Author: Richard

Posted on

Classic Mulled Wine Recipe

With all the hustle and bustle of Christmas Markets, comes the festive smell of Mulled Wine. This week’s recipe is going to show you how to make your very own winter warmer.
What you will need to make this Classic Mulled wine:


  • Bottle of red wine
  • 2 Cinnamon sticks
  • 1 dessertspoon whole cloves
  • 1 dessertspoon whole allspice
  • Nutmeg
  • 3 Cloves
  • A Bay leaf
  • 1 large piece of Orange Rind (without the pith)
  • 1 large piece of Lemon Rind (without the pith)
  • Add sugar until required taste is achieved

 
How to make it:
Place a saucepan over a medium heat; add the red wine, both cinnamon sticks, lemon and orange rind along with the cloves, Nutmeg and of the allspice. Warm through but do not bring to boil. Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar and taste once dissolved. Add more sugar if necessary until desired taste is achieved.
 
Leave this on a low heat for 20 minutes to let the combination of ingredients and flavours mix well into the wine.
 
This is now ready for serving; it goes great with a mince pie.
Enjoy!

Image courtesy of Flikr user – Chatirygirl’s

Posted on

Are Postcards becoming a thing of the past?

Dotted around the Leger HQ are a number of Postcards all unique in their own way, from destinations all over the world, including Korcula, Rothenburg in Germany.
Although all of the Postcards were sent from all over the world, they all have one thing in common, not one of them was received in the last four years!
It got us wondering if Postcards are becoming a thing of the past. Has a simple text message or email put an end to the famous seaside souvenir?
This made us dig deeper in to the history of Postcards which resulted in some interesting finds –

  • The first one ever sent was a hand painted design, which was posted to a writer named Theodore Hook from himself in 1840 bearing a penny black stamp.
  • However the first known printed picture Postcard was created inFrance in 1870 by Leon Besnardeau.
  • 1871 was the year the first picture postcard which the image functioned as a souvenir was sent fromVienna.
  • The first American Postcard was developed in 1873
  • In 1984, Royal Mail gave permission to British publishers to manufacture and distribute picture Postcards.
  • Records show in the peak of the “saucy” themed seaside postcard, sales peaked at a whopping 16 million a year.
  • The study and collecting of Postcards is termed Deltiology.

Do you know any more facts about Postcards? Have you received or sent one recently? Let us know in the comments section below.

Posted on

Ten interesting and fun facts about France

Find out what made our list of fun facts about France below:

  • There is a Street named after Victor Hugo in every town in France
  • Crayola is a French word that means “Oily Chalk”
  • French was the official language of England for over 300 years
  • It’s illegal to kiss on the French railways
  • The French have one of the highest life expectancies in the EU
  • Famous French inventions include: The hot air balloon, the submarine and the parachute
  • The Eiffel Tower is painted every 7 years
  • The Croissant was actually invented in Austria
  • French toast and French fries aren’t French inventions
  • Napoleon was 5’6

Do you have any fun facts about France? If so, let us know in the comments below.
 
 

Posted on

New starting point unveiled for the 100th Tour de France

New starting point unveiled for the 100th Tour de France

Following British success in 2012, everybody has gone Tour de France mad, including us at Leger.
The success lead to the team looking in to the history of the prestigious race and a hunt began to find the best stat for a team competition. Below are some facts and stats we have found:

  • The Tour de France started back in 1903, where the first winner was crowned as Maurice Garin.
  • The Shortest race was 2,420Kms with the longest lasting 5,745Kms.
  • There was 198 entrants in 2012
  • Usually there are 20 teams with 9 riders in each team.
  • There has been 4 deaths in the races history
  • In the battle of the nationalities France lead the way with 36 winners closely followed by Belgium with 18 and in third is Spain with 12.

The 29th of June 2013 will see the start of the 100th Tour de France, which will start for the first time in its history in Corsica. The 3,360-km route will take the participants and their teams along with the fans on an epic journey past the country’s wonders and will have many new challenges for the climbers in the pack, including the double ascent of the Alpe d’huez climb!
All this and much more is packed into three weeks of intense racing. The entire race is contained within the French borders covering a whole range of challenging terrains, presenting an opportunity for all different types of riders to shine.
The last high altitude test is just 24 hours before the thrilling finale on the Champs Élysées in Paris which will be staged in the evening, providing a beautiful twilight backdrop for the finale of the biggest cycling race in the world.
If you would like to watch the final stage of the 100th Tour de France in 2013 you can find out more here.
Alternatively if you would like to find out more about the 2013 Tour de France route you can do so online now.

Posted on

An Easy Greek Moussaka recipe

Today we are looking at making the traditional Greek dish Moussaka, there are various ways of making this dish but we have gone with Aubergines and a lighter topping but more are available. The inspiration for this dish came after one of our Directors went on our Greek Islands Cruise and told us about how amazing the Moussaka was in Santorini, Greece.
What you will need to make this traditional Greek Moussaka :
About 500g of lean minced (ground) lamb
2 Aubergines, large in size
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 rounded tablespoons tomato purée
3 fl oz (75 ml) red wine
Salt and ground black pepper
For the yogurt topping you will need:
150ml Greek yogurt
1 medium egg, beaten
50g feta cheese
25g grated parmesan
How to cook it
Pre-heat your oven at 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas 4
First you need to get rid of the high water content and concentrate the flavor of the aubergines.
Dry fry the Lamb until Brown and remove the fat from the lamb before layering into the Moussaka.
Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in to a frying pan and fry the onions, garlic and thyme, without colouring, for about 10 minutes.
Add the minced lamb back in and mix in the parsley, cinnamon, tomato purée and red wine and mix.
Cook for around 20 minutes
Prepare the yogurt topping –
Put the yogurt with half of the cheeses along with the beaten egg and add ground pepper.
Presentation
Line the bottom of a casserole dish with slices of aubergine, then add the meat over the top then spoon over some of the meat mixture. Build the layers of the Moussaka up until all the meat and aubergine has been used.
Cover with the topping mixture and add the remaining cheese and bake in the oven at 180ºC / 350ºF / Gas 4 for about 1 hour until golden and bubbling.
Stand the Moussaka for around for around 25 minutes before serving this will assist in retaining the shape when you serve it.
Serve the Moussaka with a green salad and crusty bread
Image courtesy of Flickr user – avlxyz