and to top it off, ruby cranberries

CRANBERRY SAUCE

Not too far from what is expected for that big day, but just different enough that

everyone will want to give it a try.

One can 16 oz cranberry smooth gelatin sauce, room temperature

One can 16oz cranberry chunky gelatin sauce, room temperature

One two-cup yield package, 5 oz raspberry dessert gelatin, dissolved
          fully in one cup very hot water

Open and add both cans of prepared cranberry sauce to bowl.  Add hot concentrate of dissolved raspberry gelatin to both and mash till melted/blended as one.  Pour into mold, chill well. 

If chilled in a ring mold, when un-molded, blend ½ cup sour cream or Greek yogurt with ½ cup mayonnaise and fill the center.  Top with orange zest, crushed nuts, pomegranate seeds, fresh mint chiffonade, dried cranberries (Craisins) etc.

Optional:  When still unset, but almost, add one 8 oz package of warmer-than room temperature cream cheese (like as if it would never be good with anything) can be swirled into the thickening gelatin mix, either blended completely or dabbed and ‘veined’ after poured into the mold, then chilled to completely firm. 

Try our favorite crunch, long sautéed (20-30 minutes) in butter, very low and steady – a quarter cup of slivered almonds, crushed hazelnuts, pecan pieces or what your heart desires, with a tsp of sugar and a pinch of salt and cayenne till golden and very aromatic, crushed and sprinkled over or blended in.

All is ‘legal’ when it’s Thanksgiving, right?

CRANBERRY RELISH

My mom had one of those crank style grinders that clamped to the table, and she’d grind her own hamburger meat as well as a great paté made from (of all things) bologna (that great recipe is also here in this book).  But from that crank machine also came a holiday treat that I’ve rarely had since, and let me tell you, it’s good any time of the year.  And so simple.  If you don’t have a crank grinder (my mom’s was all steel and looked like you could drive it, but they are also made now in steel/plastic, and very affordable), a food processor may be used -- but exercise caution, as the texture needs to be like a course relish, and not a smooth purée.  Process a bit at a time and mix all when done, and don’t push any other button than ‘pulse’.

Be sure to clean the surface of the orange peel well.  They now sell a food-oriented ‘soap’ for safely cleaning food products of dirt, chemicals and waxes.  Good idea to have in the kitchen anyway.

      3-4     lbs SWEET, low-seed oranges, like Valencia, Mandarins/tangerines/

                       Clementines, or tangelos -- cut into at least quarters if small,

                       eighths if large; carefully picked of seeds and ‘strings’, 

                       if necessary

      ¼      cup sugar, honey, sugar substitute (proportionately measured)

    1-1½   lbs fresh or fresh-frozen and partially thawed uncooked cranberries

       ½      cup (optional) rough-chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts,

                       pecans etc)

      ½       tsp each salt and fresh cracked pepper 

           

       1       tsp almond extract (sprinkled over and stirred in after grinding,

                       and blended well)

Just grind away.  Make it as fresh as possible to when you wish to use it, and store well sealed and refrigerated.  It won’t last long.  You may find yourself with a spoon in hand in front of the refrigerator door after everyone else has gone to bed.

Options:  Add diced fresh apple, pineapple, lemons, grapefruits; diced dried apples, cherries, apricots or raisins; diced celery; diced jicama etc., and citrus zests.  And then always, the heat, a pinch of cayenne or a few dashes of hot sauce are fun.

The bitterness of the pith (the white part) under the zest can sometimes be overwhelming.  Should you have the time and energy, the surfaces of the oranges may be peeled with a vegetable peeler of all the orange color surface zest, then the oranges can be peeled like one regularly peels an orange of the skin (but this time just the white part).  Then pick out the stringy bits under and along the center for a ‘cleaner’ more pure relish.  Add the peeled zest along with the center fruit parts to your grind along with all the other ingredients.  It’s worth it!