Something to Mull Over!

Here's another great Christmas Tip from our Castle Hotel Kitchen!

An easy mulled wine recipe for the festive season, brimming with Christmassy aromatic citrus spice!

Ingredients:

1 bottle red wine
60g/2oz demerara sugar
1 cinnamon stick
grated nutmeg
1 orange, halved
1 dried bay leaf

Preparation:

Put the wine in a saucepan with the orange, sugar, bayleaf and the spices.
Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Taste to see if you want the wine sweeter, and add more sugar to taste.
Strain into heatproof glasses and serve at once.

Check out one of our Head Chef's Christmas Tips!

No Irish Christmas would be the same without this rich cranberry dish. It's more than a sauce and is excellent the day after on turkey sandwiches!

Ingredients:

1 package of fresh cranberries, 2 packets of lemon jelly (you could use 1 lemon and 1 orange), 1 cup chopped pecans, 1 can crushed pineapple (drained), 2 cartons of cream cheese (at room temperature), 2 cups sugar.

Method:

Roughly chop the cranberries, or blitz them with a food processor, and put into a bowl with the two cups of sugar poured and mixed through them. Leave for 30-45 minutes. Mix up both packets of jelly as per packet instructions and add to the cranberry mixture along with the drained pineapple and chopped pecans. Pour half of the jelly mixture into a shallow dish and allow to set in the fridge. Once set, smooth the softened cream cheese over the set jelly until covered and top with the rest of the jelly mixture. Put this into the refrigerator and allow to set. Serve with turkey or an rich meat such as goose or game. Serves: 6 - 8