From “Simca’s Cuisine,” by Simone Beck. Makes about 1 quart.
Ingredients
8 large oranges, to yield about 4 ounces of dried peel
2 cloves
Small (4-inch) piece of cinnamon bark
1 quart dry white wine, of good quality
1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste
3 tablespoons good cognac
Directions
Remove the peel from the orange (colored part only, not the white stuff) and set it out on a cookie sheet to dry for at least 2 weeks.
Put the dried orange peel into a jug or pitcher with a tight-fitting lid. (An old, rinsed wine bottle with a cork works well.) Add the cloves and the cinnamon bark. Pour in the wine, plug or cover, and set in a cool place, sheltered from the light, to macerate for 8 to 10 days until the wine is imbued with the taste of orange.
Strain the wine. Pour 1 cup into an enameled saucepan, add sugar to taste, and stir over gentle heat, without letting the mixture boil, until the sugar has melted. Pour back into the wine in the jug, add the cog nac and stir.
You can serve the orange wine at once, or you can keep it for months in corked wine bottles. Serve it very cold, with a sliver of fresh orange peel in each glass.
