Brrrr. Everybody is talking about it, the cold that is. Minus 10degrees celcius this morning! In our eleven years in France, it’s the coldest we’ve seen the temperatures drop to, and it is showing on the streets. Outdoor café tables and chairs that are normally filled with smokers, sit empty as everyone has taken to the indoors.
Given that it is forecast to remain well into the negatives until next week, we’re staying in, wrapped up with a kick-butt vin chaud simmering away. I’ve experimented with lots, but the cognac in this one gives it the extra buzz needed on a chilly day like this.
Vin Chaud
2 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 bottles decent red wine
1/2 cup Cognac
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1. Combine the water, sugar and cinnamon in a saucepan and bring to the boil allowing the sugar to dissolve.
2. Add in the wine and continue to heat until you have vin chaud.
3. Add the cognac, leave on a low heat for a couple of minutes, before removing. At this stage it will be too hot to drink so let it settle a few minutes.
4. Serve in large red wine glasses, adding a final touch with a sprinkle of the lemon zest.
It’s the best way to warm up on an arctic winter evening.
Have a great weekend wherever you may be and stay warm!
6 Comments
Brrr…indeed! Thanks for the recipe. We’ll be giving it a try!
What a great idea, I’m going to make my own vin chaud tomorrow!
Loulou, it must be colder out your way by the water and with the wind. Stay warm.
Andrea, enjoy – you’ll love this one. It’s so, so good!
Sounds like an excellent idea! My daughter was born (at home) in December 1984. In January, the temperature went down to minus 23° and the snow stayed on the ground for two weeks. It was mind-bogglingly cold! We were living in a house in the suburbs and it was hard to heat it properly. She was as snug as a bug in a rug in the baby carrier inside my big coat but poor Leonardo, who was three, was constantly cold outside!
Minue 23! Gosh, I’m not sorry to have missed that!
As an update to the original post and to all readers: if you are in Paris or the surroundings and you walk by a homeless person, please don’t ignore them in these freezing temperatures. The SAMU have a number to call ’115′-you can speak anonomously. The SAMU will arrange to help the person in need to get into a shelter and out of the cold. So terribly important to share the number and help someone in need.
One Trackback
[...] Warm up with a kick-butt Vin chaude [...]