Cranberry Curd

28 January 2009 Filed In: berry, Chanukah, Christmas, cranberry, Dairy-free, Desserts, Fall, Gluten-free, Soy-free, Vegetarian, Winter



When I read the words “cranberry curd” in an email from my sister-in-law Elizabeth, I thought, “Ohhhhhhhh.  Genius.”  She is, of course, genius, and she and I share of passion for curds.  Yes, it’s a horrible little word for something so delicious that it knocks even chocolate out for my all time favorite dessert substance.  
Spread it on the Cran-Meets-Bran Muffins, make little tarts, sandwich it between layers of a cakes, or, like me, try not to eat it all straight from the jar.  


Cranberry Curd

*8 oz. cranberries
*3/4 c. water
*3/4 c. sugar
*4 T. unsalted butter
*3 eggs
*pinch of salt
* a few drops of orange blossom water (optional but very yummy)

Together: In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries and the water.

Big Person: Cook the cranberries over fairly high heat until their skins are popping open.  

Together:  Set up a fine mesh sieve over a large bowl, and put the cranberries in the sieve.  Have your mini-chef press the cranberries through the sieve with a wooden spoon.  You may have to help them a little bit because it takes pressure to strain and mash the berries, but they can have a good time smishing [official cooking term] as best they can.  

Put the strained cranberry mush back into the saucepan and add the butter and the sugar, and stir it well.  Depending on how long it took you to press the cranberries, the butter might start to melt a little or a lot.

Crack the eggs into a separate smallish bowl, scoop out any pieces of shell, and mush the yolks and give the eggs a small beating.

Big Person:  Over medium-low heat, stir the butter in till it is totally incorporated.  Then add the eggs and stir the curd steadily until it sets up.  When it is ready, it will coat the back of a spoon.  

Remove the curd from the heat, and immediately stir in the salt and the orange blossom water.  Cool, jar, and spread.  




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Cran-Dates-Bran Muffins

27 January 2009 Filed In: bread, Breads, Christmas, cranberry, date, Fall, muffins, Soy-free, Thanksgiving, Vegetarian, Winter

Another muffin?  When it comes to cooking and eating with little kids, it seems there is no limit to the number of muffins that you can make and enjoy together.  When I received a MAYDAY email from my sister-in-law, Elizabeth, last week describing a cranberry surplus and a request for recipes that might help her out of the big red mountain she has sitting in her freezer, a muffin immediately seemed in order.  (She also mentioned the words “cranberry curd“.  More on that delight tomorrow).

 This recipe was based on the Contessa’s recipe for Banana Bran Muffins.  Usually the Contessa does not disappoint…in fact I venture that I’ve never before made a recipe that didn’t have me ohhhing and ahhhing over her simplicity, her elegance, and her utter deliciousness as a chef.  The original recipe, though, needed a little something.  With bran muffins, it’s so difficult to hit the right note.  They are often sickly sweet and/or taste like a hunk of cardboard.  Date puree not only adds some nutritious sweetness to these muffins, it also improves their texture.  We used spelt flour from the Wild Hive Farm, but you can substitute pretty freely with your own flour mixture.
Bake these with your Yummy today and put a few aside so that you can make some cranberry curd to slather on them tomorrow.   

Cran-Dates-Bran Muffins

*2 c. unprocessed wheat bran
*2 c. yogurt
*8 T. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
*1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
*4 eggs, room temperature
*3/4 c. unsulfured molasses
*10 Medjool dates, pitted and pureed
*2 t. vanilla
*2 c. all purpose flour
*1 c. spelt flour
*1 1/2 t. baking powder
*1/2 t. baking soda
*1 t. salt
*8 oz. cranberries (fresh or frozen)
*1 c. walnuts, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  

Together: Line 36 muffins cups with muffins papers or grease them if you prefer.

Measure out all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and have your mini-chef give them a good whisk.  In a medium bowl, combine the bran and the yogurt and set aside.  

Now in another large bowl, or the bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter and the brown sugar till it’s very fluffy.  Turn the mixer down to low and add the eggs, one at a time, beating with each addition.  Scrape down the bowl and add the molasses, date puree, and the vanilla, and beat till combined.  Add the bran/yogurt mixture.

Now with the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in 3 or 4 additions until just combined.  Turn your mixer off and fold in the berries and the walnuts with a rubber spatula.

Fill each muffin cup (this recipe makes about 36 regular-sized muffins).

Big Person: Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the muffin.   Cool on a wire rack.

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Cloud Soup (a.k.a. Potato-Leek)

22 January 2009 Filed In: baby puree, Fall, Gluten-free, potato, soup, Soups & Stews, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian, Winter

Back when I was twenty-one and living in my first post-college apartment over in the East Village, I had 3 lovely roommates. Two of whom were burgeoning foodies. On a cold evening in late March, one roommate brought home a big bunch of leeks and a bag of russet potatoes. She knocked on my door and called me out into the kitchen.

“How do you make potato-leek soup?” she asked.
I thought for a moment, having never once actually MADE potato-leek soup before, and replied, “Well, I think you just saute the white part of the leeks, add the potatoes and some water, and then stir in something creamy.”
“Yeah, hmmmm. That’s what I thought.”
We did just that, didn’t even add garlic but did add salt and freshly ground black pepper. It was incredible…even though there was no garlic and we didn’t know to soak the leeks in some water to remove all of the dirt before cooking them.
What Sabrina and I sensed is that this soup is so perfectly simple. Anybody I talk to and ask for a recipe or read about who discusses this soup says basically the same thing: Don’t muck with it. I’ve added nutmeg which brings out the flavor beautifully, and you could definitely grate a bit of parmesan cheese into the soup if you’re so inclined-or if you don’t like nutmeg. But, please keep it simple.
My daughter and I decided that our soup looked like puffy clouds. I noticed that, once that was mentioned, she ate a little more of her soup than she might have otherwise. (wink wink.)

Cloud Soup
*4-6 leeks, chopped
*2 T. unsalted butter
*2-3 medium cloves of garlic, (to taste) peeled and crushed with the back of a knife
*coarse sea salt, to taste
*5 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
*1/2 c. dry white wine
*nutmeg, freshly grated
*3/4 c. heavy cream or whole milk
*white or black pepper, freshly ground

Together: Once the leeks have been chopped, put them in a big bowl of cold water. Your mini-chef
can swirl the leeks around a bit, helping to remove any dirt stuck to them since leeks can be such
dirty little creatures. After the leeks have soaked for a couple of minutes, put them in a colander
and rinse and drain them well. Place a kitchen towel underneath the colander and let the leeks
dry for a few minutes.

Fill another big bowl up with water, and place all the potatoes into it and set the bowl aside till you
are ready to throw them into your soup pot. Measure out the cream and the white wine with your
Yummy.

Big Person: Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add the leeks, and cook for 5
minutes, stirring every now and again. Then, throw in the garlic and continue to cook until the
leeks are soft and translucent.

Stir in the white wine, and let it cook down for a minute or so. Add the potatoes, 5-6 cups of water,
and some salt-enough salt to season the potatoes very well since this is their moment to really absorb
the flavors. Bring everything to a boil, turn the heat down to medium, and simmer, partially covered,
for 35-45 minutes. You’ll know that it’s ready when you can mush the potatoes up with the back of a
spoon.

To make the soup looks like clouds, puree it with an immersion blender or in the food processor or
blender. Once well blended, stir in the cream and some freshly grated nutmeg and black pepper, and
warm the soup over medium-low heat.

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O Crackers: An Inauguration Day Snack

20 January 2009 Filed In: crackers, Dairy-free, Fall, sesame, Snacks, Soy-free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter



We’ve been looking forward to this day for months (okay, years) now, so we made a very special snack in honor of our new president.  We used this recipe from our friends Alison, Dan, and Meredith over at Alison’s Lunch, changed the recipe a tiny bit to use up what we had on hand, and cut the crackers using two circle-shaped cutters.  By the time we got done, these were more like savory cookies.  My kids DEVOURED them.

Thank you to Alison for letting us adapt her wonderful recipe.  And the warmest welcome to our new First Family and to Mr. Biden.  
O Crackers

*1 c. all-purpose flour
*1 c. rye flour
*1 t. salt
*2 T. sugar
*2 t. baking powder
*1 T. black sesame seeds
*1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
*1/2 c. olive oil
*6 T. milk

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

Together: Measure the dry ingredients out and place them in a large bowl.  Let your mini-chef give them a whisk.

Add the olive oil and the milk and mix with a wooden spoons or your hands till you’re able to form two balls.  

Place one of the balls between two non-stick mats or two pieces of parchment, and roll out the dough till it’s very very thin, about 1/8-inch thick.  Using two circle cookie cutters, cut out the dough into little “O’s”.  It helped us to cut all the O’s that we could fit on the rolled out dough, peel away the extra dough around the O’s, put the cut crackers onto a baking sheet lined with another non-stick mat or parchment, and shape the extra dough into another ball.  Repeat doing this till you have no extra dough and proceed with the second ball of dough in the same way.

Big Person: Put the O’s in the oven and bake 6-8 minutes.  When they’ve browned a bit around the edges, pull them out and let them cool on a wire rack.  

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White Hot Chocolate Spiced with Cardamom

15 January 2009 Filed In: all the rest, beverages, Chanukah, chocolate, Christmas, Desserts, Drinks, Fall, Gluten-free, Halloween, Soy-free, Vegetarian, Winter



It was Raggedy Ann’s birthday.  Again.  It seems that she turned twenty today and wanted muffins and hot chocolate.  Hmmmmmmm…..

Since it was so cold and since we are cold wimps-though to be fair, living right over here near the Hudson River IS about ten degrees colder than elsewhere in the city-we decided to work with what we had on hand.  That included a large brick of white chocolate that has just been sitting there, waiting.  I had every intention of making the brick into cardamom-spiced white chocolate truffles.  But, then it was Raggedy’s birthday again, and the larder was low.
While I have absolutely nothing to say that would convince anyone of the health benefits of white chocolate,  it does take well to being spiced and served at tea parties.  It also happens to be pretty delicious. This recipe is mini-chef-sized and is definitely meant to be served in demitasse or doll cups.  
And P.S. I think that Raggedy might have started lying about her age.  Only 20?  C’mon!
White Hot Chocolate Spiced with Cardamom

*1 c. milk
*4 cardamom pods
*1-2 oz. white chocolate (sweet), coarsely chopped
*1/2 t. vanilla
*ground cardamom for the garnish

Together: Help your mini-chef crush the cardamom pods in a mortar and pestle.  Place these and the milk in a small saucepan.

Big Person: Heat the cardamom-milk mixture over a low-medium flame, whisking every once in a while, till the mixture is hot but not boiling.  Take it off of the heat, discard the cardamom pods, and briskly whisk in the white chocolate till smooth.  

Together: When the mixture cools a bit, you and your Yummy can add the vanilla, serve in little teacups or demi-tasse, and top with a pinch of ground cardamom and a few mini-marshmallows.

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