White wine Sangria and tomato & green olive chicken (Recipe)

I've got some Sangria marinating in the fridge. I've never made Sangria before until I came home from Spain back in Feb of 2011. Since then I haven't stopped making Sangria. My first taste of it in Spain was in Granada at this restaurant called Ermita Catedral 530. Here is a picture of it. Ah...brings back great memories. It was like juice with a nice touch of cinnamon.

Some of the tapas we had there were so tantalizing for my taste buds, I immediately thought about moving to Spain just so I could eat like this every day. Each day after that meal, the idea of moving to Spain crossed my mind more and more. I think I'm over it now...kind of.

Here are some pics of the food I had at that particular restaurant. This included octopus. Cooked perfectly (not chewy or rubbery) with some olive oil and lightly seasoned with salt and paprika.

And duck pate. So melt-in-your-mouth delicious. I have no idea what that sauce could be but it was so good.

And the most delicious ham I've ever had: the Spanish Iberico ham. Similar to Serrano ham that you can get in the States. But definitely not the same.

Back to my Sangria currently in the fridge. I used the Sauvignon Blanc two buck chuck from Trader Joe's. The two buck chucks are perfect for Sangria (in my opinion) since you don't need a pricey or fancy wine for this drink. Unless you want to. I also poured in about 1/4 c. fresh squeezed orange juice, 3/4 c. simple syrup, and sliced some apples and oranges to infuse into the Sangria.

For my simple syrup I boiled 2 c. white sugar with 2 c. water and a cinnamon stick until the sugar dissolved. Simple syrup can be kept in the fridge for over a month with no consequences, so feel free to make extra and save it for a rainy day. The thing I love about making your own simple syrup is that you can infuse any flavor into it. Such as cinnamon or ginger or lime or lemon or coffee or anything! And you can use it for Sangria as well as cocktails or even for your savory cooking marinades.

Which I did for some tomato-y green olive chicken I also have marinating in the fridge. For my marinade I used 1-14 oz. can of saltless diced tomatoes, 1/4 cup roughly chopped green olives (plus a bit of the brine), 1/4 c. white wine, 1/4 c. sherry, 1/4 c. cinnamon simple syrup, 2 tbsp. dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp. minced garlic, 1 tbsp. pepper flakes, 1 tbsp. dry parsley, 1 tbsp. dry chives, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. celery salt, plenty of pepper and enough salt to taste.

The original inspiration for this marinade was from my friend, Eliza. Or perhaps her mom. I will not post that original recipe as I did not ask permission to do so. But thank you Eliza and Eliza's mom for the inspiration.