So..lets get everyone we know, including you ;) away from the canned version of cranberry sauce/jelly.  This is an incredibly easy and simple recipe, and one you can easily make the day before, or the morning of Thanksgiving or Christmas, or whenever you are going to serve it.

I can’t even say or express to you how incredibly simple this recipe is — you’ll be amazed.

Orange Cranberry Sauce with Cinnamon and Pecans

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons orange zest
1 (12 ounce bag) fresh cranberries
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup pecans, chopped

In a medium saucepan, dissolve the sugars in the orange juice over medium heat.  Stir well until the sugars are completely dissolved.

Stir in the orange zest, cinnamon and cranberries, and still over medium heat, cook until the cranberries start to split or pop – between 10-12 minutes, usually.

Remove from the heat, and allow to cool slightly.  Remove about 1/2 of the mixture to a large bowl, and using a potato masher, mash the cranberries.  Mix together with the un-mashed portion, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.  To serve, sprinkle the pecans over top.

*Notes:

This recipe is so versatile – the bare minimum you need is the cranberries, sugar, and orange juice – so, you can, if you want:

• Leave out the orange zest, cinnamon and pecans
• Don’t have brown sugar?  Use all regular white sugar
• Don’t have a potato masher?  Don’t mash the cranberries.

Warm Apple Cider Syrup

3/4 cup, plus 2 teaspoons of apple cider
1/2 cup honey
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
1 teaspoons cornstarch.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine 3/4 cup of apple cider, honey and the apples, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat to low, place a cover on the sauce pan, and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the apples are nicely fork-tender.

In a bowl, mix the cornstarch and the 2 teaspoons of apple cider in a small bowl. Remove the apple mixture from the heat, and add in the cornstarch, stirring all the while.  Return the saucepan to the heat, and cook until the mix is slightly thickened.

Notes:

Of course, the simplest apple syrup you can make goes like this

4 cups of juice or cider

Place juice or cider in a sauce pan, and simmer until it reduces to 1/2 cup.

The end.

Simple, easy, and though not as thick as you might like, amazingly tasty.

Traditional aioli is made with raw egg and oil.  However, because I seldom  have eggs, (and then when I do, I can’t ever remember how old they are), and the thought of raw eggs makes me turn green, I substitute the raw egg/oil for prepared mayo.

Now.. what do you  use this for?  This is simply the BEST on salmon, or halibut, or tuna.  Use on grilled steak, or as a stuffing in a hamburger. It’s great on some freshly cooked hot pasta, or spread on good bread, with some roast beef, tomatoes & gouda. Or, one of my favorites – Grilled chicken, with red roasted peppers, with the basil aioli. Mmmmmmm

Once you make this recipe, you’ll see how incredibly versatile it can be.

Basil Aioli

1 Cup Mayo
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 anchovy fillets, minced
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon of tabasco or hot sauce

Mix all the ingredients together well, and refigerate for about 2 hours, letting the flavors meld.  This will keep for up to a week, if using prepared mayo.

The traditional preparation of Basil Aioli

Use the recipe above, removing the mayo and replacing it with 2 egg yolks and 1 cup of olive oil and following the directions below.

Whisk the egg, basil, garlic, anchovies, vinegar, and the worchestershire sauce together in a bowl, and then SLOWLY!! whisk in the oil, a few teaspoons at a time.  Once about 1/2 of the oil is mixed in this way, you can then whisk in the rest of the oil in a thin, but steady stream.  Whisk in the water, lemon juice and the tabasco sauce.  Use within about 24 hours.

Tomato & Gouda, with Spicy Horseradish Mustard on Toasted Rye

1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup dry mustard, ground
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons mustard seed
1 tablespoon horseradish, prepared or grated fresh
1-1/2 teaspoons honey
2 slices rye bread
1 Medium tomato, sliced
2 ounces of gouda cheese, shredded
2 large basil leaves, chiffonade

However, because of the vast amount of recipes, and their variations, I sometimes hold back and don’t bother to post a recipe — why, when there are 308,000 search results, should there be 308,001? Well, my own take on a recipe is what makes this blog work, I suppose. So, I’ll start to post a bit more.. even though you might find 308,000 other recipes of the same title, none of them will be exactly what I post here.

To that end…

Potato Salad..

From about mid-May, to the end of September, potato salad was made often by my mother — served with almost any meal — from the lowly hot-dog, to a nice pork roast, as well as fried chicken, a good steak, or just beer brats.

Every summer get-together had some version or other of potato salad, and, even within my own family — my grandmothers, my aunts, my mother — all the versions of potato salad were slightly different — one put in onion, one didn’t. One put in sour cream, one didn’t.

My own version of this recipe is akin to both my Gram, and my mothers version — it contains a lot of egg – my favorite part of this salad. I hope you enjoy it as much as I always have, and as my family always does.

One quick note here — I do not have measurements for this recipe. It’s one of those recipes you never actually use a recipe for. I just do it by eye. I will try and give some bit of guidance, however. This recipe assumes you will use between 10-12 medium sized red potatoes.

Potato Salad

Red potatoes
1 egg to each potato – (e.g. if you are using 14 potatoes, use 14 eggs).
Mayo – about 1-1.5 cups up to 2 cups if necessary
Mustard – anywhere from about 1/2 to 2/3 cup
Celery — usually 2 stalks, diced
Onion – a medium onion, diced
Kosher pickles (the more sour, the better), one large, minced
1 medium red pepper, diced
Salt and Pepper, to taste

The key to this potato salad is to have lots of boiled egg — one egg for each potato you use. Boil the eggs.

Wash the potatoes well, and then boil until soft, but not mushy. They need body to stand up to the mayo – you don’t want mushy potatoes here. If you overcook them, make mashed potatoes and try again ;).

Allow the potatoes and eggs to be completely cooled. I usually cook both the eggs, and the potatoes the day before, and then refrigerate overnight.

Dice both the eggs and potatoes. The eggs should be a small-medium dice, whereas the potatoes should be bite sized.

Prep the celery, onion, pickles and red pepper as above – diced. Have the mayo and mustard ready to go in.

Add the vegetables, eggs and potatoes to a large mixing bowl, and gently mix together. Now, add at least one cup of the mayo, and 1/2 cup of mustard. The best way to mix this is without a spoon — use your hands. Cover the mixture with the mayo & mustard, adding more to taste as necessary. I always over-add both the mayo and mustard as the potatoes will absorb a bit before serving.

Once you’ve mixed it well, add salt and pepper to taste, and chill for a few hours (or overnight) to allow the flavors to meld.

One of the women brought in a loaf of bread, a jar of mayo, and these tomatoes that were just .. freaking amazing. Over the last two weeks, she has brought this in about every 3 days or so, and I’ve been eating toast, mayo and tomato sandwiches every day.

I brought a couple of tomatoes home from work on Monday, and tonight decided I had better eat the last one, as I’ll be away. I do like mayo, but as I also brought home basil, I thought I would make something a bit different tonight.

I’m usually not one for flavored mayo, but flavoring it with basil.. well, you just can’t go wrong.

Basil Mayo

1 cup mayo
10 to 15 basil leaves — chopped
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the mayonnaise, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice,
olive oil and garlic. Spread the mayonnaise mixture on the top of 2
slices of bread. Place the sliced tomato on top of one
bread slice. Place the remaining slice of bread, mayonnaise side
down, on top of the tomato. Cut the sandwich in half and serve.

Wash and chop the basil. Mix with mayo well. Add salt and lemon juice.

Clean and slice your tomatoes. Not too thick, not to thin slices.

Spread the mayo mixture on toasted bread, add the tomato, sprinkle with pepper, and eat. Repeat. ;)

Another version of this recipe is:

Basil Mayo with Garlic

1 cup mayo
10 to 15 basil leaves — chopped
1/2 Small minced onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar, or even balsamic vinegar

Wash and chop the basil. Mix with mayo well. Add onion, garlic, olive oil, and vinegar and whisk together well.

Notes:

The Basil Mayo keeps in the refrigerator for about a week. But don’t store the Basil Mayo with Garlic any longer than 2-3 days.

There are so many apple recipes in my collection, but this particular recipe brings back fond memories of this time of year.  This recipe is my mothers, with slight adjustments.  She made this just after school had started for us one year.  We came home in a snow storm, and this cake was warm out of the oven just waiting for us.  I remember how nice and warm the house smelled of apples and cinnamon, and the feeling of content it brought to me.  I think that particular day, and the memory of that scent is why I love the smell of apples in my house still.

There were not many days like this one — my mother worked and was rarely at home when we got home from school, so the memory of this day always brings a smile to my face.

The recipe calls for raisins, but I dislike them a lot. She didn’t use them either, actually, and used dried apricots.  I’ve tried various dried fruits in this recipe, from dried apples to cranberries, but apricots seem to me to be the best.

Enjoy!

Fresh Apple Cake with Butterscotch Sauce

2 Cups Sugar
1 1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups sliced apples, peeled and cored
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup raisins, optional *see note

Mix together the sugar, egg, oil, vanilla until incorporated, add cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the flour, and mix thoroughly.  This batter is rather thick.

Pour the batter into a greased and floured cake pan – 9×13.  Bake at 340 for 45-55 minutes.

Allow to cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the cake pan.

Notes:

• The raisins are optional — I love to substitute the raisins for dried apricots in this recipe.  It just fits together very well.
• A general rule when baking — don’t use butter to ‘grease’ the baking pan.  If you do, the moisture in the butter does not allow for a good set to the base of the cake.. ie, it never forms a crust.  Use something like Crisco, or some other sort of vegetable shortening.
• You can use walnuts in this recipe instead of pecans, if you cannot get them.
• This cake is fantastic with a warm butterscotch sauce — see below.

Butterscotch Sauce

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the sugar, syrup and butter and cook, stirring constantly over a medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to a full boil.  Stop stirring and boil for exactly 1 minute more.

Remove from the heat, without stirring!!! and let stand for 5 minutes.

In a second bowl, combine the milk, baking soda and vanilla.  Stir into the the slightly cooled sauce.  Serve warm.  Allow to cool before storing in a jar.  To reheat, place the jar in a bowl of hot water until the butterscotch has warmed through.  You can also use a microwave, use a low setting and heat slowly.

Butterscotch Sauce

1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the sugar, syrup and butter and cook, stirring constantly over a medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has come to a full boil.  Stop stirring and boil for exactly 1 minute more.

Remove from the heat, without stirring!!! and let stand for 5 minutes.

In a second bowl, combine the milk, baking soda and vanilla.  Stir into the the slightly cooled sauce.  Serve warm.  Allow to cool before storing in a jar.  To reheat, place the jar in a bowl of hot water until the butterscotch has warmed through.  You can also use a microwave, use a low setting and heat slowly.

But since I don’t have any way to actually have a grill any longer, I’ve been using my oven broiler.  It’s taken a bit to get used to, because there are things you just, simply put, cannot do.  Nothing has that – just-off-the-grill flavor that I miss.  You do not get that smokey flavor of wood, and tbh, who wants a broiled hamburger, anyway>?

One thing I always loved to grill was pork chops.  Pork chops, for those not from the US, are basically, a center cut or rib cut loin chop.  They are great for hot and dry cooking and just made for the grill.  Or broiler, as it turns out. 

I never really had success using a gas oven broiler – the moisture that it held just never gave food that taste I was looking for.  Moving into this apartment in May, I’ve had to give up having a gas stove and oven and have been using an electric.  It’s taken a while to adjust to — the stove never gets as hot, and you cannot control an electric as you do gas.  Let’s just say it’s been an adventure .. and I’ve needed elbow grease on more than one occasion to clean a pan. 

But I have found that the oven part of this contraption works splendidly for baking, and for broiling.   The dry heat of an electric oven seems to produce food that is crisper, more evenly cooked, and it never has that.. underdone taste to it.

I’ve adapted a favorite pork chop recipe that I always used on a gas grill to oven broiler use.  I don’t know what your oven is like, and you’ll have to adjust the times, but generally speaking, this is a quick cook.

Half-Hour Marinated Pork Chops

1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh if possible
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil, or vegetable, but not corn (as it is sticky)
3/4 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4-6 Pork chops *see note below

Mix together all the ingredients, except the pork chops.

In a plastic bag, such as a ziplock,  put in the pork chops and cover with the marinade.  Try to get as much air out of it as possible, and then smush it around, turning it a few times to get all the pork covered and the marinade distributed as evenly as possible.  Stick it in the refrigerator for about 30 or so minutes, but no more than 4 hours.  Don’t do this over night or the pork will be inedible.

About 40 minutes before you are ready to cook the chops, take out of the refrigerator and bring up to room temp. 

 If using a broiler, turn it to highest setting.  Put the oven rack at the second place down (not the top place just under the broiler), about 6-8 inches below the heating element.  I use either the broiler pan that usually comes with the oven, or a grill pan (as shown). 

Heat the pan for about 2 minutes, and then place the pork chops in the pan.  Turn the broiler heat to low-medium and cook for about 6-7 minutes, and then turn.  Cook for about 4 more minutes, or until the pork chops are no longer pink inside, yet still juicy.  This will depend a lot on the thickness of your chop, if bone is left in, the age of the chop, and your oven. 

If using a gas grill, cook over direct high heat for about 5 minutes or so.  Turn once, at the 3 minute mark, then move the pork chops to indirect heat and cook about 7-9 more minutes.

Notes:

Pork chops come in all sorts of cuts these days:

• Bone in, thick cuts from 1 1/2 inches and up
• Bone in, thinner cut – 3/4 inch
• No bone, but still thick (1-1/2 inches and upwards)
• No bone, but 3/4 inch thick
• Thin sliced, 1/2 inch thick
• Ultra thin sliced, at about 1/3 inch

I don’t suggest using anything but bone in, and no less than 3/4 inch thick, no more than 1 inch thick.  If you go any thicker, the chops will dry out.  If you go too thin, the chops again have a tendency to become dry, though it can be done if you are careful and time it well.  I usually just go for bone in, 3/4 inch thick.  There are other ways to use the thicker chops, but this particular application, either under a broiler, or on a grill just is not it.

2 cups stale bread or 10-12 slices

1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons parsley flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan

Heat oven to 250 degrees F.

Arrange bread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, until the bread is crisp and dry. Allow to cool completely, and the break into small pieces.  Now, TV hosts always then use a food processor to make bread crumbs.  Nice.  If you have one.  I do not.  So, I just throw the very crisp, toasted and cooled off bread into a plastic bag, and then, with my pastry roller, I smush them up into tiny pieces.

Once your bread is crumbs, you can season it to your hearts content.  If you are going for the traditional flavor of Italian Bread Crumbs, add the ingredients as above, and store, tightly covered in your refrigerator for about 2 months.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F.