This drunken cranberry sauce is so extraordinarily easy and delicious that it would be verging on sinful not to make your own from scratch. The addition of port adds a decadent, velvety touch. This will make about 3 cups of sauce. To make more, or less, just adjust your ingredient amounts proportionally.

• 1.5 cup ruby port
• 1.5 cup sugar
• 18 oz fresh cranberries

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium, non-stick pan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring from time to time. Once it has boiled, reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes, until the liquid looks syrupy.
2. Remove from heat and either bottle (use your preferred canning method) or cool to room temperature before serving fresh.

Miniature towers of finely sliced potatoes layered with olive oil, fresh thyme and oregano, and a little salt: two kinds of sweet potato, plus a rainbow of red, golden, and purple potatoes and a little parsnip too. Each tower is a perfect, personal serving - baked separately. Sweet, earthy, complex flavors of all the potato varieties come together in what would be superb as a side dish with game or rich red meat.

• Variety of potatoes and/or other root veggies. Pictured here: ruby sweet potato, white potato, parsnip, red potato, purple fingerling potato, golden yam.
• olive oil
• fresh herbs (I used thyme and oregano)
• salt
• Equipment
  • cone or cup shaped form (mine were small, French, non-stick molds approximately 2″ at the top, 2.5″ at the base, and ~3″ tall)
  • pastry brush
  • mandoline slicer (optional)
    

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cut very thin slices of each type of potato. I used a simple mandoline slicer to do this, which allowed me to get very thin and regular slices. (I deliberately left skins on; you could do it either way.)
3. Lightly oil your molds and begin layering in slices of potato. Before laying down each slice, ‘paint’ it lightly with olive oil, using a pastry brush. Try to ’shingle’ potato as you go, creating even layers of each color and type. Depending on the size of each vegetable, you may want to do a little trimming to try and make sure you have roughly rounded edges. Press down as you build your tower and in between each change in potato type, sprinkle a little salt and a few leaves of fresh herbs. Fill right to the top of your molds, keeping in mind that your stacks will shrink a little, while baking.
4. Once your cones are filled, put them in the oven to bake for about 40-45 minutes. Check after 35, looking for thorough softness.
5. When finished baking, remove from the oven and after a few minutes turn the towers out on to a plate for serving.

I made almost 100 of these delicious bites for a big party recently. They disappeared so fast that I never even witnessed them being eaten! If you can find large grapes, give this a try. The flavors are a perfect balance of salty and sweet, and the textures balance too, thanks to the crunch of pistachio.

• The biggest red grapes you can find!
• Salted pistachios, shelled (1/2 to 3/4 of a cup)
• Plain goat cheese
• Equipment
  • cheese cloth
  • tiny, ~10mm melon ball scoop tool (typically found at specialty cook shops and in “Garde Manger” garnishing kits; if you can’t find one, a pairing knife will be workable too, if slower).

1. Using a food processor, finely chop pistachios. Stop before you powder them, as you’ll want some variation in the size of pieces. Reserve in a small bowl.
2. Wash the grapes and for each one carefully slice off a tiny sliver of the grape’s base — just enough to allow each one to stand up unassisted. Then take a slightly larger slice (1/4-1/3 of an inch) off the top of the grape. Using a tiny melon baller, or other tool, scoop out the center, included any seeds. Leave enough of a ledge around the top to allow pistachio to cling on. As you finish cutting the tops, dip each grape into the chopped pistachio nuts, coating the exposed area of the grape and letting extra pieces of nuts fall right into the grape’s central cavity.
3. Put about 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of goat cheese into the center of a doubled up piece of cheesecloth. Pull the cheesecloth together and twist, forming a small circle of goat cheese, with a pointy base that you can plug into the open grapes. The cheesecloth will leave an impression on the cheese that gives the impression of an artisnal cheese. Open up the cheesecloth and push each piece of cheese into the top of a grape. Pushing each one in gently, using the cheesecloth to press down, if you need a little pressure.
4. Best served soon after preparation, but if you need to, you can store them for 6-8 hours ahead of time, in the fridge.

Don’t blame these financiers for your portfolio problems. Cousins of the madeleine, these scrumptious little almond cakes have crunchy outsides that conceal chewy, moist interiors. I went a little non-trad here with a variety of shapes (the originals are rectangular) and flavored half the batch with matcha (green tea powder). I prefer the matcha ones, with their earthy and exotic flavor. Financiers are not difficult to make, but are somewhat difficult to make well. Watch your timing and oven temperature closely for success. (Err… just like the stock market… j/k! I know, I know - it’s not funny yet.)

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for buttering molds
• 1 cup finely ground almonds
• 1 2/3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup egg whites (5 to 6)
• 3/4 cup (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• (optional) 1.5 Tbs matcha (green tea powder)

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. With a pastry brush, thoroughly butter the financier molds or whatever you’re using as a mold (mini muffin tins or tartine molds can work). If you’re using mini molds, arrange them side by side, but not touching, on a baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, combine the almonds, sugar, flour, and salt. Mix to blend. Add the egg whites and mix until thoroughly blended. (I found a whisk was the perfect tool at this stage.) Add the 3/4 cup butter and mix until thoroughly blended. (Add the matcha now, if you wish. I added mine halfway through pouring out the first batch.) The mixture will be fairly thin and pourable.
4. Spoon batter into the molds, filling them almost to the rim. Place the baking sheet in the center of the oven. Bake until the financiers just being to rise, about 6 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400°F. Bake until the financiers are a light, delicate brown and begin to firm up, about another 6 minutes (watch carefully to make sure they don’t burn). Turn off the oven heat and let the financiers rest in the oven until firm, about another 6 minutes.
5. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the financiers cool in the molds for 10 minutes. Unmold. (Note: Wash molds immediately with a stiff brush in hot water without detergent so that they retain their seasoning.)
6. In theory, you can store financiers in an airtight container for several days. Go ahead and try.

tomato jam with goat cheese and a sprig of fresh thyme - originally uploaded by 3m1ly

Here is the long-overdue recipe for one of my favorite inventions. I made this first the summer before last on impulse and have always improvised the ingredients. This time I concentrated in order to pass on the details. The jam is a gooey and rich glop, bearing a complex texture thanks to glistening pieces of tomato skin. Suffused with fresh thyme, it’s brilliant with cheese.

• fresh tomatoes, chopped into 1″ chunks (leave the skins on, for best effect) — I used 8 cups in my last batch
• granulated sugar — you’ll need to match the amount of tomatoes roughly, unless you want to add some pectin. I used about 7 cups here
• fresh thyme — at least 10-15 sprigs… remove from the stems and throw into the mix, but reserve a few fresh sprigs to stab into the jars before sealing them

1. Roughly chop tomatoes into chunks about 1″ in size and place in a very large, heavy saucepan.
2. Add sugar and thyme and bring to a boil gradually. Feel free to add a couple of pinches of salt here, if you wish.
3. Reduce heat a bit and leave to bubble away until most of the excess liquid has boiled off. Mine took ages, by which I mean about 2 hours. Do a jam freezer test to determine when you think it’s ready. You’ll know it’s close, when the texture becomes considerably more gooey and when the color takes on a rich, ruby tone.
4. Carefully ladle into prepared (sterilized) jars and seal according to your habit. (I.e., boil ‘em up or turn them upside down French style.)

pear terrine  originally uploaded by 3m1ly

Thanks to my friend Wendy for inspiring this delectable and delicate pear terrine. I improvised the pomegranate-seed crown on a supermarket whim and they turned out to be a satisfying contrast both in flavor and color.

It’s really a perfectly sophisticated yet light autumn dessert. The pears are set in a calvados jelly, flavored with vanilla bean and cinnamon. I also experimented with a layer of ground almond. Sliced, toasted almonds would be splendid too, and would add crunch. Next time.

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• seeds from one fresh vanilla bean
• 4 cups water
• 1 cup brandy or other liquor of your choice (I used calvados)
• 4 pears, peeled and cored
• 3 packets gelatin
• ground almonds (optional)

1. Combine sugar and spices with 5 cups water in a medium saucepan (large enough to accommodate the pears upright), and turn heat to high.
2. Put peeled pears into the pan and reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook pears, turning them every so often, until they meet little resistance when prodded with a thin-bladed knife (usually 10 to 20 minutes). Turn off heat, and cool pears for a few minutes in the cooking liquid.
3. Remove the pears from the syrup, while it’s still warm and slice the pears into thin slices. At the same time, mix 3 packets of gelatin with a small amount of cold water and then add to the hot syrup. Stir until dissolved and leave the liquid to cool off. (If it starts to congeal, put on a little heat underneath.)
4. Construct the terrine as you wish, starting with one layer of syrup in the bottom of the terrine mold. After adding each layer of fruit, spoon over additional liquid and then put the terrine mold in the freezer for a few minutes to set that layer. Patience is mandatory or your layers will not end up sitting and settling properly.
5. When the terrine mold is almost full, spoon in enough syrup coat the final layer. Chill until solid.
6. To unmold, gently bathe the mold in a hot water bath for a few minutes. You may also want to run a sharp knife around the edges of the terrine. Turn it out.. and voila!

this is(was) a family secret recipe about to be released. Well when i say family, i mean the females of the family.it’s the best cake ever (in my opinion) so here goes:

Ingredients:

• 4 oz of self-raising flour (110g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 oz soft butter (110g)
• 4 oz of caster sugar (110g)
• 2 large eggs
• 4-5 drops of vanilla essence
• artificial colouring (green, red, yellow, purple, whichever you want!)
• to finish: butter and icing sugar. the amounts depend on how much icing you will want on your cake.

         pre-heat the oven at 170°C –>325F° (less if you are using a fan oven)and gas mark 3 if you are using a gas oven

       you will also need two baking tins, not too shallow-4 or 5 cm should do the trick, and not too big either.  grease them lightly and line them with greasproof paper (also greased) or silicone paper.

      Take a roomy mixing bowl and add flour and baking powder- you can sift it if lumpy.

      Then just add all other ingredients to the bowl, and whisk them, preferably with an electronic hand whisk-or, if you’re in a hurry or feeling a bit lazy, dump the stuff into a magimix and mix it thoroughly.Check that it’s not too thick: put some on a spoon and tap the side of a bowl with it.If it does not drop of easily, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of warmish water and mix again.

Then,divide the mix into the number of bowls you need, depending on how many colours you have (usually from about two to five) and in each bowl add a few drops of clouring. Mix thouroughly until the mix looks bright enouph, then dolop it out into the prepared tins. You can make it stripy, spotty, sploggy….

Bake for about half an hour, but check at regular intervals and make any needed adjustments to the time or temperature.

When cooked, leave them for about 30 seconds, then slide a knife around the edges and ease them out. Put them onto a rack and leave them to cool.

While they are cooling, prepare the icing:  you don’t need to do this- if you prefer jam, it works just as well.

So, take a clump of butter and cut it up.Add lots of icing sugar and mix together. Just taste to decide the amounts- it’s always fun! You can also add colouring to that as well, it won’t change the texture too much-but it might be fun to make it electric inside at white and innocent on the outside.Cut it and watch the expressions of others!

So anyway, when the cakes are completely cool, put the icing smoothly on and sandwich them together.Decorate them in any way and then they’re ready to eat!

=)

Bonne app’!

the delectable humboldt fog with homemade tomato jam, originally uploaded by 3m1ly

The delectable Humboldt Fog may be my favorite American cheese. It’s a pungent, creamy goat that is truly splendid with a glop of homemade tomato jam. I will get around to posting my recipe for the jam (here it is!), though I seem to improvise every time I make it. It is a heady punch of summer tomatoes, gooey but textured with ruby, transparent tomato skins and sprigs of thyme.

lemon raspberry cupcakes Originally uploaded by 3m1ly

This recipe produced a well-received batch of dense cupcakes, almost like little tiny pound cakes. The fresh raspberry on top was a good addition. I think I’ll try fresh raspberry puree inside next time, to better offset the sweetness of the icing and cake. Lemon and raspberry was a delicious pairing. And my cupcakes were a slightly modified version of a recipe in the April 2008 Bon Appétit.

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar, divided
• 4 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup light sour cream (or buttermilk)
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
• 12 teaspoons plus 1 tablespoon seedless raspberry jam
• Fresh raspberries (for garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, and 3 teaspoons lemon peel in large bowl until blended, then beat until fluffy and pale yellow. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in half of flour. Add sour cream and 2 tablespoons lemon juice; beat to blend. Beat in remaining flour.
2. Drop 1 rounded tablespoonful batter into each muffin liner. Spoon 1 teaspoon raspberry jam over. Cover with remaining batter, dividing equally.
3. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted halfway into centers comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan on rack.
4. Meanwhile, whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon peel in small bowl. Spoon half of icing over 6 cupcakes. Whisk 1 tablespoon raspberry jam into remaining icing. Spoon over remaining cupcakes. Garnish with raspberries. Let stand until icing sets, about 30 minutes.

tomatoes squared: chilled red and yellow tomato bisque, originally uploaded by 3m1ly.

I served these little shots of late summer with warm cumin/cardamom/fennel-spiced flat bread. Could work just as well served in a shooter or a small bowl. The following instructions are for one batch. As you can see from the photo, I made two batches of soup, switching only the type of tomato. The golden tomatoes had a more powerful flavor to begin with and resulted, predictably, in a more delectable shot of soup.

• 1 pound of yellow or red tomatoes
• 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 1 - 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• garnish
  • lemon rind, microplane grated
  • fresh basil, chiffonade
  • basil oil

1. Find the best tomatoes you can and allow them to ripen completely, for maximum flavor.
2. Purée tomatoes in a blender with broth until smooth.
3. Force through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.
4. Whisk in cream, honey, vinegar, cayenne, and salt to taste.
5. Chill for several hours.
6. Garnish and serve.

Non-Trad Samosas, originally uploaded by 3m1ly.

Yeah, yeah — totally non-trad. But their insides might be the real thing, and either way these are delicious. Particularly well balanced, when served with mango chutney and labna (as pictured).

• 2 large potatoes, peeled
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons chopped green chile peppers
• 1 package puff pastry dough

1. Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Stir in potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. With about 3 minutes to spare, add the peas. Drain, mash together and set aside.
2. In a large saucepan over medium high heat, heat the oil. Brown cumin seeds and bay leaf. Mix in onions and ground beef. Cook until beef is evenly brown and onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Mix in garlic, fresh ginger root. Season with salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili powder, cinnamon and cardamom. Stir in the mashed potato mixture. Remove from heat and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until cool. (Try not to eat it all, at this stage!)
3. Mix cilantro and green chile peppers into the potato and beef mixture.
   
4. Thaw and roll out the puff pastry dough. Place approximately 1 - 2 tablespoons of the mixture onto squares of pastry. Fold the pastry into triangles, pressing edges together with moistened fingers.
5. Bake in preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm.
   

On a day like today, when it’s over 100 degrees out, this dip is perfect. It’s got heat from green chilies, but the cooling from yogurt, dill and mint is incredibly refreshing.

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt (use Fage, if you can get it)
• 3 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 small green chilies, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• sea salt to taste
• 2 Tablespoons freshly chopped dill, plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
• 2 Tablespoons freshly chopped mint, plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
• virgin olive oil, for drizzling on top
• seeds of 1 fresh pomegranate, when in season

1. In a medium bowl, mix the yogurt with all ingredients except the olive oil, reserved herbs, and pomegranate (if using). Season to taste, with salt.
2. Transfer to serving bowl, and sprinkle with pom seeds, extra dill and mint. When ready to serve, drizzle with olive oil

Note: this keeps extremely well. In fact, I think the flavors develop nicely over time. Service with flat bread, or pita chips, or another dipper. Also fantastic with samosas or grilled meats. If pomegranates are out of season, you may want to try adding a handful of raisins or currents to the mix for a touch of balance.

Trompe d’oeil! Looks like a shiny lollipop, but tastes like a bocconcini tomato salad! Delicious, brightly colored and fun to eat. Highly recommended!

• cherry tomatoes
• mini bocconcini
• olive tapenade
• extra-virgin olive oil
• parsley, chopped very finely
• lemon rind, very finely grated
• salt
• wooden skewers

1. Cut the tops off the cherry tomatoes with a sharp knife. Then, scoop out the seeds using a tiny melon baller or a small spoon.
2. Put a small dab of tapenade in the bottom of each tomato ‘cup’. I tried black-olive and green olive tapenades — both were excellent.
3. Push a mini bocconcino into each tomato cup, and then stab each one on to a skewer.
4. Mix together the parsley, lemon rind, olive oil and salt. Drizzle over the top of the lollipops and serve!

Little spinach-pie pockets. Not too trad in this rendition, but more delicious with fresh herbs added: I used oregano and thyme and served them hot with 2 dipping sauces. My tasters declared the sauces good, but perhaps not even necessary, as the pies were delish on their own. Still, we tried a simple tomato/basil sauce as one choice, and a sour cream plus herbs and lemon rind in the other.

Big success. Also they’re fun, dead easy to make and, conveniently, you can form the pastry triangles ahead of time. Just freeze them in one layer in freezer bags; when you’re ready, bake the frozen pastries in the same manner as described below, adding 5 minutes extra to the cooking time. This is a huge help if preparing for a party, and also means you can have a stock of pies in the freezer, cooking up as many as you want, as impromptu occasions demand.

Makes about 48 little pies.

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 Tbs butter
• 1/2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 cups spinach, (defrosted, squeezed-dry, frozen spinach)
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh herbs, chopped (I used oregano and thyme)
• 1.5 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 package (17- by 12-inch) phyllo sheets, thawed if frozen

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Melt butter and olive oil in a skillet over moderate heat, and saute onion and garlic until translucent.
3. Put dried spinach into a large bowl and stir in feta, mozzarella, Parmesan, nutmeg, and fresh herbs. Taste for seasoning. Then, add eggs and mix well.
4. Melt remaining 1 stick butter.
5. Cover phyllo stack with 2 overlapping sheets of plastic wrap and then a dampened kitchen towel. Take 1 phyllo sheet from stack and arrange on a work surface with a long side nearest you and brush with some butter. Top with another phyllo sheet and brush with more butter. Cut buttered phyllo stack crosswise into 6 strips. Put a heaping teaspoon of filling near 1 corner of a strip on end nearest you, then fold corner of phyllo over to enclose filling and form a triangle. Continue folding strip (like a flag), maintaining triangle shape. Put triangle, seam side down, on a large baking sheet and brush top with butter; be careful to separate the triangles a little, as they tend to swell when baking. Make more triangles in same manner, using all of phyllo.
6. Bake triangles in middle of oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool slightly, and serve. (If baking from the freezer, check at 25 minutes, but add another 5 to make sure they are nicely browned.)

Cardamom gave these violently rich choco choco cookies an exotic twist. I may add even more next time. The cookies are amazing with fragrant jasmine tea, though I expect my Wisco friends to be begging for glasses of milk.

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup top-notch unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 generous teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 8 oz fine-quality milk chocolate, cut into chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cardamom and salt in a small bowl.
3. Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, and vanilla, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Add chocolate chunks and mix until just incorporated.
4. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie about 2 inches apart onto 2 ungreased large baking sheets. With dampened fingers, flatten cookies slightly.
5. Bake until puffed and set, 13 to 14 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.