Make this now!

Okay, it takes a lot to make me use the imperative with you gentle readers, but this is it! I insist that all of you make your own cranberry sauce.

Normally I am a fairly tolerant individual, but seeing cans of jellied cranberry "sauce" stacked willy-nilly in the supermarket's Thanksgiving display creates a feeling of increasing urgency around this topic. Admittedly Thanksgiving makes even experienced cooks nervous (myself included). Why? Simple, how many other times during the year do we ever attempt to cook a turkey? In my household this happens once a year - so even though I have hosted many thanksgiving dinners over what is an ever increasing span of time, the total is still only about 15 turkeys, give or take a few. I started collecting the Williams Sonoma Thanksgiving guides in 1995, so it's been at least that long --- btw, even if you don't normally enter a WS store during the year, go about a week or two before Thanksgiving and pick up one of their booklets. They're beautiful, make a wonderful keepsake, and contain lots of info about turkeys, side dishes, etc., including the recipes and menu that the WS kitchens came up with for the year. (Did I mention that they're free?)

Anyway, all of this reinforces my proclamation for all harried Thanksgiving cooks today: Make your own cranberry sauce. This is by far the easiest and most satisfying of all your tasks for T-day. Plus, it is effortless, delicious, and will look just as pretty in a cut glass dish as in a simple white bowl.
Here is the recipe for Cranberry Grape compote:
1 12oz bag cranberries
3 c seedless red grapes
1/2 c water
1 c sugar
In a colander wash the cranberries and seedless grapes. Place in a saucepan, add the water over medium heat. Once it is boiling immediately lower heat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes. (The cranberries will pop, which is entertaining for children and adults alike.) Stir in a pinch of salt and spoon into a heatproof container - I usually just put it into whatever I plan to serve it in. Let cool to room temperature and then refrigerate. This compote will keep for at least 3 weeks in the fridge, and is just as delicious with roast turkey as it is with rotisserie chicken, or spread on toast. Trust me.

This recipe is from one of the Martha Stewart publications, I can't remember which, and I have it ever since we tried it because it is simply the best cranberry sauce in the world. (This is a BLOG - I am allowed to be highly opinionated!)
So, do me a favor and make this. I don't care if you don't make anything else from scratch this Thanksgiving, or if you are going top someone else's house for the holidays. Make it anyway and take it as a gift to the hostess - just don't drop any off at my house because I already made mine.

Vegetable pot pie.

OK, this may actually be the best thing that I have ever made. Seriously. And as usual, it's the result of a fluke. This leviathan of the pastry world is loosely based on an Ina Garten (a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa) recipe for chicken pot pie. But when I say "loosely based", what I actually mean is "...well, she has fennel in the recipe, but I don't want fennel and asparagus in my pot pie, so I'll just have leeks and peas instead." And so on through most of the ingredients, until I basically ended up with what I want in my pot pie, which as it turns out is celery root, butternut squash, leeks, peas, and thyme. Plus assorted other vegetables, aromatics, and a LOT of pie pastry rolled over a gigantic oval casserole. I'm not even sure how I managed to get it on there without breaking, and I'm really not sure that I can do it again. But for one glorious moment as it emerged burnished and golden from the oven, I experienced pot pie nirvana --- enveloped by heady aromas and warmth I felt like a child in a mother's arms. I guess that's why they call it comfort food.

*Note: I LOVE Ina Garten. Everything she makes is not only beautiful and tasty, it is actually something that you want to eat - like brownie pudding, what a good idea! Speaking of pot pies, I've never made this (and probably never will given the cost of lobster) but the IDEA of lobster pot pie, another recipe that she has done, is so immensely appealing that I find myself smiling just thinking of it. She makes elegant food that is luxurious and homey, and immensely appealing. Bill and Ione always watch the "Contessa" on Saturdays during lunch, and as my 6-year-old says, "if Ina invites us for dinner, I'm going!"

'Tis the Season!

Well it's happened again. I have been so busy cooking, that writing about cooking has just seemed sort of beside the point... Today I delivered the first installment on my holiday gift breads. One of my clients asked if I could make some food gifts for her business clients, and so this is what we came up with. I have to admit to being indecently pleased with the result - all lined up like belles at a ball dressed in satin bows. The pumpkin breads keep well, and are redolent with cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg... They make the whole house smell wonderful as they're baking (which is a good thing, since I will be baking eight more in short order.)