Poolside Sangria

My first experience with sangria was an eventful one. I was in college and my roomies and I decided to make a pitcher one Saturday night while grilling out at my then boyfriend's apartment. We found a recipe, soaked the fruit in the booze as instructed, poured in the wine, and shoved it in the fridge to chill while we got ready for dinner. Grilling out took a little longer than anticipated (oh, maybe three hours longer) - we didn't have the right charcoal, then we didn't have lighter fluid, and everyone we sent out to remedy these problems took a really long time to complete their mission - so we decided to go ahead and start drinking our sangria. This was a recipe for disaster: empty stomachs + girls who weren't used to drinking wine + hours of sangria consumption/alcohol laden fruit eating = drunken hot mess. Sangria can be dangerous! That was a lesson we had to learn the hard way I suppose, as are most lessons when you're young!

It was quite a few years before I tested the sangria waters again, but being older and wiser, I tested the waters the smart and mature way: Jaleo. If you're going to do sangria, Jaleo is a great place to start! Not to say I haven't had my fair share of let's say interesting occasions while drinking Jaleo sangria (a PG example I can share: my former-co-worker-now-friend and I getting locked out of our office after hours while secretly wrapping the doors in Christmas paper...), but hey at least I knew what I was getting myself into at that point! My love for sangria is undying and I take the chance to indulge in it whenever I can.

My friend Michelle and I shared some pool time at my new abode this past Friday - an indulgent occasion to begin with - so I decided to whip up a batch of my own sangria for a poolside libation. I've made the Jaleo version of red sangria many times and it's always delicious, but I wanted to try something different, lighter, and more refreshing since we would be hanging outside in the sun all day. Jaleo also does a white version of sangria, so that's where I got the idea to do one myself. They use cava or champagne I believe, but I've been really into prosecco lately, so I knew that would be the base for my mix. Usually you soak the fruit in brandy, but I felt that would have too much of an influence on the flavor of our drink, so I chose vodka instead. Sticking with the theme of light and refreshing, I selected tropical fruit, and picked some pineapple sage from our balcony garden to use as opposed to the usual mint. This version turned out really well and we enjoyed almost the entire pitcher while sunning ourselves in the late July heat.

I highly recommend this light, white sangria for your next pool hanging sesh or summertime barbecue. Just make sure you have all of your grilling accoutrement before you start munching the alcohol heavy fruit! ;-)

Before we get started, I must give a shout out to my new favorite grocery store - TRADER JOE'S!! There is one on my new commute home from work, so I stop in as often as I can. When I was concocting this recipe, I was planning to use a papaya. I highly doubted I would be able to find a papaya anywhere, so I had a back up plan (pineapple), but good ol' TJ's came through for me! Not only did they have papayas, they had beautifully ripe papayas that I could use immediately - score! I love when a plan comes together like this! Here are all of the gorgeous fruits I was able to pick up at my local Trader Joe's for this recipe: mango, kiwi, limes, and yes - papaya! 

Let's get drinkin'!

Tropical Poolside Sangria

Servings: 1 pitcher
Prep time: 20 minutes + 2 hours for soaking the fruit in vodka
Cooking time: n/a

Ingredients:

1 mango, skinned and diced

1 kiwi, skinned and chopped

1/2 papaya (prep instructions to follow in recipe)

1/2 lime, sliced into wedges

10 pineapple sage leaves (if you can't find pineapple sage, use 8 leaves of regular sage + a teaspoon of pineapple juice)

1/2 cup vodka

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 bottle prosecco

16 ounces club soda

Start by adding your mango-

... and kiwi fruit to your pitcher:

This was my first time using a papaya and I figure many of you have never prepared one before either, so I want to share how I was able to cut it up for use in my sangria.

First I stood it up on one of the short ends and used a sharp knife to cut through the center, from top to bottom.

I used a spoon to dig out all of the black seeds and discard them in the trash.

I used the same spoon to scrape the fruit from the rind:

I put the strips of flesh on my cutting board and then chopped it up with my knife.

When you're done, add the chunks of papaya fruit to the pitcher with the mango and kiwi.

Next, place the pineapple sage and lime wedges in a shallow glass.

Use a muddler to muddle the lime and sage together, releasing the juice from the limes and the oils from the sage leaves.

Throw the lime & sage concoction into your pitcher.

Next, pour in the vodka and stir.

Place the lid on your pitcher and stick the whole thing in the fridge.

Allow the fruit & sage to soak in the vodka and chill in the fridge for at least two hours before continuing.

After the fruit has marinated for two hours, remove the pitcher from the fridge, take off the lid, and pour in the agave nectar. Stir to combine it with the fruit.

Next, pour in your entire bottle of prosecco.

Stir.

Last, pour in the club soda and stir once more.

Place some ice cubes in a short cocktail glass, then pour sangria into your glass over the ice cubes, allowing fruit and sage to fall into the glass as well.

Add a sprig of fresh sage to the top of your glass for garnish and serve immediately! Salute!