Community Corner
My Favorite Part Of The Thanksgiving Feast Is ...
Without presents to serve as a distraction, the main course of the holiday shifts to conversation and simply being with one another.
My favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast is that so much of it is centered about family, friends, and food.
Without presents to serve as a distraction, the main course of the holiday shifts to conversation and simply being with one another.
If I had to pick one item on the Thanksgiving menu of which I am most fond, I would have to say cranberry sauce. I'd pick the homemade cranberry sauce that I learned to make in a cooking class many, many years ago. I love it because it's easy, you can improvise to make it sweeter or more tart, and because it is always delicious.
I have no problem with other kinds of cranberry sauce. I know those who are adamant that it must be the jellied sort that comes out a can, carefully sliced along the ridges left from the can. This is reportedly fabulous on leftover turkey sandwiches. Others take the basic recipe that I prefer and add all sorts of goodies, including fresh ginger and walnuts. Or they might sub out apple juice for the cranberry juice, and add in cinnamon instead of ginger. With this variation, walnuts are a good addition as well.
But here is the cranberry sauce that will grace my Thanksgiving table this year.
Simple, Quick Cranberry Orange Sauce
Ingredients:
- 2 bags 8-oz each Cape Cod cranberries (I used Jonathan's Organics this year, from Stop & Shop, and they are delicious. Jonathan's Organics generally uses Howes and Early Blacks, "known for their flavor and strong holding power throughout the season." See more about these berries below.)
- 3 large oranges that look like they have lots of juice. Again, organic here is good, since you will be using the zest.
- 1 cup sugar
- Rinse cranberries and sort through them to pick out any that look bad, along with any stems that still might be clinging to the berries. Put them in a large pot.
- Juice the three large oranges, and put the juice in the pot with the cranberries. If the juice does not cover the berries, add a bit of water until they are just covered with liquid.
- Put the stove on medium to medium-low heat.
- Zest the oranges, and put the zest in the pot.
- Add 1 cup sugar.
- Cook until most but not all of the berries go pop, pop, pop, pop.
- Chill until cold. Serve.
"The Early Black berries are by far the most common and a standard in Massachusetts and NewJersey. They are a small, deep red berry that ripens as early as late August. It has fine flavor and is known as a good keeper. These berries are sold fresh and because of the dark color are excellent for juice. The berries were first cultivated about 1850 in Harwich. It is not a developed berry, but a direct descendant of the wild Cape Cod cranberry. The Howes cranberry is the standard late cranberry grown in Massachusetts and New Jersey. It was first grown in 1843 byEli Howes of East Dennis. It is kind of an oblong, medium red, and larger than the Early Black. Sold fresh and high in pectin, it makes good jelly and sauce. Early Blacks and Howes together are grown more than all other varieties." From the town of Duxberry, MA.
I'd love to hear about your favorite dishes and/or recipes! Let us know in the comment section below.
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