino Brut ($7) and Freixenet Blanc de Blancs Brut ($6), and they're fine. All of these can be found at Premier Group's stores.
3 ounces of Licor 43 (aka Cuarenta y Tres), a vanilla liquor. We purchased a 375ml bottle for $8.
3 ounces of brandy. We purchased an inexpensive 375ml bottle of Paul Masson Grande Amber for around $6.
3 ounces of white grape juice.
3 fresh strawberries, cropped into either thin, small slices or diced
1/2 fresh peach, chopped into either thin, small slices or diced
Either a handful of fresh mint leaves, very finely chopped, or a full sprig, left complete.
300ml of ice cubes
Optional: 1 teaspoon of sugar, and/or 4 white grapes, diced.
An empty 1.5L glass pitcher
Directions:
First, place the ice cubes into the pitcher. Second, add all the chopped fruit to the pitcher. Third, pour the entire bottle of Cava, extremely slowly, down the side of the pitcher rather than directly onto the ice or fruit. This is the single most difficult element in this recipe - and one that may or may not work properly when you try it the first time; the Jaleo version is distinctive from an improperly assembled recipe in that it continues to bubble after being served.
Fourth, assemble the Licor 43, brandy, and white grape juice in a separate cup, plus the sugar if you want to use it, then pour them into the mix of Cava, fruit, and wine. Fifth, add the mint, and sixth, stir. Serve in a manner that distributes a little of the ice and fruit amongst each glass - this recipe makes enough for 4 regular-sized portions.
Our recommendations would be to skip the sugar and the grapes, use the sprig of mint rather than the leaves, and choose dicing if you want to drink the fruit in bits, or slicing if you prefer to fish the fruit out at the end to snack on.
You might ask yourself the following question: is it worth spending the time and the money to assemble something this complex if you haven't tried it before? Our answer: yes. It would cost you more to purchase a smaller portion at Jaleo, and besides the fact that you'll have enough grape juice, brandy, and Licor 43 left over for several more full recipes when you've finished, the end product of this particular project - assuming you get it right - will be memorable enough to share with others. Just as we have done here. Enjoy.
