A New and Delightful Cranberry Relish

I had guests with us for much of November, with only a brief hiatus between. While I cooked a lot, I went for the tried and true recipes, rather than invent new ones. Still, in planning for Thanksgiving dinner I was thinking ahead. I wanted to try a type of fermented food I hadn't yet gotten to, namely a Cranberry and Honey Ferment.
 

Honey Fermented Cran-Blueberry Relish

Cardamom pods and seeds

I had seen things fermented with honey, though adding honey to most ferments will stop any fermentation from occurring. Honey is antibacterial, after all. Still, I know that Mead is made with honey, so obviously it will ferment. My understanding is that some sort of water-based food needs to be added to get the fermenting action started, but once started, it does ferment well. Getting the fermentation started takes a little while, so I started it out in October, giving my cranberry ferment a little over 6 weeks fermentation time. I read that in this type of ferment, one should stir the mixture daily until the fermentation begins. Even still, and with the use of an airlock valve, it started to develop Kahm yeast. I intensely dislike the flavor this yeast gives the foods, so I meticulously wiped off the inside jar and carefully skimmed off the white yeast from the top of the ferment. After a couple more days, fermentation took over and there was no more yeast problem.

I happened to have some fresh blueberries on hand when I started this ferment, so I opted to add some in with the cranberries. I also used fresh ginger, which became a quite prominent flavor, so if you really love ginger (which I do), then the recipe will be just fine. If you do not care for ginger, lessen the amount used in this recipe, or omit it altogether.

Honey Fermented Cran-Blueberry Relish

Other flavors I used were whole cardamom seeds, pecans and orange peel. I always add orange peel and orange juice to my cooked cranberry sauce, and I love that mixture, so I kept it in this recipe also. It took no time at all to combine these ingredients, and outside of the Kahm yeast developing, with the need for a little cleanup, it sat happily bubbling on the counter for 6 weeks. I bottled it and refrigerated it the Friday before Thanksgiving.

I absolutely love, love, love this particular ferment! It was well worth the wait. I would have given it more time to ferment (it was till bubbling actively) if I'd had more time, but it got started late, so I live with these results, which are spectacular. The outcome is plenty sweet, despite the fact that no cooking took place. The main difference is that the fermented cranberries are not thickened. Cranberries have natural pectin, so cooking them and with the berries bursting in the pan, the pectin goes to work and this thickens a cooked cranberry sauce. Not so here. This fermented sauce is a bit runnier, but just as sweet.

Honey Fermented Cran-Blueberry Sauce 

Makes about 4 cups

Honey Fermented Cran-Blueberry Relish

4 cups fresh cranberries (about 14 ounces)
4 ounces fresh blueberries 
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, in thin matchsticks
1 teaspoon whole cardamom seeds
½ teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (2.25 ounces)
1¼ cups raw, organic honey

freshly mixed and set to ferment

In a food processor, pulse the cranberries and blueberries to roughly chop. Pour into a bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into one large (1.5 - 2 liter) wire bail jar (Fido) with an airlock in place. Open the jar once a day and stir down the mixture, for about a week. Once it begins to bubble on its own, leave off stirring and allow the fermentation to run its course. This will take a minimum of 6 weeks and up to 3 months. Once fermented, pour into smaller jars and refrigerate.




While on the topic of cranberry relish, this is the recipe I use every year for Thanksgiving, and I also made it this year, for those who preferred a more traditional taste and feel. Last year I altered it slightly, using Port wine and dried cherries and it was also spectacular, but this one has been my preferred recipe for many many years now.

Cranberry Orange Relish

Cranberry Orange Relish

Makes about 4 cups

10 - 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1¾ cups white sugar
1 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest, freshly grated
½ cup slivered almonds, optional

Combine the first 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered for about 10 to 20 minutes or until the berries have popped and thickened. The mixture will thicken more as it cools. If desired, mash the berries while they cook, to release the insides, which thickens even more. If desired, add in the almonds. Remove from heat and cool before storing in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Panna Cotta, an Easy, Elegant Dessert

For any who don't know, Panna Cotta is Italian for "cooked cream."  It is an Italian dessert using milk, cream, sugar and gelatin as its basic ingredients. Other flavors can be added, though the basic ingredients are more than enough to make a lovely presentation with some fresh fruit alongside. The dessert can be poured in ramekins to unmold and serve, or poured into bowls to set and serve, or into pretty stemmed glasses to serve. It is most striking and delicious served with berries, though the options certainly do not stop there.

Strawberry Lavender Panna Cotta

Of course, being me, I had to try something out of the ordinary. Meaning, I have yet to make this dessert in its simplest form. Yet. I intend to remedy that very soon. Meanwhile, I did try an experiment that was quite delicious. I made Strawberry Lavender Panna Cotta, using crushed freeze-dried strawberries, dried lavender flowers and honey. I also decided to use coconut milk instead of regular milk or cream, always with an eye to how to help if someone has allergies or aversions to dairy. This dessert has no eggs for thickening. It is naturally gluten free in its basic form. I did use honey as the sweetener, and of course another sweetener, or regular sugar can be used. 

When I decided to use coconut milk, I had a can in my pantry that was larger than usual, and used that can. I had never used that brand before, but have never had any problems with coconut milk. This one, and I did not find out until I actually tried the finished dessert, had a very strange texture. It was not smooth, like most any coconut milk brand. Hence, my panna cotta had a strange texture. There was nothing at all wrong with the flavors, however. I would most certainly make it again. With a different coconut milk.

Dried Lavender Flowers

Also, a basic panna cotta is really, truly just those 4 ingredients; milk, cream, sugar and gelatin. I decided to add in some whipped cream at the end. 

If you have never used lavender in cooking applications, it is unusual. The first time I made cookies with lavender flowers, I felt it was just too much. I have been more circumspect in the amounts used now, though I have found that if the flowers are steeped in milk first, it seems to mellow the flavor. In my recipe, I steeped the lavender flowers and the freeze-dried strawberries in the heated coconut milk and honey.

Strawberry Lavender Panna Cotta

Serves 4

1½ teaspoons unflavored gelatin (about 1/2 packet)
2 tablespoons cold water
1 cup coconut milk (or regular milk)
¼ cup honey
2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers
1 tablespoon finely crushed freeze-dried strawberries
¾ cup additional coconut milk (or regular milk)
½ cup whipping cream

In a small cup or bowl, combine the gelatin with the 2 tablespoons water. Allow to set for at least 5 minutes.

In a small saucepan, combine the 1 cup coconut milk, honey, lavender flowers and crushed dry strawberries. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, remove from heat and allow the mixture to steep for 10 minutes. Add in the soaked gelatin and stir to completely dissolve the gelatin into the warm mixture. Strain out the lavender and larger strawberry bits and discard. To the liquid add the remaining 3/4 cup of coconut milk. Allow the mixture to cool on the counter until room temperature. Whip the cream and fold gently into the panna cotta. Have ready 4 pretty glasses, bowls or 4 - 5-ounce ramekins. If using ramekins, grease them for easier unmolding later. Pour the panna cotta evenly into the 4 containers. Set these into the refrigerator for at least 5 to 6 hours, until completely set.

To unmold, dip the bottom half of the ramekins into hot water for a minute, to soften. If necessary, run a knife around the edge to loosen. Turn over onto a plate and unmold gently. Serve alone or with fresh fruits.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

The Yeast Waffle Saga, Continued

Waffle from Day 1, left;  the other after 48 hours, right

The story continues. I made a yeast waffle batter last Friday, in the hopes it would be easy to have wonderfully yeasty waffles right then and there. Not.

I made a good amount of batter (recipe in my last blog post), so I put it into the fridge, covered loosely with plastic wrap. It grew to fill the bowl, smelled more like yeast after 24 hours and I had hopes that now I would have that wonderfully yeasty waffles. Not. 

Definitely better than the day before. (Again, see my last post). The texture had changed a bit and they were better. Just not what I had hoped. I put the remaining batter back in the fridge. 

Sunday morning I brought it back out and made another couple of waffles. The batter smelled good, but there was still no yeast aroma while baking, and none perceptible when eating. I shared with my husband, including a piece of one of the waffles I had in a baggie from Day 1. In the photo at top you can see the immense difference in the texture of the waffles. The one made that first day was heavy and dense with no real great flavor. After 48 hours, the batter was so much better, I had hopes for that batter after all.

Beautiful texture and flavor after 72 hours

Today, after 72 hours, I made the last of the batter. It smelled yeasty when it was being cooked, for the first time. Again I shared with my husband, so he could see the differences. We agreed that today, finally, there was a yeasty flavor in the finished waffle. The texture had become light, crisp and airy and just about everything I had hoped for. The texture is visible in the photo at left.

I still would like something to be quicker to have ready. I do not mind making a batter the night before, to be ready to bake in the morning. This recipe, after 3 days in the fridge, gave me the flavor, aroma and texture I wanted. I would conclude that this recipe would be perfect if one knew that guests would be coming and wanted something really wonderful that could be prepped 3 days in advance and crossed off the to-do list. For something a bit more immediate, I am already planning another idea.

And then, while I stressed repeatedly to my wonderful husband that I DID NOT WANT another waffle iron, he got me another waffle iron. I was telling him about Liege Waffles. They are made with a very rich yeast dough (as opposed to a batter), formed into balls and set onto a "Belgian Waffle Maker" with a latch. The real Liege Waffles are also studded with Pearl Sugar. This sugar is particularly large and will caramelize inside the waffle while it cooks, so you end up with these little crunchy pockets of caramelized sugar. I talked to him about the fact that I would like to try something like that dough, even without the Pearl Sugar, but I wasn't sure my regular waffle iron would stay closed enough to make that kind of waffle. But then, I said to him, I really do not make waffles that often. The only reason I made them 4 days in a row was that I was conducting an experiment. And, I have never been overly fond of those huge, deep wells in the Belgian waffles. So he got me a Belgian Waffle Maker with a latch. Oh well.

So, tonight I created a very rich yeast dough. It is softer and more buttery than a bread dough. It is resting in the fridge, and I will experiment with that style of waffle tomorrow, in my new deep-welled Belgian Waffle Maker. I would also like to experiment with a brioche type dough and see how that fares as a waffle. For now, I will be dreaming - again - of yeast waffles in the morning, aaaahhhhh.....


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Yeast Waffle Experiences

Long ago I found a recipe for Marion Cunningham's Yeast Waffles in the local newspaper. I tried the recipe and it was fantabulous! The smell of the waffle baking with its yeasty aroma so like bread baking; the flavor with the yeast right out there and apparent, the tender crispness of the waffle - all these made for one heady breakfast experience. I have been making them almost exclusively ever since.

I have tried other kinds of waffle recipes. Though I am not particularly fond of chocolate at most times and really not for breakfast, I did try a recipe that uses cocoa and Porter beer with its chocolatey undertones. That recipe is wonderful, and I usually serve those chocolate waffles with strawberries cut up into sour cream with a little sugar. Wonderful. I also spent time exploring ways to add fiber into the diet and made lots of waffles with added oat bran or wheat bran or corn meal. Nothing beats the yeast waffles recipe for flavor.

My Refrigerator Yeast Waffles with Pecans and Blueberries

Waffle irons come is many sizes and shapes. These days many also have perfected the timing so one no longer has to make a guess when it might be done. I got a waffle iron from Williams Sonoma about 10 years ago. It has a slide bar to set, from 1 to 7, how done you want the waffle to be. It has a little red light to tell you it is heating or cooking, and a green light when the waffle is done, along with a little high-pitched whistling sound. It works great, and I have absolutely no complaints. It is a round waffle maker. If the batter goes all the way to the rim (which usually means it will overflow a little), it makes about an 8-inch diameter waffle. If the batter stays inside the rim, it makes about a 7-inch waffle. I have never had a Belgian waffle maker. I have never cared for the exceptionally deep wells it creates. I don't know why. It's just my thing. 

M.C.'s recipe calls for mixing the yeast, milk, butter, salt sugar and flour and mixing well, then lightly covering and leaving the bowl on the counter overnight. In the morning, or when ready to make the waffles, the batter will have risen noticeably. The smell is heavy with the slight fermenting of the yeast. At this point eggs and a little baking soda are added and whisked in and the batter is ready to bake. Obviously, I cannot just publish Marion Cunningham's Yeast Waffle recipe as mine (which I just read she got from Fanny Farmer's Cookbook), so I decided to try making a recipe for a yeast batter and see how it would go. 

Batter after 24 hours in fridge

I wanted to make a batter that was ready to use right away. I mixed basically the same ingredients, but in different proportions, adding in baking soda. I am not a chemist, and am not sure exactly what the soda does in a yeast mixture (as opposed to it working with soured milk or buttermilk in a quick bread, cake or pancake). I feel it must help with the bubbling and puffing, particularly if the batter is left out to ferment. Well, my batter had not been fermented, but I added it anyway. I made the waffles yesterday. I was unimpressed. There was absolutely no yeast smell from the batter nor any aroma while baking. The waffles were fine. While there was nothing inherently "wrong" with them, they were just - plain - waffles.  I also made a couple of pancakes with the batter, and those worked fine, too, but were similarly uninteresting.

Consistency of the batter

I decided to put the rest of the batter in the fridge. I covered it lightly with plastic wrap. The batter grew to completely fill the bowl by this morning. I stirred it down and tried again. This morning the batter noticeably smelled like yeast, though without that wonderfully pungent fermented quality. I had hopes. I made waffles. I sprinkled ¼-cup chopped pecans onto the batter in the iron. The waffles tasted better, but still no real yeasty aroma while baking, nor anything to indicate they are yeast waffles while eating them. I am going to give them another day in the fridge and try again tomorrow. I like things that are ready right away and not something I have to wait for days to develop flavor. I think I am going to go back to making a new recipe that will ferment overnight and see what I can come up with. Meanwhile, this is my recipe, to date:

Refrigerator Yeast Waffles

¼ cup warm water
1 package yeast
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or use all-purpose for the total amount)
2 cups all-purpose flour

Refrigerator Yeast Waffle with pecans

2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
2¾ cup milk or half & half
3 eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Stir the yeast into the warm water and let it froth. In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt and soda. Whisk together the milk and eggs; add in the melted butter. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the yeast and beat to combine. Store in a plastic or glass bowl in the refrigerator overnight and up to 4 days: make sure the batter has a LOT of room to grow, or you will find a mess next day. Cover lightly. If you top with a lid that seals tightly, it could explode as the batter expands.

This will make approximately 10 (7-inch) round waffles or about 20 pancakes. As each waffle iron is different size and shape, you will have to experiment to see how much batter to use per waffle. Bake according to waffle iron instructions. I had mine set on the higher side of medium.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

New Year Parties - Need a Little Organization?

Everyone is scrambling to plan parties for New Years. Everyone ends up with too much last minute work to do. With just a little planning, this should be mostly avoidable. It is far better to have almost all the foods finished or with very little prep work left to do. The party table(s) should be all set up days before. Lists should be made of the things left to do.

My Sister sets the most Elegant Table

Notice I say "should". We all do not manage to do these things, though they are very helpful in making the hosting of a party stress-free (or at the least, less stressful). These things I have mentioned are all ones I have learned over a lot of years and through a lot of stress, before the lessons were learned. I offer these tips to help you out.

Plan Your Recipes
Plan recipes so most of them can be made ahead. Selecting 6 different recipes that all have to be made last minute is simply poor planning, and will have you exhausted. Go through your party recipes and choose options that allow most to be made in advance, with just a little last minute prep. If all you have to do last minute is transfer an item to a party platter, that is the best way to go. Six things that all need to go into the oven at the same time, and at differing temperatures, is disastrous to a host or hostesses' peace of mind.

If you are doing a buffet style appetizer spread, do take a look at my Appetizers Index, as a greater majority of the appetizers I have created have been with these exact strictures in mind!

Make Lists
Be detailed. Plan out the sequence with the aid of the cookbooks or recipes being used. How far ahead can each part of a recipe be done? If there is a filling, can it be done 3 or more days in advance?  If there is a bread to make, can it be made days or even weeks before and frozen? Write out a list for three days in advance, two days, the day prior, and Party Day. List the items that can be done on each of these days. Cleaning can be done well ahead; don't leave that for last minute. Sauces, dips, spreads, can usually be made in advance. Plan out the days and make a line next to each item so a check mark can be placed there as the item is done.

Assemble Party Paraphernalia

Assemble Party Paraphernalia

Get out your fancy platters, bowls, glassware. Assemble all the decorations. If a party is a buffet style, set the table(s) up two or three days ahead. Set out decorations. Place all the plates, platters, stemware, flatware or anything else needed, all together so they are available. If you are having a sit down dinner, set the table completely. If you are concerned with dust, get one of the thinnest painter's plastic drop cloths and gently cover the table. If there is delicate stemware, lay them on their sides until the day of the party. Then remove the drop cloth and set the glasses upright.

Be Creative in the Display

A Creative Display for an Appetizer Party

Even if there is not a lot of room, be creative. In the photo here, various boxes were used to create different heights. One large tablecloth was draped over all the boxes, and allowed to drape down over the table. Pull and arrange the cloth so it will be flat on the flat surfaces, allowing plates and platters to set horizontally. Arrange another one or even two or more cloths of different colors to artfully accent the table, continuing to push the cloth into edges and corners, keeping the horizontal surfaces crease free. All this allows the view of all the foods to be presented to their best advantage, and makes reaching over a plate much easier for guests. A wonderful suggestion for colorful smaller cloths would be scarves, or even bathing suit sarongs, on this off-season.

I wish all of you a stress free, worry free relaxing New Year's party!

My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook and Pinterest.