21 December 2008

Holiday Hangover

With the help of lots of quiet and a few Advil, I have almost fully recovered from our annual holiday party. Once a year, we roll up the rugs, deck the halls, and put on the ritz for 50 or so of our dearest friends. It's a lot of work and a long night - generally ending around 3 in the morning - but it's also wonderful fun.

To my amazement, the hit of the night was the Champagne Punch. I've never served punch before, and was a little nervous about how it would be received. (Our Crowd loves their champagne and is veddy veddy particular about it - Pol Roger and Louis Roederer being the current faves.)

I highly recommend this recipe, not least of all because it gives a lot of bang for the buck (don't even think about using Veuve or somesuch - go with Prosecco or a Spanish sparkling like we did) - and these days, that counts. This would also be magnificent at a brunch.

From Epicurious.com

Ingredients
  • 1 cup Triple Sec
  • 1 cup brandy
  • 1/2 cup Chambord
  • 2 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
  • 1 quart chilled ginger ale
  • 2 chilled 750-ml. bottles dry champagne (prosecco is great too)
Directions
In a
bowl combine the Triple Sec, the brandy, the Chambord and the pineapple juice and chill the mixture, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight. In a large punch bowl combine the Triple Sec mixture, the ginger ale, and the champagne and add ice cubes.

The recipe says that it serves 12 - we doubled it for 50, but this wasn't the only thing we were serving.

Ooh! Now I need to invest in a proper punchbowl! Any suggestions?

8 comments:

Jill said...

This is a great coincidence. I'm throwing a New Year's Eve party and instead of having a full bar, I want to have some sort of champagne punch. This recipe sounds great. I usually use Zardetto Prosecco...my spelling is crap, so I may have mangled some words. Thanks for the recipe!

Emily Evans Eerdmans said...

SO glad to be of help! your guests will rave - I promise. Good luck with the par-tay! EEE

Jill said...

You've given me an idea. I need a punch bowl desperately...I'll post a blog on bowls.

Emily Evans Eerdmans said...

Can't wait to see what you come up with - definitely keep us posted. I'm thinking Chinese Export porcelain myself.... EEE

Anonymous said...

Holly Golightly sure makes a hangover look stylish.

pve design said...

I have always loved that photo of Audrey with CAT.
For the punch bowl, why not think out of the box, a vessel, vase, tub, or urn ( with a glass liner)? Something with a pedestal for added punch - perhaps.

Janet said...

Oooooh...what fun! Funny how these old-fashioned things never fail to delight even the most jaded of us. I will keep an eye out for the perfect punch bowl... XO!

Emily Evans Eerdmans said...

Patricia - brilliant idea - ebay here I come! Holly's CAT looks very much like my Gus, although I think Gus is a bit more handsome. EEE