WHAT’S FOR (Thanksgiving) DINNER?

Freshly made cranberry sauce is, in my humble opinion, a MUST. No canned version will do it justice. And it is so easy, so why not? Here is the basic, fool-proof recipe: put in a saucepan 1 lb fresh cranberries (washed), add 1 to 1.5 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of water, and juice of one orange. Cook for about 7-10 minutes until cranberries burst and sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool. Done! To spice it up, you can add some candied (or fresh, grated) ginger, or slivered almonds, or some dried cherries.

Next, stuffing. It’s difficult to stuff the turkey with a sufficient amount of stuffing to satisfy everyone, so why not bake it separately? It’s easier that way, anyway! Here is how: take a bag of pre-made bread cubes (or make your own) and mix them with diced and cooked till golden one large onion (with optional 2 celery ribs), add half a cup minced parsley, throw in some minced fresh sage and thyme (or 1 tsp each dry), 1/4 tsp nutmeg or cloves, 1 cup chopped roasted, unsalted, cashew nuts, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries. Season with salt and black pepper. Moisten the mixture with 1 cup hot chicken broth and bake the stuffing on 400F in a covered casserole for about 40 minutes.

Finally, dessert! Well, the classic Thanksgiving dessert is, of course, an apple pie. I would recommend not to fuss with making the dough from scratch. It’s way too much work for a negligible difference in taste. Instead, just buy a pre-made pie crust and use the following filling: peel (optional), core and dice 3 lb of apples. Cook them in 3 tbs of butter in a heavy skillet for about 5-7 min. Add 1/2 cup sugar (or more if you like it sweet), 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and a pinch of salt and cook for a few more minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and apples soften but do not fall apart. In the meantime, pre-bake the pie crust according to the package directions. Load the cooled filling into the pre-baked crust, cover with lattice or the second pie crust, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with 1tbs sugar and 1tsp cinnamon mix. Bake on 350 for an hour; cool for at least 40 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

FOODFIRST UPDATES

Check out the newsletter archive if you missed the previous newsletters! They have fun and easy recipes for dinner and desserts; you can find them linked at the bottom of the What’s for Dinner webpage of the FoodFirst website.