Cranberry Apple Sauce

There are certain things that just belong on a Thanksgiving table: turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes... and cranberry sauce. Truth be told, I've never been a fan of the stuff. My favorite turkey day foods are the salty and buttery Stovetop or potatoes. Heck, I can only vaguely recall cranberry sauce at any of our Thanksgivings growing up. BUT I understand how important cranberries can be to the holiday table for others, so I grabbed a bag intending to use it only as decoration, lol. But that nagging feeling that some people just love it led me to turn that decor into a last minute addition to our holiday table.

Look how red and pretty!

I'm still not sure about the eating it with turkey thing, but I really liked this! It was tart and just sweet enough. It was received nicely as a side, but next time I'm going to use it to top a brie en croute as an appetizer. Oh look at that, it's a yummy AND versatile holiday dish.

Cranberry Apple Sauce
loosely adapted from Food Network

12 oz bag fresh cranberries
1/3 C vanilla sugar (to taste)
3 Tbsp Grand Marnier
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 honeycrisp apple, peeled and diced

In a food processor, combine the cranberries, sugar, and Grand Marnier, and lemon zest and pulse a few times to chop up the cranberries and incorporate all the ingredients. Put cranberries into a small saucepan and mix in the apple. Cook over medium heat until cranberries soften, tasting along the way to add sugar if necessary, until it becomes the consistency you want. (I did add about 2 tbsp of water because I lost track of it for a bit and wanted to loosen it up, and it turned out great.)

sweet and spicy watermelon salad

Happy Labor Day! Celebrate the end of summer with a perfectly summery dish:

To Jenn's bbq today, thought I'd bring a classic summer side to the table, but with an out of the ordinary twist. I caught wind of the idea when perusing the new Food Plate Guide the gubment put out to replace the food pyramid. Sweet watermelon and spicy red pepper flakes? Niiice. I tucked this recipe away until I started seeing all the melons at the farmers markets. I of course googled it and saw a bunch of different variations, so played with it to end up with a watermelon, yellow cherry tomato (which I find to be the sweetest), cuke, and onion version. The balsamic and red pepper flake dressing enhances the flavors without overwhelming. I love that the heat just lingers on your tongue and lips, but is immediately cooled by the next bite of watermelon. And it's so colorful... this salad look so happy! And I'm all about bringing the happy :-) So again, Happy Labor Day!

Sweet and Spicy Watermelon Salad
adapted from da gubment (scroll down for recipe) and One Perfect Bite

2 1/2 lbs seedless watermelon, cubed in 1" pieces
1 pint yellow cherry tomatoes
1 9" seedless cucumber, diced into1/2" pieces
1/2 C vidalia onion, sliced into very thin 1-2" long strips
mint leaves from 2-3 sprigs, rolled and sliced thin (chiffonade)
3 Tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp extra light olive oil
5 grinds red pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes

Combine watermelon, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and mint in a large bowl. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and red pepper until emulsified. Pour over the watermelon mixture and toss to combine. Garnish with more mint leaves if you like.

A few notes about this recipe:
1) If you don't like raw onions, and I generally don't, a nifty trick to dull that raw bite: dunk the sliced onion in ice water for 2-3 minutes then take out.
2) This salad releases a LOT of water given the nature of the ingredients. I don't mind draining some of it off through the day.

peach pocket pie

I went to the farmers market yesterday with the intention to buy some sour cherries. Shows what I know - there wasn't a cherry to be found; guess cherry season's over, lol. There were, however, peaches everywhere. And I heart peaches. See - I got 2 lbs. Mmm. Farmers market swag:

Remember that poll I had a couple weeks back when I had all these ideas of what to make? I ended up making the galette, but this time around I'll be using those delicious peaches to make hand pies aka pocket pies. I used the same dough recipe from the galettes, and they translate to these little pies nicely. These were flaky, sweet and fresh tasting. Made a great snack for me and the fam at the Beach Boys concert at Wolftrap today. Look how pretty:

Peach Pocket Pies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 recipe pie dough (split into 2 pieces, wrapped and refrigerated at least 2 hours, preferably overnight)
1 lb peaches
1/8 C flour
1/8 C sugar (my peaches were pretty sweet, so I only used 1 tbsp)
1/2 tsp bourbon
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten (for the egg wash)

Make the filling: Peel and dice peaches into about 1/2" pieces. Mix in the flour, sugar, bourbon and vanilla until combined.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out 1 of the doughs to about 1/8" thick and cut 4-5" circles - I used one of my bowls to cut them out, but a cookie cutter or the top of a circle tupperware will work. Spoon 1 to 2 tbsp of filling (just the fruit, skip the liquid that forms) onto the half of each circle. Dip your finger into the egg and brush around the circumfrence of the circles. Fold over one half to make a half moon and press down the edges to seal - use a fork to make crimp the edges shut. Repeat with the rest. Put pies into the freezer to chill dough for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. Place chilled pies on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with clear sanding sugar if you'd like to decorate. Use a knife to poke a small hole in the top of each pie. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes about a dozen pies.

PS - these are awesome with vanilla ice cream :-)

Oh I just have to throw this little aside in there - I went to the Beach Boys concert, right. They sounded the same - upbeat tunes and great harmonies. I was singing along and dancing, hehe. I was also very Very *VERY* thrilled when I saw that JOHN STAMOS was performing with them! He was on guitar, drums, bongos, and even sang a song! He was so clearly loving every moment of it -- I totally flash backed to that episode of Full House when Uncle Jesse got to perform with them. He was dancing and taking pictures with his phone, pulled a girl wearing an Uncle Jesse tshirt onto the stage to dance with him. He was yummy icing to a very fun show (made even more fun by the mini hurricaine we had that drenched the lawn and dropped the temps some 20 degrees... glad I was in the theater so I didn't actually get wet by the rain.). It's the best concert I've been to this year, I think. Oh, and by the way, John Stamos -- still super freaking hot. Wish I had a camera that coulda caught this better... we were in row O and my phone didn't get the best shot, but I tried:

All the more reason to upgrade cameras, hehe.

balsamic strawberry galette

While I did not actually make it to the farmers market on Saturday morning due to the rain, I just picked up some strawberries from the happiest place on earth to make the winning goody from the Poll. 47% of the voters wanted a galette, so here it is! What exactly is a galette, anyways? Basically, it's a free form pie. Instead of forming the crust in a pie plate and worrying about crimping a crust, you basically lay out the dough on a sheet pan, put some filling in the middle, and fold over the edges to create a nice rustic crust. The filling can be just about anything, and summer is great for it because of all the fresh fruit around. In this case, it's strawberries that've been soaking in sugar and balsamic vinegar for a while. You can also use peaches, berries, apples... just make sure it's fresh and sweet and not too juicy so it doesn't make the crust soggy (like I don't think watermelon would work).

I should note that I split the dough and made two mini galettes. Each would make a modest dessert for 4, or a generous dessert for 2. For the first one, I let the dough rest one hour and the berries macerate for the same amount of time. This turned out to be soggier and the berries were okay. I didn't get to make the second set until tonight, so the berries were macerating and the other half of the crust was sitting in the fridge for an extra day. I also made sure to keep the dough as cold as possible, throwing it back into the freezer to chill between steps. And it was downright delicious - not too juicy, the crust was crunchier - more airy and flaky. Quite pleased with the result. Balsamic Strawberry Galette

1 pie crust (recipe to follow)

1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved

3 Tbsp vanilla sugar, split

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp flour

1 tsp ground nuts (in this case almonds)

egg, beaten

turbinado or clear sanding sugar

Put berries in a bowl and sprinkle with 2 Tbsp sugar and vinegar. Macerate for an hour (or more, and if you read the paragraph before the recipe, you'll know I macerated in the fridge overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out half the pie crust until about 1/8" thick then place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put into the freezer for a few minutes to chill. Strain the strawberries (keep the juicy goodness and reduce down for a yummy sauce later.)

Take back out, then sprinkle the flour, ground nuts, and the other tbsp of sugar in the middle. Make sure to leave an edge that's at least 1 1/2" wide. Placing the berries in the middle on top of the flour, sugar, nut mix. Fold the edges of the dough over the strawberries. Brush with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are golden. (reminder: this is for a half recipe)

(above: you can see I folded the edge pretty tightly so it didn't cover much of the berries. you don't see the pleating much after it baked up, but it sure was flaky and delish! the great thing about being rustic is you can make the edge/crust as big or little as you like!)

Pie Dough

adapted from Gastronomer's Guide

1 stick butter, cut into small pieces and frozen

1 1/4 C flour

2 Tbsp vanilla sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 C ice water (give or take)

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt with a whisk. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal -- there should be some butter clumps that are the size of small peas, but most should be pretty small. Chill in freezer for a few minutes just to make sure the butter doesn't melt.

Form a well in the middle of the mixture and pour in 2 Tbsp ice water. Mix with a wooden spoon, adding more water 1 Tbsp at a time until dough starts coming together. Form into 1 disc (or 2 small ones like I did), wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at LEAST 1 hour - I recommend overnight - before rolling.

UPDATED: This dough is really easy to make with a food processor, too. Basically you'll want to cube the butter and freeze. Then combine the dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse a couple times to combine. Add butter to the dry ingredients and pulse until it's a coarse, pebbly texture. Some pieces should be the size of peas. Add water 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing a couple times with each addition, until a ball forms. Form into a ball, flatten, wrap, and refrigerate.

a peachy keen simple salad

One of the best treats of summer (and one of my most favoritest types of fruit) is the white peach. When perfectly ripe, it's fragrant - sweet, happy and almost innocent. Yes things can smell innocent :) It's lighter than a yellow peach in hue and taste... delicate, even. And then it gives just the slightest bit to your touch. It has firm flesh but it bursts with juice when you bite into it. I would write a love poem to this fruit.

In fact, I will.

sweet white peach in hand

summer's gift to the taste buds

juice dripping down chin

Have I ever mentioned that sometimes I break into random haiku?

Anyways. I usually happily consume white peaches as they are as a midday snack - either sliced or I bite into it like an apple. But today I made a meal of it. I took a hint from those popuar proscuitto wrapped melon slice recipes -- the sweet and salty flavor combination is always a winner. I added the almonds for some crunch and cuz apparently they're really great for you, too. It's a very simple salad that I happily dug into for a light lunch. It's way nutritious, too, bonus!

White Peach and Proscuitto Salad

1 large white peach, sliced thinly
2 C baby spinach leaves
1 oz proscuitto, torn or cut into pieces
1/4 C dry roasted almonds (or pecans or walnuts)

Toss all the ingredients together and eat!

I should note, by the way, that I don't usually have dressing with salads. I like to make sure every bite has peach in it so its sweet juices coat everything - it's its own dressing! However for you dressing lovers out there, a balsamic vinaigrette would complement this quite well.

sweet dessert for a sweet dad

Happy Father's Day! I'm a Daddy's Girl myself, and thus I love to celebrate this day. My dad taught me some of the best lessons of my life, one of my favorites being: if you love and enjoy something, share it with others. And I love food, thus I shared a home cooked meal with him today, and I'm sharing this with you now.Our deconstructed jambalaya dinner was on the spicier side, so dessert needed to be cool and sweet. The panna cotta topped with balsamic strawberries hit the spot. I've always loved panna cotta - it's so light and vanillay and creamy. It's like the grown up version of jello. I had no idea it was as easy to make as jello, too. Since there were 3 of us, I just split it between 3 small bowls, but this can easily be divided into 4, too.

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta

adapted from David Lebovitz

2 C half and half

1/4 C sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 package gelatin

3 Tbsp cold water

Lightly oil 3 small bowls.

Heat half and half, sugar, and vanilla bean caviar and bean in a pot and heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes to let the vanilla infuse.

In a medium bowl, dissolve the gelatin over the cold water. Let stand for about 10 minutes. Pour the warm half and half mixture through a strainer (to catch the bean and any filmed milk) over the gelatin and stir until completely dissolved.

Divide between the 3 bowls. Chill until firm - at least 2 hours, but can be made up to a day or two in advance.

To serve, you can either serve it in bowl, or you can run a knife along the edges, dip the bowl in some hot water to loosen, and turn out onto serving plate. Finish it with topping of choice, such as...

Balsamic Strawberries

adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 pint strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced in half

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 C white sugar

Put strawberries in a bowl and drizzle with the balsamic and sugar. Stir gently to combine. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour. Spoon over or around panna cotta.

This would also go really well with vanilla ice cream or topped with whipped cream. I should also note that the red and white color combo makes this perfect for a valentines day dessert (especially if using a heart mold) or Christmas... or throw in some blueberries and you have a nice patriotic looking dessert, too.

my first strawberry jam

Two days ago, when it was 95 degrees and sunny, I would have told you we skipped over spring and went straight to summer. That weather (not the pound of over-ripe strawberries in the fridge that I couldn't figure out what to do with :-D) inspired me to make something summery. Glad I did because the rain last night dropped the temperature some 30 degrees, and I'm back to using my seat warmers in my car at night. My new car is so sweet. So is this jam. This is a pectin-free recipe (rough translation: no added gelatin to firm it up), which means this is a looser jam... Looks (cuz it is) home made with love. And vanilla beans. Instant love. (Aside: vanilla is easily my absolute most favorite ingredient for sweets EVER, and I'd choose it over chocolate any day. There, it's out there. Digest that. Aside over.) The vanilla adds a cozy warmth - a flavor that both mellows and complements the strawberriness. Didn't have my camera today so relied on Brandt to take this pic of it spread on a bagel with cream cheese (thanks Brandt), so no crystal clear shot of the little flecks of vanilla seeds I wish you could see throughout the jam. Check the Wash Post link below for the original recipe that has some helpful pointers on where to find beans.

One last thing - the original recipe calls for 6 lbs of berries, so I used my handy dandy math skillz to divide. This small batch recipe produces 8oz of jam. Because of that, I didn't need to sterilize the canning jar to store it.

Small Batch Strawberry Vanilla Jam

adapted from The Washington Post

1 lb strawberries, hulled and sliced

1/3 C sugar

2 vanilla beans, split and scraped

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl for 30 minutes or until a puddle of liquid forms at the bottom. Dump into a pot and cook over medium high heat. Stir it ocassionally and cook for about 15-20 minutes and looks thickened or, if you have a candy thermometer, until it hits 220 degrees. Remove and discard the vanilla beans. Either ladle it into a small glass container, or allow to cool and store in a plastic tupperware.

Easter dessert: mini pavlova with lemon curd and fresh berries

Hoppy Easter!!! I'm pretty sure my tummy is distended from a fantastic Easter dinner. That I made :-D

Over the next couple days I'll post some recipes of that 3.5 course meal. I'll begin with dessert first. Actually I already started on posting my dessert recipe 2 days ago - that lovely lemon curd was part of this crisp and airy pavlova. You can see that yellow curd peeking out from under the fresh berries. Pairing it with tea made for a bright, light finish to a very filling meal.

Note: Make sure all your cooking utensils - the mixing bowl, whisk, your hands - are oil free and spotless. Oil is the arch nemesis that thwarts any meringue's attempt at greatness. Also, when separating the eggs, no yolks allowed! Not even a speck - pure egg whites only.

Pavlova

adapted from Cooking Light

4 egg whites, room temp
1/4 tsp cream of tarter

3/4 C sugar

1 vanilla bean

chopped pistachios (optional)

Preheat oven to 250. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and draw 4 4"-circles (or whatever shape you'd like) on them. Space them well because the meringues will spread. Flip over so it's drawn side down. Split the vanilla seed and remove seeds. Mix into sugar so evenly distributed.

Put egg whites and cream of tarter in a mixing bowl and. using the whisk attachment, start on medium speed and gradually ingrease to high, and beat until foamy. Then add sugar a tablespoon at a time while it continues to beat. Beat until stiff stiff peaks form - that is, stick a spoon in there (while the beater is off, duh), pull out quickly, hold peak side up, and if the peak stays straight and doesn't lean at all, you are done.

Evenly divide the meringues between the 8 circles. Make them nest-like: edges are higher than the center, so you can put the filling in later. This is where you can sprinkle with the pistachios, too, if you want nuts on it. Oh, and these are pretty close together - there was less than a centimeter between them after baking - you may want to put more space between them.

Bake for 1 hour, rotating halfway through for even baking. Turn off oven, leave the meringues in there, and leave for another 2 hours. Remove and allow to cool. Carefully remove from parchment.

To assemble the pavlova: spread about 2 tbsp of the lemon curd in the center of the meringue nest. Arrange the fresh berries on top. Serve immediately.

OR: The meringues will keep, topping free, in an airtight container for a couple days. I made the meringues on Saturday and put it together Sunday night. Easy breezy.

lovely lemon curd

Since I'm making a full out Easter dinner this year, I'm getting ahead of the curve by making anything I can ahead of time. First thing on that list: lemon curd. On Sunday it'll be paired with berries on top of a pavlova. It turned out smooth, creamy, sweet and tart. Luscious, actually, and lovely indeed.

I'm quite excited to eat it, actually... so excited I made 2 batches tonight :-) It came together so quickly - about 20 min start to finish - that making it twice was a snap. As you can see it doesn't make that much, about 10 oz per recipe, but if we don't finish it all on Easter, I can have it with scones or cookies or inside cupcakes or on waffles. Or, ya know, I can give it away. It'd make a really fantastic gift for a food lover. Ahem. Anyways, enjoy!

Lemon Curd
adapted from Joy of Baking

1/3 C fresh lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
1 tbsp lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
1/2 C plus 1 tbsp sugar
3 eggs
4 tbsp butter, room temp, cut into 4 pieces
Special equipment: fine mesh strainer, double boiler (optional)

If using a double boiler, bring water to a simmer in the bottom pot and whisk together the juice, zest, sugar and eggs in the top layer. Otherwise, in a stainless steel bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, zest*, sugar and eggs. Fill a small pot with about 2" of water and bring to a boil. As soon as it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and put the bowl on top. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bowl.

Cook, whisking continuously until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon - about 8-10 minutes. Strain the curd into a clean bowl. Mix in butter pats, stirring to melt and combine completely. Cover with plastic wrap so a film doesn't form, and allow to cool.

* Note: In the first batch I only combined the juice, eggs, and sugar in the 1st step. I added the zest to the custard with the butter and didn't strain it out. It turned tarter for sure, but zest kept getting caught in the back of my throat. Ew, annoying. The second time I made it I did as written - putting it in early then straining it out. It produces a mellower flavor with a decidedly smoother, luscious curd. Take your pick.

Should keep in the fridge 1-2 weeks, or in the freezer for a couple months.