I've got a recipe for cranberry chutney that is so magnificent, so delectable, that when I make a batch, I'm not above standing at the stove and eating the stuff directly from the pan with a big wooden spoon. But I'll get to that in a minute.
I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks, Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers. It's a wonder I ever found it given that I have a large collection of cookbooks. On a shelf the width of my washer and dryer combined and in two cabinets I have 97 cookbooks. Does that seem extreme? Does that seem excessive? Do you wonder why anyone would need more than a few basic books, enough to cover meat loaf, lasagna, beef stew, and a good mac and cheese?
Barefoot Contessa makes a mean mac and cheese, distinct from but not quite as smooth as the mac and cheese found in The Best of Gourmet Magazine 2005 which uses mascarpone and cherry tomatoes. Barefoot Contessa also makes a rib-sticking lasagna and a turkey meat loaf that is so good you want it for lunch the next day. But what about Tyler Florence, Martha Stewart, Emeril, Jamie Oliver, Giada De Laurentiis? They've all got variations on classic dishes.
Chef Paul Prudhomme makes the best shrimp etouffee I've ever tasted. Tasted? Slurped up from the spoon is more like it. The Betty Crocker New Cook Book has an unbeatable Herbed Lamb Stew, but only in the 1989 edition, not the 1996 edition. Then there are the collections from Bon Appetit and Gourmet Magazine. The Commander's Palace in New Orleans, the Junior League in Denver, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Which ones would I give up if I had to? Which favorite dishes would I abandon because I have too many cookbooks and need to thin the stacks?
Excessive? I think it's just right. In fact, I've recently learned that Ina Garten has a new book, and I can't wait to get my own copy. If it won't fit on the shelf, then I suppose I could give up something. I could give up...um..er...I can't think of a single one.
Here's the Cranberry Chutney recipe. Slurp it up.
Makes 3 cups
1 medium lemon
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 c diced crystallized ginger
1/3 c finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Grate the zest from the lemon. Cut away and discard the thick white pith. Cut the lemon crosswise in half and pick out the seeds. Dice the lemon into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. In medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the cranberries, diced lemon and zest, sugar, ginger, onion, garlic, jalapeno, cinnamon stick, mustard, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat to low and simmer until the sauce is thick and the cranberries have burst, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Remove the cinnamon stick just before serving. Serve at room temperature.
Note: This can be made up to a week ahead, covered tightly and refrigerated.
I found this recipe in one of my cookbooks, Thanksgiving 101 by Rick Rodgers. It's a wonder I ever found it given that I have a large collection of cookbooks. On a shelf the width of my washer and dryer combined and in two cabinets I have 97 cookbooks. Does that seem extreme? Does that seem excessive? Do you wonder why anyone would need more than a few basic books, enough to cover meat loaf, lasagna, beef stew, and a good mac and cheese?
Barefoot Contessa makes a mean mac and cheese, distinct from but not quite as smooth as the mac and cheese found in The Best of Gourmet Magazine 2005 which uses mascarpone and cherry tomatoes. Barefoot Contessa also makes a rib-sticking lasagna and a turkey meat loaf that is so good you want it for lunch the next day. But what about Tyler Florence, Martha Stewart, Emeril, Jamie Oliver, Giada De Laurentiis? They've all got variations on classic dishes.
Chef Paul Prudhomme makes the best shrimp etouffee I've ever tasted. Tasted? Slurped up from the spoon is more like it. The Betty Crocker New Cook Book has an unbeatable Herbed Lamb Stew, but only in the 1989 edition, not the 1996 edition. Then there are the collections from Bon Appetit and Gourmet Magazine. The Commander's Palace in New Orleans, the Junior League in Denver, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. Which ones would I give up if I had to? Which favorite dishes would I abandon because I have too many cookbooks and need to thin the stacks?
Excessive? I think it's just right. In fact, I've recently learned that Ina Garten has a new book, and I can't wait to get my own copy. If it won't fit on the shelf, then I suppose I could give up something. I could give up...um..er...I can't think of a single one.
Here's the Cranberry Chutney recipe. Slurp it up.
Makes 3 cups
1 medium lemon
1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
2 cups sugar
1/2 c diced crystallized ginger
1/3 c finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Grate the zest from the lemon. Cut away and discard the thick white pith. Cut the lemon crosswise in half and pick out the seeds. Dice the lemon into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. In medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the cranberries, diced lemon and zest, sugar, ginger, onion, garlic, jalapeno, cinnamon stick, mustard, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat to low and simmer until the sauce is thick and the cranberries have burst, 10 to 15 minutes. Cool completely.
3. Remove the cinnamon stick just before serving. Serve at room temperature.
Note: This can be made up to a week ahead, covered tightly and refrigerated.
Comments
I'll be making that one at Christmas; thanks, Robyn.
And there is no such concept as "too many books", cookery or otherwise.
A whole town deprived of the joys of home made ginger ice cream! Poor things.
And yes, I shall definitely practice the cranberry chutney before Christmas (goodbye 36" waist).
You have 97 cookbooks? Wow, I thought I was a collector. I have 10.
http://www.jamesmartinchef.co.uk/
That's what turned me vegetarian.
I'm much too much a carnivore--I could never be a vegetarian.
I have tons of other books, however. I don't believe that there's such a thing as an excess of reading material.
So far as meat-eating goes, Dive, I'm impressed that you have butchered your own pig. I read a New Yorker article about it once, and it sounded like an interesting experience. One of the reasons why I went vegetarian is becuase I felt that meat-eating was too far removed from the source. I figured if I wasn't willing to kill something myself, I wasn't going to eat it. Someday I might change my mind (though after years and years, the price one pays for such a switch is high) and give sustainable meat-eating a try.
Most of them are veggie, other than the Japanese and Portuguese ones.
And as for pigs, Robyn, this is Norfolk, Britain's answer to "Deliverance" country.
My grandparents kept a housepig each year in the outshot of the farmhouse and we slaughtered and butchered it for winter meat.
I totally agree that kids are kept too separate from real food. If nothing else, only buy meat from a good organic butcher. NEVER EVER from a supermarket.
And let's get back to chutney and good autumnal fruit and veg! I've got a lovely quince trained up a back wall. Perfect for quince jelly. Yum!
Sigh... Even my typos are Freudian. :)