Sangria!

My husband and I had a wonderful dinner a couple weeks ago at a Spanish tapas restaurant in Charlotte, where we had white sangria with our dinner. I was inspired to have sangria at my next ladies' night.

My grad school girlfriends and I have stayed in touch, and those of us who still live in the same town get together every so often for a ladies' night. On this particular night, we took a dip in my apartment pool, then headed back to my place to make dinner.

S. made Caesar salad, B. made black bean dip with papads, and I made the Stacked Enchiladas with Salsa Verde and Cheese from the July 2007 Bon Appetit magazine. Everything was delish! But the highlight, in my opinion, was the sangria de cava that we made using a recipe courtesy of G., who works at my company's Barcelona office.

S. and I had been researching white sangria for a few days, and I was really happy to get the inside track from G. in Barcelona. Her favorite version is called Sangria de Cava, and it goes like this:

Macerate some cut-up fruit in 1/2 cup brandy and 1/2 cup Cointreau (G. suggests peach and orange; we used peach, plum, and cherry). Add some lemon or orange soda (Schweppes, etc) or club soda mixed with the juice of 1/2 lemon. Slowly pour in one bottle of Cava (or other dry sparkling wine). Taste and add sugar to your liking. Wow! So refreshing and summery! The fruit tastes great after you drink your glass of sangria too...who needs dessert?