Maple-Orange Cranberry Sauce

This Thanksgiving was an ambitious one for me. I decided on making several different things, most of which I had never made before. Go big or go home, right? For example, I have never made cranberry sauce before, but I love it. I think I’ve only had the stuff in the can once and was not impressed. Like most things in the kitchen, if I think I can do it, I’m going to try it out. As I have mentioned before, this usually works out for me fairly well.

This sauce was supposed to be Maple-Tangerine Cranberry Sauce (original here), but as I couldn’t find tangerines, decided that orange was just fine. I honestly didn’t try that hard to find them. I think it worked out well just the same.

Maple-Orange Cranberry Sauce modified from Maple-Tangerine Fresh Cranberry Sauce from recipegirl.com:

Makes 12 servings

2 c. orange juice (I did half fresh squeezed/half concentrate)
3 c. fresh cranberries (one 12 oz. bag)
½ c. packed brown sugar
½ c. pure maple syrup
1 whole cinnamon stick
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
pinch of kosher salt





In a 10” skillet, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and then reduce to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has thickened somewhat and looks slightly syrupy, about 30 minutes.
Remove the cinnamon stick and let the cranberry sauce cool in the pan- it will thicken a bit more as it cools. Serve slightly chilled or at room temperature.



I made this on Monday night for Thursday and it was fantastic. I’d actually recommend making this a day or two ahead of time because the flavors really deepen. The orange pops in this recipe and the maple just gives it a little something wonderful. For my first time out in cranberry sauce land, I got a winner.

[I just realized, while doing some editing, that I never posted this. Wow. So I'm being a total cheater and backdating it because I did mean to and this is really delicious.]

Cilantro Pesto

This post will perhaps make me look a bit obsessed with a certain sauce. Yes, dear readers, it’s yet another pesto recipe (other iterations seen here and here). However, this is one I made up myself! It came about when I realized the bunch of cilantro I had was starting to look sad (ugh, did I just rhyme?). So off to the mini prep food processor it was (someday I’ll have a regular size one. Someday. *wistful sigh*) Anyway…

I didn’t measure anything, as usual, so here’s just a rough estimation of what I did:

A bunch of cilantro, minus the stems
A handful of pine nuts, toasted (as seen here)
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 roasted garlic cloves (as seen here-ish)
Zest from one lime
Juice from one lime plus a bit more (I love lime!)
Olive oil

Blend up your garlic and cilantro. Toss in the pine nuts and blend together. Add the lime zest and lime juice and blend. Add the roasted garlic and blend. Then add olive oil slowly until you reach your desired consistency. I probably used about ½ of a cup, but I’m not sure.



It is delicious! It’s definitely different from the other pestos I’ve made. Because of the heavier use of roasted garlic over fresh garlic, this has a much milder, smoother taste to it. Plus, the roasted garlic adds a nice, creamy texture. Lime and cilantro are also natural partners. I can’t wait to put this on everything!

Fruit Salsas

Just like I did for Aaron’s birthday, I made a bunch of snack for mine. However, unlike Aaron’s birthday, I didn’t want to be cooking just before or during the party, so I needed to come up with stuff that could be made ahead of time. The first thing that came to mind was salsa. Fresh, homemade salsas are delicious and taste even better if the flavors can mingle for a bit before serving. The two recipes I have listed here are more from my big old list and from my fabulous Mexican cookbook. Breaking down a pineapple isn’t the most fun thing it the world, but the results are so worth it. Plus, it’s something fabulous to snack on while making your salsa. Okay, so maybe that’s not in the official directions, but that’s how I do it. Same with the mango.

So here we got with part 1 of snacks from my birthday party!

Mango-Avocado Salsa from 1000 Mexican Recipes:

Makes about 1½ cups

1 large mango, peeled and finely diced
1 ripe avocado, peeled and finely diced
2 green onions, very finely chopped
1 jalapeño chile, finely chopped
2 Tb. fresh lime juice (I didn’t actually measure this, I just used the juice from one whole small lime)
¼ tsp. salt (kosher), or to taste
A bunch of cilantro, chopped (this is my addition)



Put all of the ingredients into a medium bowl, and stir gently to mix. Serve cold. Since I prepared this about 4 hours ahead of time, I waited to add the avocado until just before serving. This was such a delicious salsa. Oh my gosh, I never wanted to stop eating it. The flavors are clear and meld perfectly. I cannot wait to try this with fish or chicken.

Pineapple Salsa from 1000 Mexican Recipes:

Makes about 2½ cups

½ fresh pineapple, about 1½ lb.
½ medium red bell pepper, finely chopped
2 jalapeño chiles, seeded, veins removed, and minced
1 scallion, minced (I like that in the previous recipe, which is 2 pages away from this one, they call for green onions but in this one it’s scallion)
1 Tb. white wine vinegar
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt (kosher), or to taste
2 Tb. chopped fresh cilantro (I didn’t even eyeball this, I just put in a bunch)

Cut off both ends of the pineapple and then cut off the hard thorny skin all the way around the pineapple. Cut out the “eyes.” Cut the pineapple in half lengthwise and cut out the center core from each half. Cut the pineapple in 1/2 –inch pieces and put them in a large bowl.



Add the remaining ingredients and stir gently to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 6 hours. Serve cold.

This one was also super delicious. But what did we eat the salsa with? That, my friends, is for the next post. Ooooh! Mystery. (Not really.)

Basil-Macadamia Nut Pesto

Macadamia nuts are ridiculously delicious. I could not stop eating them while prepping this recipe and I had a hard time putting the few leftovers away. I should find more recipes using them just so I can have them around. Or maybe not. I’d probably eat them all before I got around to making anything with them. I did see a recipe the other day on Good Eats with macadamias that looked fabulous, so I might look into that.

Anyway, this recipe is from my massive list and comes from this very cool Polynesian cookbook my aunt sent me years ago for my birthday/love of Kauai. I was not really into cooking much at the time, or at least not often, so the book sat with many others, collecting dust and just being sad in general. Well, no more (obviously). I love the fresh twist on pesto and any excuse to cook up salmon and eat macadamias is fine by me.

Basil-Macadamia Nut Pesto from Sam Choy’s Polynesian Kitchen:

Yield: 1¼ c.

½ c. fresh sweet basil leaves, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (I went to 4)
¼ c. chopped parsley leaves
1 Tb. lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 c. canola oil (I subbed in regular olive oil as I don’t have canola oil about)
½ c. minced roasted macadamia nuts



The original directions say to mix all of this in a blender. I decided to use my mini prep food processor because it would cut down on prep time and I just love using it anyway. Plus, it’s easier to clean. I chopped the nuts first, then the basil leaves and parsley, cleaned it out, and minced the garlic. In a blender (or mini prep food processor!), add all the ingredients, except the nuts. Blend. Add the nuts to the mixture and blend for a few seconds. Keep in the refrigerator, or store in the freezer until needed.



According to the book, it works well over any fish or chicken, or with a plate of pasta. I had mine with pan seared sockeye salmon (Alaskan, of course) and some grilled onions. It went fabulously. Although not radically different from traditional pesto, there is a slightly different flavor to it. I liked the bigger chunks of nuts in it and also the lack of cheese because that made it better for fish. I know, I’m surprised I said I was glad about a lack of cheese too. But really, it goes with fish so much better.

PS: Look at my pretty plating. I’ve been watching Chopped too much.

Fried Lemon Slices with Aioli

I have been obsessed with Tastespotting lately. The pictures are so pretty and really, the whole website is just food porn. I spent a nice chunk of yesterday looking at it and then another bit getting Aaron to look at it with me. It’s even sadder when you’re reading it while eating pad thai from a box (note: do not do this. It is terrible).

In any case, I was perusing the yummies when I came across this recipe and I just stopped. It’s so different, so yummy looking, so fun! So yesterday afternoon, when my energy was starting to flag and green ginger tea wasn’t helping, I decided to just go for it. I always have a ton of garlic in my house (duh), so I knew the aioli would be a cinch. Plus I was given an extra lemon on Super Bowl and I just bought more panko, so I decided to do it.

And dang! They were so good and so much fun to make. The aioli is a snap with a food processor and it was nice doing it with fresh lemon juice. I also managed to make the garlic paste like they do in all those cooking shows. I have never before been able to do this and I’m not sure why. I think it doesn’t work quickly enough and I just give up or something like that. Unlike the original poster of the recipe, I don’t mind bits of garlic in my food, but it was nice to do it differently for a change.



Fried Lemon Slices with Aioli from userealbutter.com:

1 lemon, organic and thin-skinned
1 egg, beaten
½ c. panko

For the aioli-
3 cloves garlic (hmm… I used more. Big surprise)
½ tsp. salt
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

Peel the garlic cloves and mince. Gather the garlic into a little pile and pour the salt over it. With the flat of a sturdy knife blade, crush the salt into the garlic until you get a nice paste. Combine the paste in a bowl with the egg yolks. Whisk or beat the egg yolks together (you can also use a food processor), adding a few drops of olive oil at the start. Keep whisking and adding a little oil until it begins to thicken. While whisking/beating, pour half of the oil into the mixture in a slow and thin stream. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice and continue whisking in the remaining oil until it reaches the desired consistency. Add more lemon juice and or salt to taste. I used all of the lemon juice because I love a tangy aioli.





Slice the lemon into 1/8-inch thickness. Dip each slice into the egg, then coat in breadcrumbs. Place in hot oil and fry for about a minute or until golden. Take care that there will be some splattering. Remove from oil and set on a rack to cool. Serve with aioli.



Aaron wasn’t really a fan of these, but I am. They are a fun, different appetizer and I am so, so glad I tried them. Thanks Tastespotting! As the OP said, these are also incredible in tacos. They add a bit of zip.

Kitchen Sink Sauce

Ever have one of those nights where you’re planning on making dinner and just have no idea what to do? Yeah, that was me last night. So I just grabbed a bunch of stuff out of the fridge and starting making things up. I tend to do this with a pseudo-Italian bent and it often consists of many of the same things. I decided that this is my kitchen sink sauce, which means I throw everything into a sauce except for the kitchen sink, and just go crazy from there.

This time around it came out really good. I did it with fusilli, but this would work well over grilled chicken (minus the sausage) or alongside potatoes. You can very easily just not use chicken sausage and go all veg with it. Go crazy. Add stuff, take stuff out. Use what you have. It’s fun.

This is what I did:

Makes at least 4 portions

5 cloves garlic
Handful fresh parsely
½ tsp. lemon juice
Large head of broccoli, cut into florets
1 small green pepper, cut into strips (any color will do. Mix it up and make it pretty!)
½ large sweet onion, cut into rings (Walla Walla, Vidalia, Maui)
2 cubes (about 3 oz.) vegetable stock (I used some I had already made and frozen into ice cubes)
2 chicken apple sausages, sliced
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese
Fusilli noddles (or penne)

Mince garlic and parsley together. Sprinkle with lemon juice and set aside.

Boil water and cook pasta. Drain and set aside, keeping it warm.



Place onions in a medium saucepan, toss with olive oil and cook over medium-low heat until transparent, but not browning, about 5-10 minutes. Add the green pepper and cook for about 5 minutes more, until onion is beginning to brown. Add the broccoli, vegetable stock and garlic-parsley mixture and cook, covered, for about 10 more minutes, or until green pepper has softened. If you want to broccoli less firm, add it sooner. Add the chicken sausage and cook for another 5 minutes or until sausage is warm.



Toss with pasta and parmesan cheese.

I think the veggie stock gave the sauce a nice depth. If I had had more stuff in the house, snap peas would’ve been a great addition. Just use lots of complimentary vegetables and you’ve got something great going on.

Crab Cake Benedict

I really wanted to start the New Year off well, so I decided to make a fancy breakfast for my husband and me this morning. Last night I made some murmurings about eggs benedict before bed and my husband kindly reminded me this morning. I’ve made hollandaise before, but never really attempted poached eggs. Some books make it sound so complicated, but as I learned today, it’s really not that hard.

To make it a little more fancy (and also based on what I had on hand this morning), I decided to go with crab cakes benedict. One of my most favorite breakfast places in Portland is Milo’s. If you haven’t been, go now. They do delicious benedicts, including a wonderful crab cake version. I was inspired by this as well as by a recipe in one of my new cookbooks, The Fiddlehead Cookbook, which is filled with recipes from The Fiddlehead Restaurant, a delicious place that used to exist in my hometown. Their description of poached eggs is how I was finally able to figure it out.

It was a good morning. I highly recommend eggs benedicts for fancy breakfasts. It takes a little time, but it looks beautiful and tastes amazing.

Crab Cake Benedict inspired by Milo’s/Crabby Eggs from The Fiddlehead Cookbook:

Serves 2 with extra sauce

Hollandaise Sauce-
3 eggs yolks
2 tsp. lemon juice (I used closer to 4 as I, like my friend Lindsay, prefer a very lemony sauce)
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, cut into small pieces

4 eggs
1 Tb. white wine vinegar

4 small slices of bread or 4 english muffins (I used slices of no-knead bread. It was perfect.)

4 crab cakes (I used this recipe, slightly reduced to make 4)

Prepare crab cakes first. Keep them warm on the pan or in the oven. I was also making country fried potatoes and needed the stove space.



Start the hollandaise. Prepare a double boiler with gently simmering water over low heat. Place egg yolks in top of double boiler and add lemon. Whisk until egg mixture is fluffy, about 1 minute. Continue to whisk gently, adding butter about 1 teaspoon at a time. When at least 6 teaspoons have been added, begin to add butter by tablespoons. This allows it to emulsify properly. If you add too much butter too quickly, it creates too much liquid and won’t be the right consistency for the sauce. Thoroughly incorporate each addition before adding more. I generally remove the top of the double boiler about half way through the butter process to ensure that the sauce does not become too warm and separate. Cover and keep warm until ready. You may need to whisk it a couple more times just before serving.



Lightly oil a large pan and fill with water to a depth of about 1 inch. Add vinegar to pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a very low simmer. Crack each egg into a small bowl and gently slide it into the barely simmering water. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes. You can do it longer if you like harder yolks, but I don’t.

While the eggs are poaching, toast your bread/muffins.



Remove the eggs from the water with a slotted spoon and place on plate/tray lined with absorbent towels. Trim the ragged eggs, if you so choose.



To assemble, place a crab cake on each slice of bread/muffin and add an egg on top of the crab cake. Spoon hollandaise over the top and serve at once with your favorite breakfast side dish, like fried potatoes.

As for the extra sauce, it can be refrigerated and reheated later. To do so, place the sauce in a double boiler and reheat in the same manner it was made: slowly over simmering water. Don’t do it too quickly or it will separate. Hollandaise is great over vegetables or other, simpler breakfast meals. Try it on a breakfast sandwich! It’s just so dang tasty.

Crab Cakes and Aioli

Some time ago I realized that I had two cans of crab in my pantry and not a clue where they had come from. I knew I needed to do something with them and when my husband and I were digging through cookbooks for upcoming meals, I came across the perfect recipe. During college I babysat for this very nice family. They happened to get Cooking Light magazine and I’d copy down recipes from time to time when they looked interesting enough. That’s where this recipe comes from and I’m really glad I finally got to use it.

The recipe pairs crab cakes with red pepper mayonnaise, but I only had one pepper (and yellow at that), so I searched for a good aioli recipe to have with the cakes. The original is here. I served it all up with some celery sticks. Both were really easy recipes and I will try it again.

Crab Cakes from Cooking Light and Aioli from epicurious.com:

Makes about 6 cakes and about 1½ cups aioli

For the aioli-
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped (more like 8!)
½ tsp. salt
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 c. extra virgin olive oil
2 large egg yolks
Fresh lemon juice

For the cakes-
1/3 c. reduced fat mayonnaise
¼ c. minced red onion
¼ c. minced red bell pepper (I used yellow)
2 Tb. minced celery
1½ fresh lemon juice
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 lb. lump crabmeat, shell pieces removed
1¼ c. panko, divided
2 Tb. butter (I used olive oil instead)
6 lemon wedges, optional





Do the aioli first to let the flavors mingle a bit more. You could even do this a day ahead of time. In blender (I used my mini prep food processor. It was a lot easier than using my huge blender), purée garlic, salt, cayenne pepper, and 2 teaspoons oil until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add yolks (save one of the whites for the crab cakes!) and lemon juice and blend until smooth. With motor running, very slowly add remaining 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons oil in thin, steady stream, blending until aioli is thick, about 2 minutes. Refrigerate until ready to use.

To prepare the cakes, combine 1/3 cup mayo and next 6 ingredients (through crab) and ¾ cup panko in a large bowl. Stir until well combined.



Form into 6 patties. Dredge patties in reaming ½ cup panko.

Heat 1 tablespoon butter (or olive oil. I use this because I like the taste better) in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 3 patties, cook 10 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through, turning once. Remove from pan and keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining butter and patties.



Serve crab cakes with aioli and garnish with lemon wedges if desired.

Like I said before, these were awesome and I will find a way to show them off to friends soon.

Pesto

Pesto is one of my very favorite things. It’s easy, it’s delicious and most people like it. When I realized I still had some basil left over from the Pad Khee Mao, I knew it needed to be put to use and what better way than the ultimate basil sauce: pesto! Plus, that meant I could use my mini prep food processor, which I never remember to use. It’s amazing for small things like this and salsa.

Pesto from Pasta:

2 garlic cloves (I used 4. 2 is for the weak!)
½ c. pine nuts
1 c. fresh basil leaves
2/3 c. olive oil
4 Tb. unsalted butter (I replaced this with olive oil, which probably was a bit too much)
4 Tb. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (it’s worthwhile to use a really good Parmesan. The cheese is important to the taste)
Salt and ground black pepper

Peel the garlic and process in a blender or food processor with a little salt and the pine nuts until broken up. Add the basil leaves and continue mixing to a paste.

Gradually add the olive oil, little by little, until the mixture is creamy and thick. Be careful with this. The olive oil will spill everywhere and make a mess.



Beat in the butter (or in my case, more olive oil) and season with ground black pepper (I used a lot). Beat in the cheese. Alternatively, you can make the pesto by hand using a pestle and mortar.



Store the pesto sauce in a jar, with a layer of olive oil on top to exclude the air, in the fridge until needed.

The reason I used more olive oil instead of butter is because I have never seen anyone make pesto with butter before. So it probably was a little too much oil and thus a little runnier than I would have liked, but still super tasty.

When I’m ready to use it, I’ll toss it into warm pasta and blend. Or maybe make pizza! Pesto can be used with so much; I’m excited to see what I’ll decide to do.