Blog for adaysouting.com

I loved making this when I was little. We would make it the weekend before Thanksgiving to allow the flavors to really blend. My mom had a grinder that I believe was her grandfather’s that we would bolt to the kitchen table and run the berries and oranges through. Today, I use the grinder attachment for my stand mixer, although I would like to find one of those old grinders. You can also use a food processor on the coarsest setting or chop, juice and zest by hand. I added the Cointreau to the recipe, I like the depth it provides.

You can make this anytime up to a half an hour before serving. Serve it with the turkey, just like cranberry sauce. Once you’ve tried fresh cranberries, you won’t want to go back to the cooked sauces!

2 pounds fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup Cointreau liqueur
1 orange, zested and juiced
Dash nutmeg, cinnamon, & clove just a tiny amount to taste

Wash and go through all the cranberries, making sure to pull out any that may have soft spots.  Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, pulse several times to breakdown the cranberries and incorporate the ingredients; it should still be a bit chunky. Allow the cranberry relish to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, so the flavors can marry.

I received a fun present from a specialty kitchen store last year called “Perpetual Vanilla.” It is an endless bottle of fantastic vanilla extract. When you use a tablespoon or so in a recipe, simply pour alcohol back into the bottle to refill it and the vanilla beans in the bottle transform it into vanilla extract.

I decided to make a dozen bottles as presents for the coming holidays and wanted to share it with you. It did take me awhile to track down the correct bottles and the vanilla, so I included links below to make it easier for you. All in all, it cost around $60 to make 12 gifts.

Supplies:
1 dozen – 5 oz Bottles with screw lids
1/2 lb - Tahitian Vanilla Beans
1 liter - Vodka or Light Rum (no need to buy the good stuff for this)

Recipe:
In each bottle, place 3 or 4 vanilla beans that have been cut lengthwise to expose the seeds inside.  Fill each bottle with vodka or rum. Let the bottles stand for 5 weeks while the flavor from the vanilla beans steeps into the vodka.

Here’s what I think I will put on my gift tags:
I hope you enjoy this homemade vanilla extract. Each time you use some, replenish the bottle with more vodka (or rum) making sure to always keep the beans covered.  Enjoy!

Tips -

* Stronger Extract: Use a high proof of alcohol and scrape the seeds from the bean.
* Weaker Extract: Use a lesser proof of alcohol and soak beans intact.
* To strain and bottle for storage: Use a very fine strainer, coffee filter, or paper towel to strain.
* Vodka usually gives the highest alcohol content. Brandy adds additional flavor which some folks may or may not prefer.
* Corn syrup or sugar helps extract and develop the flavor from the vanilla pods (corn syrup dissolves more easily).
* Using a variety of vanilla pods (Madagascar, Indonesia, Tahitian, Mexican) will produce a vanilla extract with a much more complex flavor and aroma. Try using Madagascar pods as a base, adding Tahitian and Mexican pods for additional flavor/fragrance notes.
* Shake vanilla bottle before each use. Small flecks of the vanilla pods will be in the vanilla extract - they provide additional flavor. They also appear as dark flecks in light-colored food, don’t shake the bottle if you don’t want the flecks to appear.
* Occasionally spoon out some of the mass of vanilla pods that settle to the bottom of the jar for when you want a very intense vanilla flavor (such as homemade vanilla ice cream or butter/vanilla pretzel cookies).
* Have a brew bottle always on the go and every summer make sure it’s topped up so you’ll have enough vanilla extract on hand for holiday baking.

I love fresh figs and I am always looking for something to make with them. Here is a recipe I came up with after adapting a few written for dried figs I found online.

1 lemon, zested and sliced in rings, seeds removed
¼ cup light brown sugar, I like the granulated kind
¼ cup champagne or white vinegar
Half of a sweet onion diced
¼ cup of flat parsley chopped
1 container fresh figs quartered
24 ounces chicken broth
8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs
2-4 skinless bone-in chicken breasts, they may be better cut in two
Salt and cracked pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Remove any excess fat from the chicken, brown chicken thighs and breasts on both sides in a Dutch oven (the flavor will be better), or it was faster for me to do it in a separate oversized cast iron skillet. If you brown in a separate skillet, you need to heat up the Dutch oven on the stove top before placing it in the oven so that it is warm, but won’t burn the chicken when you put the ingredients together. Mix lemon zest, brown sugar, vinegar, onion, parsley and chicken broth in a bowl. Lay chicken breast side and meat side down in the Dutch oven, pour chicken broth mixture over it, lay lemon rings and figs on top and add salt and pepper to taste. Cook in the oven for 60-90 minutes at 350, checking it once, but trying not to let out all of the steam. When cooked remove lemon rings and discard. Remove chicken, and if necessary, place Dutch oven back on the stove-top and reduce the sauce. Pour sauce over the chicken to serve.

BTW, my Dutch Oven is from Ikea and I love it, is was made in France and I am guessing it may be made for them by Le Creuset.

Sorry the photo is blurry, it was taken with the camera in my phone.

This past weekend we enjoyed one of my favorite fall activities, picking apples at Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, Virginia. We rode on the hay wagon, hiked all over the mountainside picking and tasting different types of apples, ate their amazing apple cider donuts, played in the pumpkin patch, & took some wonderful family photos. The weather was near perfect and so the orchard was packed and festive.

Now it’s time for apple cider, apple butter and my favorite, caramel apples!

There are orchards all across the nation and fall is perfect apple season. Here are just a few-

Spicer Orchards & Cider Mill Fenton, MI

Slate Hill Orchards Slate Hill, NY

Cornell Orchards Ithaca, NY
*this is the research and teaching center for the vegetable sciences department at Cornell

Masker Orchards Warwick, NY

Rinker Orchards Stephens City, VA

The Country Store & Gardens Vashon Island, WA

Gopher Glen Apple Orchard San Louis Obispo, CA

There is nothing quite like an outing centered around fresh seafood. My family and I went to a Crab and Shrimp Boil recently in the park of a nearby town. We enjoyed live music, fresh Chesapeake Bay crabs and locally brewed beer on tap.

Even though I had given them fair warning, I didn’t know what my kids would think about seeing the crabs steaming in kettles. But true to their personalities, my son loved using the wooden mallets to open the crabs, while my daughter was actually brave enough to sample the seafood he enthusiastically extracted.

Depending on where you are across the country, there are local events and fairs to enjoy. Here are a few seafood inspired festivals to consider:

17th Annual Seafood, Blues, & Jazz Festival, Kure Beach, NC
October 9th and 10th

Bayou City Shrimp Festival, Houston, TX
October 9th and 10th

John’s Pass Seafood Festival, Madeira Beach, FL
October 23rd - 26th

St. Mary’s County, MD Oyster Festival, Leonardtown, MD
October 16th and 17th

36th Annual Oyster Festival & Colonial Day, York, PA
October 17th

Urbanna Oyster Festival, Urbanna, VA
November 5th and 6th

Brudley’s Annual Wild Game, Seafood & Jambalaya Cook Off,
New Iberia, LA November 20th

Grant Seafood Festival, Grant, FL
February 26th, 2011

Recently on a trip to Sweden, it was the height of chanterelle mushroom season, which I love.  During the days we spent hiking, we ran across many locals hunting for them. Even after one of them showed us several examples, we were still nervous to pick them. Like a lot of people, I have grown up hearing NEVER eat wild mushrooms.  The following nine photos are all from Sweden and the last three are from a trip I took to Costa Rica.

When we returned home to the states, I wondered how common of a hobby it is here. It is a huge hobby here. There are numerous mycological societies (studying mushrooms, molds, truffles, yeasts, lichens, plant pathogens, and medically important fungi) throughout the country.

I am interested in learning more. I think it fits into my families’ whole love of treasure hunting, whether it’s shelling, looking for shark’s teeth or fossils, panning for gold, or maybe now, mushrooming.

Here are some festivals, lectures and shows across the country I found -

Mt. Hood Salmon & Mushroom Festival, Welches, OR
October 2nd and 3rd

Southern Appalachian Mushrooms Lecture at Smithgall Woods, Helen, GA
October 2nd or 30th from 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

2010 Wild Mushroom Show, Seattle, WA
October 16th and 17th

Yachats Village Mushroom Fest, Yachats, WA
October 15th - 17th

Texas Mushroom Festival, Madisonville, TX
October 23rd

In honor of my recent trip to Sweden last night for dinner I tried to duplicate the traditional open-faced Swedish Shrimp Sandwich. Well, mine was only fair at best. I would like to think the problem was in the ingredients and not the cook. Here’s what I tried -

1 Pd Whole Foods 51-60 Count Key West Frozen Shrimp
Slices of Whole Foods Multigrain Hearth Sandwich Bread
Sliced Hard Boiled Eggs
Thin Red Pepper Slices
Thin Unpeeled Cucumber Slices
Thin Round Carrot Slices
Blanched Asparagus Spears
Lemon Wedges
Butter
Store Bought Mayonnaise

I hard boiled the eggs, sliced all the veggies, boiled the shrimp, blanched the asparagus and then began to assemble the sandwich. I lightly buttered the bread slices, put down the slices of eggs, topped the eggs with several dollops of mayonnaise, arranged the shrimp on top, sprinkled them with salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Topped that with a few blanched asparagus. Laid the veggies to the side and thought that it looked perfect. Well, not so much, it was just OK. In all fairness, I ate several versions of these while on vacation and the best of course, was at The Grand Hotel’s Cadier Bar in Stockholm and this is the one I was comparing mine to.

I would love to hear any feedback on where you think I went wrong. Here are my thoughts; first, I think the shrimp were not right. I am guessing their shrimp are fresh, never frozen, cold water Baltic wild caught and hand peeled. Second, the bread was all wrong, it needed to be the round homemade rye bread that is popular in Sweden’s bakeries. And third, I think the mayonnaise should have been homemade. I am certain the Grand Hotel is not using bottled low-fat mayonnaise. Oh well, the kids and my husband seemed to like it.

When I was little, we made homemade ice cream in a mixer that my mom and dad received as a wedding present. The ice cream maker had a metal center where the cream , sugar and vanilla went. There was an outer chamber with wooden sides where we poured in the ice. I was really young, but I remember that their machine also involved pouring rock salt into the sides along with the ice, which made a mess. With the ice and salt in place, we then attached a crank to the top of the machine and turned and turned it until magically ice cream was made.

Today, there are many different kinds of ice cream makers, including electric ones that do all of the turning for you. My ice cream maker is a small, hand cranked type made by Donvier. I love it because it’s really easy to use. All I have to do is chill the center chamber in the freezer for a day. Once the center is cold, I pour my ice cream mixture into it, put the chamber into its base, add the top and turn the handle around and around. I must say that I like the process of turning the handle and slowly watching the ice cream being made. I’m not sure what happened to that great old ice cream machine of my parents, but I am glad that we can make homemade ice cream and that there is no rock salt involved.

Vanilla Ice Cream

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 cups very hot milk
1 vanilla bean - cut lengthwise with the seeds scraped out
1 pint heavy cream

Mix the sugar, salt and egg yokes together in a heavy-bottomed pan. Slowly stir the hot milk and then add the vanilla bean seeds. Cook, continuing to stir, until slightly thicken, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Strain, then add the cream. Chill. Freeze in a hand-cranked or electric ice cream maker. (Makes 3 pints)

I haven’t had much success in my garden this year. The deer ate my tomatoes. The dry weather zapped the green beans. But, I have tons of amazing cantaloupes. I think cantaloupes are pretty easy to grow, as long as you don’t mind the yellow flowered vines creeping from the vegetable patch into the flower garden.

While you might not have the room or the desire to grow you own cantaloupes, farmers’ markets and roadside stands have plenty to offer. We all know cantaloupe is wonderful for breakfast, but really there is so much more you can do. There’s the classic Italian recipe of cantaloupe wrapped with very thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma, which my husband loves! There also the late summer treat of cantaloupe soup. It can be served as an appetizer or a dessert. For dessert, you can top the soup with candied walnuts or pecans. For the appetizer, Martha Stewart recipe with tarragon syrup is simply wonderful.

Chilled Cantaloupe Soup with Tarragon Syrup
Serves 6 -compliments of Martha Stewart Living

For the soup-
1 large ripe cantaloupe (about 4 pounds), seeds and rind removed, cut into chunks, plus thin wedges for garnish
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
pinch of coarse salt

For the syrup-
pinch of coarse salt
¾ cup sugar
4 sprigs tarragon - with the small leaves removed from the stems
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Make the soup: Working in 2 batches, puree cantaloupe, sour cream, honey, lemon juice, and salt in a blender until smooth. Press through a fine sieve into a bowl. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Make the syrup: Bring sugar and 3/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil until syrup has reduced to 2/3 cup, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat; add tarragon. Transfer to a bowl; refrigerate until cold, 1 hour.

Puree syrup, tarragon, and lemon juice in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use; stir just before serving.

Divide soup among bowls. Drizzle with tarragon syrup; garnish with cantaloupe wedges.

This weekend we were having a family over to dinner and I really wanted to make something everyone would like. When the kids were younger, we would usually make something fancier for the adults and then have a kid friendly option. Now that the kids are getting older, I really love having the kids at the table with us talking about dinner just like we always do with our friends. On the menu this weekend were grilled flat iron steaks, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob and wedge salads with a super easy homemade ranch dressing.

While ranch is not my favorite, I knew the kids would all like it. I also realized I had only ever tried ranch from a bottle. Here’s what I came up with, I think it’s so much better than anything from a bottle.

2 Cloves Garlic
¼ cup Italian Flat-Leaf Parsley
2 Tablespoons Fresh Chives
1 Tablespoon Fresh Oregano
1 cup Real Mayonnaise
½ cups Sour Cream, Low-Fat worked great
½ teaspoon White Vinegar
½ teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
Dash Cayenne Pepper
¼ teaspoon Paprika
Buttermilk (as Needed To Desired Consistency)
Salt To Taste

Mince the garlic with a knife and then sprinkle about and 1/8 to ¼ teaspoons of salt on it and mash it into a paste with a fork. You have to mash it or you will end up with garlic pieces that are to bold in the dressing. Chop the parsley, chives and oregano very finely and add to the garlic.
In a bowl combine all ingredients, tasting frequently and adjusting seasonings as needed. Chill for a couple of hours before serving, thin with buttermilk if desired.