Two Cranberry Sauces

Two Cranberry Sauces

In celebration of Bernadette Martin, the 'brain mother' of Blue Heron Kitchen

Happy Birthday, Bern!

Cranberry Sauce (spicy)

If you're still looking for a cranberry sauce that's not from 'the bag' or from a can, here are two great recipes. One's spicy and the other's boozy. The boozy one is "Blue Heron Blue Ribbon." (I just invented that one.) These are easy-to-make and great gifts for your host.

Either or both will complement your Thanksgiving feast or any fall or winter repast. Try them with roasted roots, fowl, game or meat. Serve the sauces with soft ripened cheeses! Use as relish or as a condiment on your sandwich. The NY Times reports that cranberries are abundant this year. So grab a couple of bags at your market. I'll get to work on some more recipes.

I'm volunteering for Thanksgiving this year. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday with family, friends .. or you, too, are helping others who have less .. or none.

peace and love.

with a smile and song,
jane

Cranberry Sauce with Jalapeño and Ginger

Adapted from David Tanis by Blue Heron Kitchen

1 c. sugar

2 jalapeños, preferably red, seeded and finely diced

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

½ c. water

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. cayenne

1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger or , if you don’t have fresh, 1 ½ tsp. dried

12 ounces cranberries

Procedure:

Put sugar, jalapeños, lemon juice, salt and cayenne in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add water, then stir to dissolve sugar, and simmer 2 minutes.

Add ginger and cranberries, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let mixture cook, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have softened and no liquid remains in pan.

Let cool and season to taste. Add more cayenne or jalapeños if desired.

May be stored in fridge up to two weeks.

Hot Stuff!

Cranberry Sauce (boozy)

Cranberry Sauce with Pears, Brandy and Walnuts

Adapted from notlazy.rustic by Blue Heron Kitchen

This may be the best cranberry sauce I've ever tasted. The recipe comes from the great food blog, “Food52”, a portal for foodists and a resource that I turn to when recipes and ingredients are “stale.”  Last year’s cranberry-port gelée is another great recipe and a keeper.

This recipe is chunky and boozy. Serve it at the grown-up table.

Perfect with cheese, mixed into morning-after-porridge or as a side for Turkey, chicken, duck or pork.

Here are Food52’s' Editors' Comments: "In this cranberry sauce, you won't find any of the punishing tartness you get in many -- it's all silk and fragrance. The pears, which are shredded, melt into the sauce. The cranberries soften and soak up the brown sugar and cinnamon. And the brandy smoothes any wrinkles. You add a little brandy in the beginning and some more at the very end, as you stir in toasted walnuts. We've made the sauce with grated apple and it's just as delicious. We've also served it over fresh ricotta -- make sure you have some leftovers so you can try this!"

“Notlazy” suggests fooling around with the amount of brandy. (It’s happily boozy.) I mixed Poire William with some good French brandy. You can change the nuts to pecans, but there’s so much sweetness in this that I think the walnuts lend an excellent balance. In general, we should all be the boss when it comes to nuts and other ingredients.

Cranberry Sauce 

with Pears, Brandy and Walnuts 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup, plus 2-3 tablespoon brandy, divided

water

2 cinnamon sticks, each broken in half

8 black peppercorns

12 ounces fresh cranberries, picked over

¾  c./75 g. packed light brown sugar

2 medium Bartlett pears, ripe but still quite firm, peeled (organic are best!)

½ c. chopped walnuts, toasted, 1 Tbsp. removed for garnish

Procedure:

Pour 1/3 cup brandy into liquid measuring cup; add enough water to reach ½  cup. Set aside.

Place broken cinnamon sticks and peppercorns in a piece of cheesecloth or if you are a loose tea drinker and have them, a large tea bag; and secure with kitchen twine.

In medium saucepan, combine cranberries, brown sugar and cinnamon-pepper bundle.

Using large holes on a box grater, grate pears into saucepan.

Pear perfect.

Stir in brandy-water mixture.

Over medium-high heat, bring cranberry mixture to a boil; reduce heat to medium and cook 10-12 minutes, or until cranberries have burst and the mixture has come together, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in 2 to 3 tablespoons brandy.

Let cool. Remove and discard cinnamon bundle.

Stir in toasted walnuts. Transfer mixture to small serving bowl; sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of walnuts.

(ooh la la .. or.. la la la!)

Apple Butter Loaf

Apple Butter Loaf

Adapted from Bruce Stone by Blue Heron Kitchen

Dedicated to School-Related Professionals

Apple butter rules!  This morning, I found it ruling my fridge, with two opened jars.

I opt for unsweetened and unseasoned apple butter. If you use (or make) apple butter that has added spices, please adjust the spice profile in this recipe accordingly. (I’d leave out all spices, or all that aren’t on the label.)

I baked this loaf for an annual breakfast at school that celebrates and honors our school-related professionals. Without our secretarial staff, custodial staff, our nurse, aides and assistants, kitchen staff, transportation and grounds staff and security guards, we'd be - no, we wouldn't be. This recipe is a symbolic gesture of thanks to our colleagues.

I added a splash of Calvados (apple brandy) to the raisins for a fun SRP breakfast. (Come on, be a sport, two teaspoons of booze in a loaf doth not constitute a trip to the Principal’s office.)

Enjoy this loaf during the cooler and colder days ahead. 

with a smile and song,

jane

Apple Butter Loaf

Ingredients: 

1 ½ c. unbleached, all-purpose flour

¾ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. cup unsalted butter, softened

1 c. granulated white sugar

1 egg, size large, room temperature

1 ¼ c. unseasoned apple butter, room temperature

2 tsp. Calvados (apple brandy) (optional)

1/2 cup raisins (organic are best!), covered in hot watered for 10 minutes and then drained

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. (175º C). Grease an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan.

If using Calvados, after draining the raisins, add Calvados and set aside.

Measure apple butter. Truc: To measure apple butter (or other soft stuff like sour cream or cooked pumpkin) in a liquid measure cup, put a piece of plastic wrap on top and smooth down the top with your hands. This way you can ‘see’ if you’ve measured out the correct amount.

Measure oil.

Measure sugar.

Truc: Have all ingredients “ready.” (Pretend you’re filming a cooking show!) Seriously, this is called mise en place, where everything is prepared and all you have to do is throw it all together.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon in a bowl. (It’s always best to freshly grind your nutmeg. You can buy who nutmeg in jars. Nutmeg grinders are easy to find in kitchen stores, on Amazon.com and Microplane makes a spice grater.) You’ll be astounded at the difference and those whole nutmegs last for at least a year.

Now it’s simple:

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a separate large bowl until smooth and fluffy. It should become really ‘fluffy.’

Add the egg and continue beating until smooth.

Mix in the flour and apple butter alternating, flour/apple butter/flour/apple butter/flour, until just incorporated. Truc: When you alternate wet and dry ingredients, you always end with the dry.

Fold in the raisins and walnuts, by hand, mixing just enough to evenly combine.

Transfer batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in center of preheated oven until toothpick, inserted in center, comes out clean. Depending on the size of your loaf pan, and how your oven is calibrated, this will probably take from 40-50 minutes. (Start checking for readiness on the early side of 40 minutes and after you’ve had a few sips of Calvados.)

Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

yield: 1 loaf

Roasted Carrots with Dill

Roasted Carrots with Dill

Adapted from Tori Avey (The Shiksa in the Kitchen) by Blue Heron Kitchen

Root vegetables - sweet and low down. While you can, buy them at your local farm stand or farmers market. Buy them loose wherever possible. Selecting your own carrots is empowering. (Those orange bags are upsetting.) Buy organic carrots. Carrots are a perfect vegetable.

What I like about this recipe is how the fresh, green-dill-burst lifts the sweet earthiness of roasted carrots. They’re a great addition to a roasted vegetable platter and are perfect accompaniment to fish or fowl. They’ll be gorgeous next to beef ; and I love them with frittatas! 

Why not audition them now as a new addition to your Thanksgiving feast. The color contrast is stunning. They’re light and not as rich as most Thanksgiving sides. For a delicious variation and stunning presentation roast both carrots and parsnips. 

with a smile and song,

jane

Roasted Carrots with Dill

Ingredients:

2 lb. whole carrots (I prefer young medium-sized carrots with greens still attached)
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
2-3 Tbsp. freshly chopped dill
Kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper to taste

Fleur de sel for finishing (optional)

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 400º F. Clean and remove the tops from the carrots (scrub them well or peel them, your preference.)

Place the carrots on a greased sheet tray and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss with your hands, making sure they’re evenly coated with oil. Lightly salt and pepper.

Roast carrots for 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and turn the carrots with tongs and sprinkle with 1- 1½ Tbsp. freshly chopped dill, then return to the oven and roast for an additional 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven, place carrots on a platter. Sprinkle with remaining fresh dill.

Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Or sprinkle with optional fleur de sel (my preference!)

Serve immediately, or serve at room temperature.

Serves approximately 6

Election Day and Carrots

Vote!

Soon .. a great and simple recipe for roasted carrots with fresh dill.

But first, VOTE.

Spiced Tomato Chutney

Spiced Tomato Chutney

Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman by Blue Heron Kitchen

This wonderful condiment is between a chutney and a ketchup. Martha calls it ketchup, but in my world, there’s one ketchup; and it’s among one of those 57 varieties.

I used plum tomatoes and didn’t bother to seed or peel them. I coarsely puréed them in my Vitamix and then put the finished product through a medium disc in my Mouli food mill. You don’t have to use a food mill; and you can use regular tomatoes too. If you do, make an ‘x” at the bottom of each one with a sharp paring knife and plunge them in boiling water for one minute. Remove them and their skins will peel like they’ve gone to the dermatologist for a chemical peel. Then slice them through the circumference and squeeze gently to get the seeds out. Voila!

I opted for muscovado sugar over brown sugar. Its molasses appeal worked for me. The roundness of chipotle chili over cayenne also made sense as did raw honey.  You can use whatever hot pepper or mild honey you choose. You’re the boss.

Toast cumin and grind your spices. There’s no explanation for not taking these steps.

This chutney will complement pork roast, roast chicken, meat loaf, hamburgers, turkey burgers, veggie burgers, roasted white or sweet potatoes or grilled veggies or you can use it as a spread on sandwiches. 

peace and love,

jane

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced

2 garlic cloves, minces

¼ c. apple cider vinegar (I use Bragg’s)

¼ c. muscovado sugar, packed (if you can’t find it, use dark brown sugar)

2 pounds plum or other ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (or not and coarsely puréed in a Vitamix                   or food processor)

1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted, cooled and ground

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

8 allspice berries, ground

2 whole cloves, ground

1/8 tsp. ground chipotle chili (or ‘other’ hot pepper)

freshly ground pepper, to taste (salt, if you feel it needs it – I didn’t add any)

1 Tbsp. raw honey (or mild honey)

Procedure:

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat olive oil

Add garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, but not brown – about a minute.

Add vinegar and raise heat. Reduce volume by ½ - about 2-3 minutes.

Add sugar and stir until dissolved.

Add tomatoes and spices (not ground black pepper), bring to a simmer and then reduce to very low.

Partially cover the pot and simmer slowly until reduced to a very thick purée and there’s very little liquid in the pan. This will take at least 1 ½ to 2 hours.

Uncover and continue to simmer until all liquid is evaporated, about 15 more minutes. Season to taste with ground pepper (and if using, salt) and stir in the honey.

Continue to simmer, stirring until mixture is sort of shiny, about 5 more minutes.

Remove from stove and cool. Taste and adjust seasonings. Transfer to a jar and if not using right away, refrigerate.

If you’re putting this through a food mill, you can do it warm or after it has been cooled and refrigerated.

This will keep for a couple of weeks (or more) in the refrigerator.