Kitchen Chick

Elizabeth Ryan's Cranberry Pie

For cranberry lovers everywhere. This pie is nicely tart. Like mince pie, but better! I keep imagining it served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (I have to imagine it because I don't have any ice cream at this time.) This recipe was published in Food & Wine, back in 1992.

Elizabeth Ryan's Cranberry Pie

Pie pastry — enough for a bottom and top crust
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 bag (12 oz) fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/3 coarsely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3 Tbs butter, melted
1/2 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1 egg, mixed with 2 tsp water for brushing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of the pie pastry into a 12 inch circle. Place the dough in a 9 inch pie plate, fitting it evenly but without stretching. Leave the edge over hanging and refrigerate. Roll out remaining dough into a 12 inch circle and refrigerate.

In a small bowl, mix the sugar and flour and set aside.

In a food processor, chop the cranberries until some are finely ground and the largest pieces are the size of peas. (About 2 minutes for frozen, or several pulses for fresh.)

Transfer cranberries to a medium bowl and add the raisins, walnuts, orange juice, melted butter, and orange zest. Thoroughly combine.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the sugar-flour mixture into the bottom of the pie pan. Spoon in the cranberry mixture. Sprinkle the remaining sugar-flour mixture over the top. Top with the rolled out pie pastry. Fold the edges under and crimp as you like. Brush the top of the pie with the egg wash and cut several slits for steam to escape.

Place the pie on a baking sheeet and bake in the middle of the oven for about 50 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling bubbles up through the slits. Transfer to a rack and let cool to room temperature before serving.

Kitchen Chick's notes: I used regular brown raisins instead of sultans. Food & Wine provides Ryan's pie pastry recipe, but I used Penzey's easy dough recipe that I first posted with their peach pie. I also topped the crust with two tablespoons of sugar, for a pretty sparkling glaze.

RIP: Joe & Lisa's Microwave1988-2004

Tonight our microwave died. A Goldstar Turntable from the late 80s. It's power has been deterioating for some years now — foods took longer and longer to defrost or cook — but it kept on microwaving away.

Until tonight.

I was melting a small amount of chocolate (too small to bother with a double boiler) to drizzle over some raspberries when ZAP and the microwave power goes out. Darn it, I blew the fuse. I check the fuse box, then Joe reminds me that we have new power outlets with reset buttons. After that doesn't help, so we test the outlet with another appliance. The outlet works, and we have to admit that I killed the microwave. We've planning on buying a new one for a while now, but I was hoping to get another 6 months to a year of use out of it. They all seem so cheap and flimsy. Will our next microwave last 16 years?

sigh

It was a good microwave. It never complained. It faithfully told time 10 minutes fast (because I set it that way) for over 15 years. We received it as a "hand me down" from a college friend who was leaving town to attend grad school out East. Todd Bakal, if you're out there, we want you to know that we took good care of your microwave. It was cleaned on a regular basis. It had a nice prominent spot in the kitchen with a grand view. It lived a long full life of zapping our food — hardly a day when by when it wasn't used — and the beep beep beep BEEP! of its timer will be forever remembered.

Joe & Lisa's Goldstar Turntable Microwave
May it rest in peace.

Cantaloupe Balls in Red Wine

Every year Joe and I host a holiday party — the party where I serve the trifle. We serve a great many savory and sweet items, and our guests bring a numbing number of additional dishes. Though some dishes, like the trifle, have become traditions that I dare not break or face the wrath of our guests, I try to rotate at least one or two dishes each year.

Several years back I got the idea of looking for recipes in that most mundane of American cookbooks: the Betty Crocker Cookbook. It's one of those cookbooks that have a lot of basic recipes but also feature monstrosities out of some parallel universe that I wouldn't feed to my cats. This year's selection was "Melon Balls in Wine."

Knowing that the wine could make all the difference, I headed to Everyday Wines in Kerrytown and asked for a recommendation. The owner gave me a puzzled look. Cantaloupe marinated in dry red wine? She hadn't heard of such a thing. I began to worry. What if I picked one of those "monstrosities", you know, like a "Cabbage Mold", that no one in their right mind would serve at a party lest they face ridicule all the days of their lives. But after only a pause, she decisively picked a wine and said, "This wine loves food." Oh, and would I be so kind as to tell her how it turns out?

How did it turn out? Just before putting it out on the buffet, my mother-in-law and I tasted the melons and wine decided that maybe we'd keep it for ourselves. The wine was scrumptous all by itself, sweet and tinted with a lovely canteloupe flavor. But being unselfish people, we set it out. In the morning Joe informs me that his parents took some of the melon balls and wine home with them. "Did they leave any for us?" was the first thing out of my mouth.

Melon Balls in Wine

Per 2 cups of cantaloupe balls, add:
3 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup dry red wine

Sprinkle cantaloupe with sugar, pour wine over the cantaloupe, and stir gently. Cover and refrigerate at least one hour.

Kesra — Moroccan Bread

The first time I cooked Moroccan bread I used a recipe from Paula Wolfert's Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco. The bread was amazing.

The second time I made the recipe, the loaves didn't rise and were small and dense. What had I done wrong? And the third time — once again too small. I became terrified of making yeast bread. Half the time the loaves didn't rise. Clearly much practice was needed. I suspect I may have been killing my yeast. I'm more careful now. I test my water temperature carefully. But there's always that nugget of fear as I watch my yeast for signs of activity, or worse, inactivity. So there was much relief when I saw my yeast become frothy with bubbles.

Most recipes I've seen for Moroccan Bread usually use whole wheat flour or a blend of whole wheat and white flour. This recipe from Kitty Morse uses all white flour and is very light textured.

Markode aux Pommes de Terre

I love North African food. I love Kitty Morse's cookbooks. I dream about taking one of her tours. I don't generally like group tours, but I think I could really get into a food tour.

Anyway, back to tonight's dinner. An Algerian markode is like a thick meatless, crustless quiche, similar to a Spanish tortilla. This one uses potatoes and artichokes. I love artichokes. Joe does not. I've had this long sort-of back-burnered quest to convince him that artichokes are gifts from heaven. Tonight I've finally managed to convined him that artichokes are harmless. I count that as success. It means I can cook with them and he won't turn his nose up. As long as I don't cook with them too often.

This makes a simple dinner or a nice first course to a larger meal.

Redux: Lamb & Prune Tagine

Per Melissa's request, here is the recipe for the Lamb & Prune Tagine that I talked about back in May. Those who think they don't like prunes may be pleasantly surprised with this dish.  (I was.)

This recipe comes from Kitty Morse's excellent Cooking at the Kasbah.

Tagine Bil Kok (aka Lamb and Prune Tagine)

2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
2 lb leg of lamb, trimmed of fat and cut into 2 inch chunks
2 onions, one finely diced and one finely sliced
1 cup chicken broth
8 threads saffron, toasted and crushed
15 fresh cilantro sprigs, tied with a cotton string
1 cup pitted prunes
2 Tbs honey
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp pepper
salt to taste
1 Tbs unhulled sesame seeds, toasted

Heat the olive oil in a small dutch oven or enamaled casserole over medium-high heat. Saute the turmeric, ginger, and lamb until the meat is well coated and lightly browned -- 2 to 3 minutes. Finely dice one of the onions. Add it to the meat, along with the broth, saffron, and cilantro. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the meat is fork tender, about 1 to 1.5 hours. Discard the cilantro.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. With a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to an oven proof dish and keep warm until read to serve. Bring the sauce in the casserole back to a simmer.

Finly slice the remaining onion. Add it, along with the prunes, honey, cinnamon, and pepper to the simmering sauce. Season with salt. cook until the mixture thickens somewhat, about 6 to 8 minutes. Spoon the prune sauce over the meat and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve with warm bread.