Cranberry Sauce

A designer who worked for me gave me this recipe. He came from the mid west and was home schooled by his mom. This cranberry sauce has become a favorite at our thanksgiving table.

2 bags fresh cranberries, picked over and stems removed
1 large apple, peeled and cut into a 1/4” dice
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup Grand Marnier
Zest of 1 orange (fine zest)
Dash of nutmeg

Place all of the ingredients in a saucepan (I like to use non stick for this) and cook on medium high heat for about 10-15 minutes or until at least ¾ of the cranberries have burst. Stir often while cooking. You can make this ahead it keeps well.

Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts with toasted hazelnuts

2 container of Brussels sprouts- 10 oz each
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 cup whole hazelnuts, with skin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 425

Slice off the very end (brownish part) of the stem on each sprout. Remove any tough or discolored outer leaves. Slice the Sprouts lengthwise in quarters. Place the Brussels sprouts onto a baking sheet and drizzle on the olive oil. Sprinkle on the salt and pepper then toss the mixture together. Place in oven for 25 minutes tossing the mixture once or twice during cooking.

To toast the hazelnuts or filberts- Place them on a baking sheet and toast in toaster oven (or in a skillet) until fragrant. Once cooled the outer layer of the filberts will fall off with just the slightest touch. It is not necessary to remove the entire outer layer – a little left on looks pretty.

Toss the filberts in with the cooked Brussels sprouts and serve.

Thanksgiving

I am looking forward to the week ahead. Soon we will all be celebrating Thanksgiving. Most people have wonderful memories of Norman Rockwell-ish Thanksgivings. Memories that include huge roast birds, cranberry sauce, fall vegetables and pie. Love these items or hate them, they are part of our lives every year so the easiest path is simply embracing them. I enjoy to the crispy skin of the turkey, and the huge turkey carcass with which I make stock after the meal. Lace tablecloths and Grandmas fine china grace just about every home in America for one huge celebration and we may as well enjoy the feast.

Many cooks will try to alter the dinner with fancy sauces and exotic spice rubs. To be frank, as fun as it is to try out a few new recipes each year, people really seem to enjoy the simplistic nature of this holiday. Nobody wants duck in place of turkey on thanksgiving. I plan to post a few recipes that I hope you will try. All recipes simple enough that even grandma or grandpa (hopefully) will not realize that you have added a little extra spice or seasoning here or there!

Apple Butter (slow cooker)

4 pounds McIntosh/Red Delicious apples, Quartered- leave skin, stems and core on the apple)
2 ¼ cups apple cider
4 cups sugar
2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon allspice

In a large heavy saucepan or Dutch oven (at least 5 quart) combine the apples and the cider. Simmer, semi covered on med heat for 30 minutes until the apples are tender. Stir occasionally. Turn off heat and allow time for the apples to cool, and then pass mixture into a mixing bowl, through a food mill or a strainer (do not use too fine a strainer if you do nothing will pass through). What will come through the food mill into your mixing bowl will look much like applesauce.

Place the apple mixture into a croc pot/slow cooker. Add in the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Set heat to high and cook for 4- 41/2 hours. Stir one or twice during cooking. Mixture should look thickened. Place into Tupperware or pretty glass jars. Once the mixture has come to room temperature put it into your refrigerator. It will continue to set and thicken as it cools.
This apple butter is great on toast or even as a filling in tarts and pastry.

Apple picking trip

Like most people every year in mid to late October we go apple picking. We drive to a local farm, head straight out to the orchard and in only a few minutes manage to pick several bags full of apples. The rest of the time is spent drinking apple cider, eating freshly fried doughnuts and picking our pumpkins.

The problem of course is what to do with all of the apples once you get them home. I have made apple pie with a homemade crust. I hope to make apple butter later in the week. If you pick up a container of apple cider, my friend Michel suggested heating it and serving it spiked with a bit of Rum as you hand out candy on Halloween, that should make the evening a little more bearable for the parents!

Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Bake

The recipe that follows is perhaps a far cry from haute French cuisine. There are no long simmering sauces, seared fois gras, or truffle shavings. This is a quick, pull the ingredients out of your fridge/freezer dinner. Its so easy is almost effortless.

1 ¼ cups Texmati rice
1 Package of Andouille Sausage (I am using D’Artagnan)- ends of links removed and sliced into 1/8” thick chunks
1 ½ cups chicken stock
1/8 teaspoon salt
Pinch of fresh pepper
1 pound of shrimp, peeled and deveined (21/25)
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme to garnish
Serve with hot sauce (optional)


Preheat oven to 425

To the bottom of an 8x8” dish add rice, stock, salt and pepper. Layer on top of the rice, rows of shrimp then rows of sausage. (If you would like to skip the layering bit to make it even faster that fine by me- just mix the sausage and shrimp together then pour into pan). Bake for 17 minutes.

Cover the dish with parchment and aluminum foil to seal in then steam, then lower the heat to 250- Place the dish pack in the oven and cook and additional 40-45 minutes or until the rice has cooked through. Garnish with fresh thyme.

Food Essays

I have spent the better part of my week curled up with a book by one of Americas most famous food writers. I have been reading The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten. I cannot bring myself to put the book down, even for a moment. One of the most interesting essays was called Back of the Box. Do you know how many Americans use Campbell’s soup every night as one ingredient in their dinner? I could not believe what I had read!

I got to thinking that I should use up some of my household staples. I dug through my freezer and found some frozen shrimp. In my fridge was a package of sausage. This recipe is simple to prepare and the ingredients are easily kept on hand for last minute, speedy, cooking- something that apparently many Americans prefer.