Cranberry Chutney

I've been making cranberry chutney for several years as a defiant alternative to those wiggly molds of gelatinous cranberry goop that plop out of a can. The first time I made it, I set aside several jars for D's mother and my family, but then forgot them on that fated Thanksgiving day. As a result, we were eating cranberry chutney with pork chops for the rest of the year. I've used recipes with more ingredients, but this time I made it simply. For interesting variations, you can add chopped apple, raisins, figs, jalapeno peppers, and even nuts. You can also substitute honey for the sugar, and up the ginger input.

Cranberry Chutney

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (12-oz) bag fresh cranberries
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Saute the onions, garlic, and ginger in a bit of olive oil until they are browning and near carmelized. Add the rest of the ingredients all at once and simmer on medium-low heat until the cranberries have all popped. You should stir the mixture constantly towards the end as it thickens, because it will definitely start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Once all the cranberries have popped, and the mixture reaches a consistency that you're happy with, spoon it while hot into clean glass jars and seal with air-tight lids. Perfect for your Thanksgiving turkey, but awesome with all kinds of turkey and pork chop dishes all year long.

Obama Acceptance Speech Celebration Dinner

Since we didn't make it out to one of the group viewings of Obama's speech, I figured we ought to celebrate the way that we usually do at home with an insanely yummy healthy dinner. This sounds like it would be a lot of preparation, but you can do a bunch of stuff ahead of time (over the weekend, for example) that makes it super easy. Everything on the menu was local, most of it organic. I purchased the lamb from one of my favorite meat vendors at the Grand Army Plaza Farmer's Market. I brought the figs back with me directly from Berkeley, California.

Lamb steak with fig chutney, pureed parsnips, and sauteed dandelion greens

1 1lb lamb steak
1 bunch dandelion greens
3 parsnips
1/4 cup of milk
4 cloves of garlic
salt and pepper
8 oz mission figs
1 small onion
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
one cinnamon stick
pinch of fresh thyme and rosemary
olive oil

Marinate the lamb steak in olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme and rosemary. You can freeze it just like that after it's done sitting in the mix for a little while.

Peel and boil the parsnips until tender. Put in a blender when tepid with 1/4 cup of milk, salt and pepper, and I used a touch of truffle oil, which is not essential, but is super yummy. Puree. You can put that in a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag, too.

Cut figs into bite sized pieces and boil them in a mixture of chopped onion, sugar, vinegar, and cinnamon stick until jam-like. Put in a jar and refrigerate.

The dandelion greens you can't freeze, so that's what you have to prepare just before the meal. Cut the dandelion greens into bite sized pieces and sautee in olive oil, chopped garlic, and salt and pepper. I added toasted sesame seeds, but again, not essential.

I couldn't resist some sweet, local corn, but it may have overloaded our plates. I definitely felt gluttonous.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving planning

We're having D's clan over to our small Brooklyn apartment for Thanksgiving, and we started planning the menu and getting together the "To Do" list this weekend.

I ordered a 14-16 lb turkey from the farmer's market at Grand Army Plaza this Saturday, along with an 8-10 lb breast (for additional meat). I also made spicy pumpkin soup from our Hallowe'en decorations (the ones that weren't cut into jack-o-lanterns), and froze 64 oz of it. I also canned some cranberry sauce (cranberries, onions, apple, and raisins with a bunch of spices).

I hope to do some shopping both at my regular old farmer's market, but also at the Red Hook Community Farm Farmers' Market, which has two more days left until Thansgiving: Saturday, October 10th and Saturday, October 17th, 9am-3pm. The Red Hook Community Farm is so cool: it was opened in a neighborhood that was really suffering from poor nutritional options, and has really evolved into a community hub. The farms are run by community youth, who learn about sustainable living and business management at the same time. Info on the organization:

http://added-value.org/market.php

You can also get directions to the market by going to the website.

So here's a sketch of our Thanksgiving menu so far:

Appetizers: Brie and crackers
cheese and guava paste

First course: Spicy gingered pumpkin soup

Second course: Green salad with tahini goddess dressing or a mustard viniagrette

Main course: Roast turkey with apple walnut stuffing with a pumpkin chipotle sauce
Green beans with bacon, red pepper and almonds
Pureed cauliflower with scallions
Roasted winter vegetables
Cranberry Chutney, and traditional cranberry sauce

Dessert: Pumpkin cheesecake bars and various pies brought by D's relatives

Forgetting the Cranberry Chutney

D. and I decided to spend Thanksgiving away from family and friends at my friends’ country house in Pennsylvania. Neither one of us was up for any family drama, and we were anxious for some time out of the city. The house is beautiful—my friend is an architect and he remodeled an old house that sits right on a small river. You can hear the river rushing by in the morning through closed windows, and a group of wild turkeys often come to visit. He brought his guitar, and I packed tons of cooking supplies to create our feast. But before heading up there, we decided to stop and visit his mother. This would be the first time I would meet her, and I was excited about it, up until the day before we were leaving. I turned into a nervous wreck. Didn’t know what to wear, wasn’t sure what to do with my hair, etc. etc. D. told me that she was nervous, too.

Just after dark the day before Thanksgiving, we pulled up in front of her house and D. looked at me reassuringly. We got out and went into the back seat to pull out the dried flower and herb centerpiece we’d bought for her at the Farmer’s Market, and the jar of cranberry chutney I’d carefully prepared days before. No cranberry chutney. I’d forgotten to bring down the canvas bag with the chutney for his mother, our chutney for the next day, a bag of onions, and a bottle of Jose Cuervo Gold Tequila—which we’d planned to drink as an appetizer while we cooked the next day. D. was not perfectly chill about it—he didn’t understand how, despite all of my lists, which included such obvious things as his guitar and the massive turkey in a cooler, I could have forgotten the chutney. But he was ultimately pretty forgiving. As for the visit with his mother, it was lovely. She was so grateful for the centerpiece, and just insisted that I send her the recipe.

After a few hours, we got back on the road to the house. On the way, though, we had to stop for onions, Tequila, and, of course, the makings for cranberry chutney: celery, raisins, cranberries, vinegar, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, apples, and ginger.

It was terrific with our Thanksgiving dinner of roast turkey, pureed cauliflower (instead of mashed potatoes), glazed baby carrots, brussel sprouts, sausage and cranberry cornbread stuffing, wheat rolls, and butternut squash soup. And it was great on sandwiches the next day!

Last night I made dinner for my friend who had spent the day painting two rooms in my apartmen, and his girlfriend who used to be a caterer. I marinated three pork chops from the local butcher with olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary and thyme. I pan-seared them, and then baked them in the oven, and served them with garlicky spinach, brown wehani rice, and side garnishes of my homemade applesauce and cranberry chutney. The chutney was the star again. (By the way, the dinner went well with a bottle of Punto Final Malbec (Argentina).