Cranberry Squash

From The New Laurel's Kitchen, a delish squash recipe perfect for this holiday season. Try it, you'll like it!

Cranberry Squash  from Laurel's Kitchen

1 1/2 lbs raw winter squash, unpeeled, cut in serving size chunks
1/2 cup raw fresh cranberries
1 small apple, chopped in 3/4" pieces
1/4 cup chopped raisins

juice and grated peel of small orange
1 1/2 Tbls honey
1 Tbls melted butter
dash salt

Arrange pieces of squash in one layer in a baking dish with a cover (or use aluminum foil). Scatter cranberries, chopped apple, and raisins over and around the squash. If you use acorn, butternut, or other small squash, you can halve them, mix all the other ingredients together, and pile the mixture into the cavities. Otherwise, mix orange juice, grated peel, honey butter (if desired) and salt together and pour over squash. 

Cover baking dish and bake until squash is tender--25 to 45 minutes, depending upon the variety.

Makes 4 servings.

My initial debut of this recipe was part of a much much larger meal so we probably made this work for 8 servings, but it's a seriously lovely dish for any squash lover (the cranberries and apples and raisins are the perfect complement!). This will grace our table again, guaranteed.

Cranberry Pie, Part 2: Berry Filling

As I'd said in Part 1, I was looking for something other than a pumpkin pie for this Thanksgiving, and when I found The Frugal Gourmet's recipe using cranberries it was just the ticket.

from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American

Cranberry Pie

• 4 cups cranberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 Tbls cornstarch
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

• Pastry for a 2-crust, 9" pie

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Wash and pick over cranberries;  drain thoroughly. Chop cranberries and mix with sugar and cornstarch. Mix egg and almond extract and combine with cranberries. Line a 9" pie plate with half the pastry. Add cranberry mixture. Cover with strips of pastry arranged in a lattice, and seal edges. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and continue baking about 35 minutes, or until cranberries are soft and pastry is browned.

Results of family vote:  two in favor (husband and daughter), one slightly meh (me).  It wasn't that it was bad tasting, but it was too sour for me. The sourness was totally my fault, of course, because I chose not to chop all the cranberries (they kept rolling away from me and it was irritating so I gave up after halving about a third of them);  I hadn't thought about what that would mean to the filling and how the whole berries wouldn't be coated in and out with sugar. Oh well. I still ate a big piece (as did my husband and daughter). I'd make this recipe again, but next time I'll allow myself more time to chop chop chop the berries.

Cranberry Pie, Part 1: Crust(s)

If Americans agree on anything it's that it's not Thanksgiving without pie. But I wanted to go beyond pumpkin this year, and after finding a recipe for cranberry pie I knew that it was what I was meant to make. I could have picked-up a pre-made pie shell, but I decided to be old fashioned (and thrifty) and make my own piecrust. Looking in The New Laurel's Kitchen I came across two easy-enough-sounding recipes. I couldn't decide between them, but since the cranberry recipe called for a two-crust pie of 9", I just made both and used one for the dish and one for the lattice (two taste-tests in one pie!).

uncooked crust

Recipe one:

Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (or 1/4 cup flour)
3/4 tsp salt
10 Tbls butter, chilled

4 to 6 Tbls cold water

Stir together flour, wheat germ, and salt. Grate the cold butter on a coarse grater or cut into small pieces, tossing it with the flour as you go. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to combine the flour and butter until it is the consistency of rolled oats. Sprinkle with the water, using just enough to hold the dough together. 

Using cupped fingers, form the dough quickly and gently. As soon as it will hold together, make it into a ball.  

Press the dough out into a thick disk. Roll to size on a lightly floured surface, or between sheets of waxed paper, or on a pastry cloth. Gently roll the dough over the rolling pin and onto the pie plate, easing it loosely into the plate. (...)  

Gently press the dough into the plate so there are no air pockets. Cut off the excess with a sharp knife, but make the rim double thick to keep it from burning. (...) 

If you are making a  pie with a top crust or lattice, preheat the oven to 400 F. Fill the bottom shell and put the top crust or lattice in place, baking according to the directions in the recipe you are using. 

Makes one 10" bottom crust or crust and lattice for one 8" pie.

And recipe two:

Lighter Whole Wheat Piecrust    from The New Laurel's Kitchen

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbls oil [I used coconut]
1/4 cup water

Stir dry ingredients together. Mix in oil and enough of the water to make the dough form a ball. Roll flat between sheets of waxed paper and lift into pan. Make decorative edge. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes, or until slightly browned and crisp. Makes one 9" shell.

Our vote:  we enjoyed both! The crust was a little thick and brittle for my preference, but I chalk that up to chef's error (I realize pie crusts are an art). But the taste was good, both bottom and lattice. The "lighter" version was easier to make (spooning oil is so much easier than grating butter!) so if I were to try making it again I'd try that recipe first.

Thanksgiving Review

Hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as mine! My husband and I and our girls celebrated at home, just the four of us this year, so we held back on creating too many dishes (okay, my husband reminded me to hold back), and it all turned out very well, over all. I'll be setting up the hyperlinks to my posts on the dishes below as I have time to write them. Stay tuned!

New dishes:
Onion-Cranberry Compote (see below)
Sweet Potato Puree
Cranberry Pie with Whole Wheat Crust

Dishes I've mentioned before:
Sandy's Gingered Squash
Cranberry Sauce


And Justin slow-roasted a turkey and we had Riesling, sparkling pear juice, and coffee.

Really very good!



As an alternate to my usual sweetened cranberry sauce I decided to try out a more savory version this year. And it was good. Very good. (Is it disturbing that so far my only greatest Thanksgiving acheivements can be categorized under "sauce, cranberry")?

From Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions:

Onion-Cranberry Compote

• 1 1/3 cup raisins [the recipe calls for both yellow & dark raisins, I just used all dark]
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 2 lbs small white onions, peeled [I used 1 large yellow onion]
• 3 Tbls butter
• 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 2/3 cups fresh cranberries

Soak raisins in water for 10 mins. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, saute onions in butter until well coated. Add raisins with soaking liquid and remaining ingredients except cranberries. Liquid should just cover the onions--if not, add a little water. Simmer, covered, for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove cover, add cranberries and simmer uncovered for 15 to 30 mins until liquid has thickened. Let cool. Maybe made up to 3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature. Makes 4 cups.

What I most liked about this recipe was it blended so well with the rest of the holiday food! Truly a delicious relish. I personally plan to make this one again next year. Not to replace the sweeter version, but to complement it and give diners a more flavorful plate.

Post In Which I Discuss Frugalness & Cranberries

I actually thought my cookbook buying days were ending. No longer can I pop into Saint Vincent de Paul's and find books for $1.00. No, they've increased their prices to a bloated $3.00-$4.00 a cookbook. And I cannot abide it.

I've held in my hand several Frugal Gourmet cookbooks these past months, nearly talking myself into a splurge. But I've always finally held off, not convinced that my fanatical need for cookbooks is at the stage where I pay more than $2.00 a pop. Especially for a cookbook which contains "Frugal" in its title.

Today, my patient tightwadedness feels triumphant. I can still find cookbooks for less than a buck here in Madison:  at my local library's book sale. I arrived in time for their "we'll sell you anything you can fit into this bag for $3" clearance. And did I ever manage to pack my paper bag full. I believe even a professional grocery store bagger would have been impressed. Final total: sixty-three books, five of which were cookbooks. My haul included Jeff Smith's The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American, which I well remember from my younger days (having read many of Jeff Smith's books and spending hours watching his show on PBS). So HAH, Saint Vincent's! I just bought a cookbook for less than $0.10 and I more than ever convinced that your new $4.00 prices are rip-offs.

Don't be scared-off by the odd Boy Scouts/granny/turkey photo on the front cover. This is a good book!

So, you ask, upon my initial review of the book, what have I discovered? Let me tell you. The chapter on cranberries. It's nearly cranberry season, and I literally had no idea the amazing options we'll soon have. Oh yes, it's beyond sauce. Far beyond. There's going to be:

• Cranberry Fool (sweetened cranberries, almond extract, orange peel & whipping cream)
• Cranberry Cheddar Sandwiches (buttered bread spread with cranberry sauce and cheddar, broiled)
• Cranberry Pie (berry pie! using cranberries!)
• Cranberry Dumplings (Mr. Smith warns that these are addictive)

and

• Sweet Potatoes with Cranberries (fresh cranberries added to a sweet potato souffle)

That's right. I'm actually vowing to begin cooking again soon. Within the month. Exclusively with cranberries.

What?

Let's Talk Tradition

When I read a cookbook that says things like "You'll love my recipe so much you'll never again buy pre-made store bought such-and-such!" I generally don't believe them. Because I'm cheap and lazy and will SO want to buy such-and-such again instead of making it!

But in this case, the cookbook was right. Homemade cranberry sauce is fabulous. It's so tasty and easy that I will never buy that gross jelled (or filled with stems "whole") canned stuff again. Ever. I promise. (It's been three years so far, so that's impressive, no?)

Um, so yeah, I've made this recipe for the past two Thanksgivings and I made it again today. Which means it's not a new untested recipe and doesn't exactly fit into the rules of this blog challenge. But it's my self-challenge and my blog so I'm going to post it anyway.

Directly from Dreena Burton's fabulous cookbook Eat, Drink & Be Vegan, I present to you:

Traditional Cranberry Sauce 
Makes 4-5 servings (about 1 cup)

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, rinsed
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (optional)

In a pot on medium-high heat, combine the first three ingredients and bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have broken down. (Reduce heat if sauce is sticking or simmering too rapidly.) Once sauce has thickened, taste test, and add balsamic vinegar for a touch of sourness if desired. Serve warm or chilled.

Seriously, go make it right now for Thanksgiving--it's not too late!  (Madisonians: Willy St. Co-op has organic, locally grown cranberries in stock!)