Tag: sauces

Jerri’s Cranberry Sauce and Relish

For the past twenty years or so, Jerri and I have been buying ten pounds of fresh cranberries each fall at marshes near Stone Lake. Wisconsin. Cranberries freeze well, so we measure three cups into quart freezer bags and in half an hour have a year’s supply of the luscious fruit. Before that we used to buy cranberries at the supermarket for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, but this way we save some money, see some beautiful country and enjoy visiting with the people who sort, clean and sell the berries.

If you live in western or northern Wisconsin you might want to set aside a weekend next fall to attend one of the cranberry festivals celebrating the official state fruit and most important fruit crop in Wisconsin. The two nearest festivals that we have been to are at Stone Lake and Warrens. Both feature a weekend of activities which include tours of local marshes where you can buy fresh berries.

In the mid 1990’s, Wisconsin became the largest cranberry producer in the United States. Last year, Wisconsin cranberry growers sold 483 million pounds of the tart fruit, 60 percent of the total crop in the United States. Massachusetts, which once led the nation in cranberry production, was the second largest producer with 212.3 million pounds.

People like cranberries. Over 94 percent of Thanksgiving dinners include cranberry sauce, most in the form of jellied cranberry sauce sold in cans. Only five percent of cranberries are sold as fresh fruit, but once you taste your own cranberry sauce, my guess is that you will be making it again.

Canned cranberry sauce is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which is cheaper than sugar because of farm subsidies. However, we think that sugar gives a better flavor, and I hope that you use it to make your own cranberry sauce this year.

Making cranberry sauce is easy. It takes less than fifteen minutes plus of course the time for the sauce to cool. Here is Jerri’s recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water

PROCEDURE:

Bring the sugar and water to a boil for about five minutes in a two quart saucepan. Add the berries and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and cook the sauce until most of the cranberries have burst, stirring occasionally.

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir the sauce for a half minute or so and allow the sauce to cool. Transfer it to a serving dish or storage container and refrigerate before serving.

NOTES: Buying cranberries in bulk and freezing them in three cup packages makes it easy to enjoy cranberries in all seasons. Here are four good recipes.

First, here is one for an uncooked cranberry orange relish that Jerri makes at least a couple of times a year. It’s great with roast pork, lamb, turkey or chicken. Like her cranberry sauce recipe, this one also has just three ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 orange
1 1/2 cups sugar

PROCEDURE:

Grind or chop the cranberries fairly fine. If we had a food processor, we would use that. Jerri chops the berries in smaller batches in the blender and chops the few by hand that keep bouncing around in the blender jar.

Wash and dry the orange and remove the zest with a zester or the smallest holes on a kitchen grater. Peel the orange, chop the sections into small pieces and discard any seeds with the rind. Stir the berries, zest, chopped orange and sugar together in a bowl. Put the relish in a storage container, cover and refrigerate for at least a day.

Delicious!

Here are three more recipes that are well worth your while.

Cranberry Apple Pie

Cranberry Crumb Coffee Cake

Cranberry Raisin Pie

Chuck’s Marinara Sauce

We were at the cabin when I first made this sauce. It was winter, and I used a large can of tomatoes. The following summer I made it with fresh tomatoes from the garden, and it was even better. Some people say that real marinara sauce is made only with garlic, basil, salt and pepper and olive oil. That may be, but I like this recipe.

It has a full rich flavor that is wonderful on pasta or pizza. Give it a try.

INGREDIENTS:

6 medium tomatoes (3 to 3 1/2 inch diameter) or a large can (28 oz.) of diced tomatoes
4 T. olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1 six-ounce can tomato paste
1/2 cup freshly chopped parsley
1 tsp. dried crushed oregano (or two T. chopped fresh oregano)
1 tsp. dried crushed basil (or two T. chopped fresh basil)
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. fennel seed, crushed in mortar
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. anchovy paste or two finely chopped anchovy fillets
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine

PROCEDURE:

If using fresh tomatoes, bring a pot of water to boiling. Wash the tomatoes and scald them in the boiling water for 30 to 45 seconds until the skins begin to wrinkle. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and put them in ice water to cool. Remove the skins and cores and chop the tomatoes medium fine. If you don’t like the seeds, cut the tomatoes into fourths and remove the seeds before chopping.

Peel and mince the garlic and finely dice the onion. Heat the olive oil over low heat in a medium size sauce pan (about 3 or 4 quarts). Add the onion and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking for another 15 or 20 seconds. Do not allow the onion or garlic to brown.

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, salt, herbs, spices, anchovy paste and wine. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to simmer the sauce for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours stirring occasionally. Be careful not to scorch the sauce, especially as it begins to thicken. Add a little more wine if the sauce gets thicker than you want.

Serve over your favorite pasta or use it to make a pizza. Offer grated Parmesan cheese at the table.

NOTES: You may be afraid to include the anchovy paste or chopped anchovies, but I guarantee that you will not taste any fish in this recipe. The anchovies add a depth to this sauce that is lacking in most of the commercial sauces you encounter which try to give more flavor by adding more salt and sugar.

You can make a good meat sauce by browning a pound of hamburger seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Drain the meat and stir it into the sauce before serving. Even better, brown a pound of bulk Italian sausage and add it to the sauce.