November 27, 2011
Cranberry sauce quick bread
November 23, 2011
Ginger-clementine cranberry sauce
Cranberry sauce is one of the Thanksgiving meal items you can make ahead of time and refrigerate for a couple of days. Those dishes are nice because it's one less thing you need to make the day of your meal. Plus, cranberry sauce is easy and ready in a snap. It's worth making yourself. We have more people coming for our dinner this year, so this recipe will serve about 8-10 people as a Thanksgiving side (and hopefully some leftovers to go on a turkey sandwich). I like my cranberries to remain a little on the tart side, but feel free to add more (or less) sugar according to your taste.
Ginger-clementine cranberry sauce
2 bags (24-oz. total) fresh cranberries
juice and zest of 2 clementines
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
about 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the sauce comes to a boil and cranberries begin to burst. Continue to cook and stir, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency (add a little water or more clementine juice if it is too thick). Remove from heat, let cool, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
November 21, 2011
Pumpkin gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce
Posts may contain affiliate
links. If you purchase an item from these links, a small percentage
goes to support the work of this blog. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
My husband and I went to a wonderful restaurant a couple of weeks ago for our two year wedding anniversary. This restaurant specializes in a small menu comprised of as many local and seasonal ingredients as possible. I had a bowl of potato gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce with three kinds of roasted squash and pancetta. It was delicious and it was also the first time I ever had gnocchi.
I was inspired to make gnocchi at home and I thought that pumpkin gnocchi would be so seasonal and colorful. However, I had no idea how to make them. I searched all over the web and found quite a few recipes. I decided to use this recipe at Closet Kitchen as my guide.
The gnocchi were not that difficult to make. I don't have a gnocchi board, so I tried to roll them on a fork to make the lines. It worked OK, but not great. They didn't look perfect by any means, by they tasted delicious and the orange color was lovely.
It just so happened that the recipe I found also had a gorgonzola sauce like I had at the restaurant. I made that and served it on top of the gnocchi along with some pieces of crisp applewood smoked bacon, fried sage leaves, and shallots. It was fall comfort in a bowl.
The salty bacon paired nicely with the rich cheese sauce and the gnocchi were slightly sweet and nutty. I think some roasted cauliflower (maybe purple) or chestnuts would be a nice addition as well. This recipe will make enough to serve about four people as a main dish.
November 13, 2011
Orange and honey roasted rutabaga
Up until this I had never eaten a rutabaga anyway except for mashed/pureed with potatoes. I am pretty sure that up until last fall, I had never eaten a rutabaga in my life though. So, I decided to try a new way to make this root vegetable into a side dish. Roasting is pretty much the best way to make almost all vegetables, so I figured that it would be worth a shot.Since rutabagas have a bit of a spicy flavor (similar but more subtle than a turnip), I thought that a sweet flavor would go nicely with it. I decided to keep it simple and roast the rutabaga chunks with some honey and orange juice. It was a good choice and the slight tang from the orange juice and sweetness from the honey paired very nicely with the rutabaga - it didn't overpower the vegetable, but rather complimented it.
I used one medium rutabaga, which I thought would make a side for at least three people, but my husband and I ate it all! I think that this would make a lovely and simple Thanksgiving side dish and a tasty way to introduce people to rutagbagas, which don't tend to be a very popular or common vegetable in my experience. You can easily double or triple this recipe and it is very forgiving. So if you haven't already made friends with the rutabaga, go for it!