Food Network Musings: Cranberries

Sorry I don't have tons of pictures. Next time, I have to de-emphasize the cooking and pay more attention to the photography! This was my Thanksgiving menu with some notes on each of the dishes.

Cosmos with Champagne

Make up a batch of your favorite cosmos. Pour into a champagne glass 2/3’s full. Top with champagne or Prosecco.

Salmon Rillettes

I already talked about salmon the night before Thanksgiving, but I also included it in an hors d’oeuvres. Oy...no pictures, but there’s one with the recipe. Only change – do NOT add all the mayonnaise. You probably will not need a full half cup.

Fig and Blue Cheese Savouries

Pretty good. Next time I’ll add A LOT more fig jam. I made them in the morning and just put them in a warm oven for 10 minutes before serving.

My fav – Trader Joe’s Chicken Andouille on TJ’s sliced Pretzel Bread with coarse mustard.

45 minutes in advance, I slice the sausage diagonally and sauté it until it’s crusty and really well-browned on one side. I turn it over and leave it in the turned-off pan. Then I turn it back on about 3 or 4 minutes before I need it. (Only one side has to be gorgeously blackened.) ;-)

Guacamole

I applied the method of Roberto Santibañez' Classic Guacamole to my own guacamole recipe. He mixes and pounds together all the ingredients except the avocado. Then he cuts that in at the end. It’s described as chunky avocado with salsa running through it. I just call it delicious.

½ red onion, finely diced

1 plum tomato, finely diced

½ tsp. salt

Juice of 2 limes

big handful of chopped cilantro (use parsley if you can’t stand cilantro)

optional: 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped finely WITH GLOVES ON

3 ripe avocados, halved

With a mortar and pestle, or potato masher, work all ingredients together except avocado. You can also mash/chop them together on a cutting board with the side of a knife. Place in medium bowl. Cut avocados in half, remove pit. Make a cross hatch in the avocado with a tablespoon. Make 3 or 4 lines in either direction. Scoop avocado out of shell and add to onion mixture. Toss together, leaving avocado in largish pieces. Taste for seasoning.

First course - Orange-Scented Goat Cheese Slices

No recipe really. The night before, slice a log of goat cheese into disks. Place in a bowl with orange strips and a squeeze of fresh orange juice and few tablespoons of olive oil. Add some thyme. Cover and refrigerate until a half hour before serving. Make a salad of romaine, spinach, pomegranate seeds and candied pecans. Dress with this: juice of one orange, juice of one lemon, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of Dijon. Top each salad serving with goat cheese slices. (I also added a few dabs of the fantastic Délice de Bourgogne cheese, which is a TRIPLE creme cheese similar to brie. Sooo good!)

If you use binoculars, you can see the goat cheese salad.

Tom the Turkey

My Version of My Mother's Stuffing

Mashed Potatoes

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes

Green Beans With Shallots And Garlic

Suzanne’s Cranberries

Rolls, just for a place to put more butter

Dessert…next post.

It was all too ~~much~~…too good, I mean. The best part (next to the pie, that is) was having far-flung kids and great friends around the table. That makes every dish sweeter and any meal even more special.

I had never heard of the term Friendsgiving until my across-the-country daughter, D, told me that’s how she was spending last Sunday. The way she described it was that it was like Thanksgiving, but without all the annoying relatives.

I was pretty sure she also said it was going to be only side dishes (which are, let’s face it, the best part of Thanksgiving…next to the pies). The notion of a turkey-free Thanksgiving didn’t shock me, except where would the gravy come from for the mashed potatoes? But when I saw her pictures, there was this big beautiful turkey in them. Apparently, the hosts decided it just wouldn’t be Friendsgiving without the turkey. (LA-based D wanted to have a giant burrito instead of the bird, but she was voted down.)

The idea is that all the guests bring their own favorite dish from their family’s Thanksgiving. I was so proud when D had so many to choose from that she brought TWO!!!And what a great way to celebrate, especially as in D’s case, if you still have your own family’s Thanksgiving to go home to.

H and I spent many Novembers in other countries and we never missed celebrating Thanksgiving. Like D, we had friends and not family with us, but it didn’t have the same vibe of Friendsgiving - where everyone brings something and you have many family traditions on one table. I was always, for good or bad, firmly in control of the menu.

But no matter who’s doing the actual cooking, I like the concept of people forming family-type units wherever they are and using holidays as a way to cement those bonds. Plus I don’t think you could ever have too many Thanksgivings or Friends- or Relative-Givings for that matter. The more pumpkin or Brussels Sprouts (just this one time of year) in as many guises as possible is okay with me! And, PS, back to my second sentence, NOBODY at MY Thanksgiving is ever annoying!

Here are the two recipes that D made with some photos of the rest of her Friendsgiving meal. (I pretended not to see the Stovetop stuffing box.)

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Even though I call this recipe Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, I use only yams. (Here’s a short primer on the two varieties. I just remember YES! for yams!)

Bourbon Sweet Potatoes (makes 8 generous servings)
Printable recipe here.

4 1/2 lbs. yams

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

1/3 cup orange juice (fresh is the best)

1/3 cup bourbon (start with half and add the rest to taste)

4 tbls. firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg

1/3 cup pecans, halved or chopped, toasted

Scrub yams. Cook covered, in boiling water about 35 minutes or until tender. Drain. Cool slightly. Peel.

Put potatoes through a food mill over large mixer bowl. Add butter, orange juice, bourbon, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Beat until smooth and fluffy. Spoon into large buttered soufflé dish.

Arrange pecan halves, if using, decoratively over top. Or sprinkle chopped nuts around outside edge. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to bake - up to one day ahead.Remove plastic wrap and bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 45 minutes or until lightly browned.

NOTES:

I use any type of whiskey I have on hand (including Chivas!).

I put the yams through a food mill to get them really smooth. Leave out this step if you have no food mill. (But they are handy to have!) They’ll be fine, you may just encounter a few stringy bits.

If you’re feeding 12 to 15 people, multiply the recipe by 1 and a half. Put the mixture into one large soufflé dish and one small one.

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Suzanne's Cranberries (serves 8 as a side dish)
Printable recipe here.

This is a very saucy version of cranberries (as in they have a lot of liquid), but

they do thicken with time, so definitely make them ahead. I usually make them

the week before (at least) and freeze them.

3 tbls. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau
1 envelope plain gelatin
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 cups (1 lb.) fresh cranberries
grated rind of 1 orange
juice of 1/2 lemon

Pour orange liqueur into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle over gelatin. Let sit for 5

minutes. Combine sugar and water in large saucepan. Bring to the boil, stirring

to dissolve the sugar. Boil for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Boil 5 minutes longer.

(The cranberries will pop). Remove from heat. Add gelatin mixture to hot

cranberries. Stir to dissolve. Stir in grated orange rind and lemon juice.

Pour into serving container and chill overnight. Or pour into plastic containers

and freeze for up to a month. Thaw overnight in refrigerator and pour into

serving dish.

NOTE:

Cranberries usually come in 12 oz. bags, so here are the ingredients for 2 bags

of cranberries:

4 tbls. + 1 1/2 tsps. orange flavored liqueur - Grand Marnier or Cointreau
2 envelopes plain gelatin (I used to say 1 1/2 envelopes, Just use 2...it's fine.)
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
24 oz. fresh cranberries
grated rind of 1 1/2 oranges
juice of 1 lemon