Spiced Wine With Dried Fruit Recipes

SPICED WINE WITH DRIED FRUIT

Steps:

• Place tea bags in large glass measuring cup. Pour 2 cups boiling water over. Let stand 4 minutes. Discard tea bags.
• Combine tea, wine and all remaining ingredients in medium saucepan. Stir wine mixture over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture just to simmer. Remove from heat. Cover and let steep 20 minutes.
• Rewarm wine over low heat (do not boil). Discard bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Ladle wine, raisins and dried fruit into mugs and serve.

SERIOUSLY GOOD SPICED FRUIT COMPOTE

Steps:

• Put all the ingredients, except the fruits, into a large saucepan and slowly bring to the boil, uncovered. Boil the syrup for 5 minutes then remove the pan from the heat.
• Top and tail the oranges, then slice off the skin and every scrap of pith, using a small, sharp kitchen knife. Cradle each orange in the palm of your hand, hold it over the saucepan and cut out the segments, letting them drop into the syrup. Squeeze any juice from the debris into the syrup, too, then discard.
• Add the apricots and plums to the syrup and return the saucepan to a medium heat. Bring to the boil, then simmer the fruits for 10 minutes. Leave to cool, then chill for at least 2 hours.
• Serve the poached fruits just as they are or as a brûlée: whisk the milk into the fromage frais to loosen it a little, then divide the fruits and enough juice to cover them, among six ovenproof ramekins and spoon on the fromage frais, thickly. Dust with caster sugar and then 'burn' the sugar with a blow-torch. (Or put the ramekins on a heavy baking sheet, place it under a very hot grill and leave for 1-2 minutes until the sugar has caramelised.)