ez cranberry curd

Thanksgiving always brings a new dessert challenge, and this year's was a hit. And it can be made in one pot. Other options we came up with include:
cranberry lime
strawberry rhubarb
raspberry lemon

12 ounces cranberries
1 cup sugar
 About 1/2 cup juice and peel (orange part only) of 1 orange
1 stick softened butter
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

Use vegetable peeler to remove slices of peel from orange. Heat cranberries, sugar, orange juice and peel in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10-15 minutes.

Remove peels from cranberries. Use immersion blender to break down cranberries as much as possible. (For smooth curd press cooking liquid through medium mesh sieve into a bowl.)

Whisk the butter into the warm liquid in the pot.

Put eggs and egg yolks into a bowl and beat lightly. Slowly whisk a cup of warm cranberry liquid into the eggs to temper, then add the tempered mix back to the pot and whisk together. Cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes. Pour into overproof dish. If using immediately, let cool to room temperature. If working ahead, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap (press wrap against curd) and refrigerate. (Curd may be cooked up to 1 day ahead.)

When ready to eat, bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to set curd.

– Adapted from NYT Cooking

strawbarb crumble

My man loves all things strawberry rhubarb, and though it's not my favorite when I found rhubarb on sale at the store I thought I would give a crisp a try. I wanted to make it with as little flour as I could, so I adjusted the recipe I found for a regular crisp.

4 to 5 stalks of fresh rhubarb
1 lb fresh strawberries, hulled
1 cup turbinado sugar
half an orange worth of grated orange zest
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1/2 cups Kind Oats and Honey Clusters granola
1/2 stick butter
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice the rhubarb into 1 inch pieces and cut the strawberries into pieces the same size as the rhubarb. In a large, ovenproof bowl, toss the fruit with 3/4 cup of the turbinado sugar, the orange zest, and the cornstarch dissolved in the orange juice.

For the topping, melt the butter and 1/4 cup of sugar in the microwave. Once melted and combined, stir the granola into the butter and coat well. Spread the topping over the fruit, covering it completely. Bake for 1 hour, until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden brown.

Let cool for 10 minutes and serve warm with ice cream.

Adapted from Food Network

lettuce mix

We eat salad at least once a week, and now that our spring farm share has started off with delicious lettuce mix it just makes us want to eat even more salads.

A few options for when we're forgetful:

Steak and Blueberry Salad

steak seasoned with salt and pepper only
blueberries
goat cheese
lettuce mix

For the dressing we used black cherry balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper. We used Denver cut steak and it was amazing.

Pulled Pork Salad

leftover bbq pulled pork
tomatoes
orange
lettuce
goat cheese

For the dressing we used cara cara vanilla balsamic, olive oil and salt and pepper.

Pork Chop Salad

Pork Belly and Roasted Root Veggie Salad
For this you can throw in any root veggies you have. We did it with:
baby carrots
small turnips
kohlrabi
radishes

We roasted all of the veggies in a marinade of honey, olive oil, cara cara vanilla balsamic and pineapple white balsamic, salt and pepper for 45 minutes at 400 and 15 minutes at 415 degrees.

We made a vinaigrette using the pineapple balsamic, coated the lettuce, added the fried pork belly and roasted veggies and a little bit of goat cheese.

fresh citrus fish

Mark Bittman has been quite the inspiration lately as his recipes all look easy and flavorful. For this recipe you just need to make sure you use enough fruit to balance the heat and bite of the jalapeno and shallot.

Fried White Fish with Fruit Salsa

1 pound of white fish (haddock, etc.)

1 grapefruit

1 orange

1 lime

1/2 shallot

1 jalapeno

butter

salt and pepper

Start with the salsa so it has time to meld. Halve the grapefruit, orange and lime, and using a grapefruit knife, section each fruit and add to a bowl. (Squeeze the extra juice of each fruit into one glass, add ice and vodka for a citrusy treat.) Mince the shallots and add to the bowl. Heat jalapeno over burner on the stove until it begins to pop to add a bit of roasted flavor. Mince and add to the bowl. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Salt and pepper the flesh side of the fish. Heat butter in a pan (don't use non-stick) over medium-high heat until bubbly. Add fish to the pan, skin side down. Cook until the skin is browned and the flesh begins to whiten. Flip and cook until flaky.

Remove to plate, skin side down. Top with the fruit salsa to cover the whole fish - you're going to want to get a bite of the salsa with each bite of fish!