Orange-Ginger Cranberries

 I used to think I didn't like cranberries. Thanksgiving would come, and my mom would make a batch of homemade sauce, but I wouldn't touch it. At some point, I realized, hey, they're not so bad! And now I make my own cranberry sauce to accompany some of my favorite poultry or pork dishes.

Just grab a bag of fresh (or frozen) cranberries. Check them over for stems or any wrinkly-looking guys. Then dump them into a pot.

Add some brown sugar. Cranberries are pretty tart, and I like mine on the sweet side.

I used white and brown sugar. Just because I didn't want the brown sugar flavor to overpower the sauce.

For festivities, a dash of maple sugar rounds out the sugary sweetness.

Orange juice will help enhance the cranberries, and add more flavor. If you're not a big fan of orange, apple juice or cider, or cranapple juice, would be a nice substitution here.

And because it's what my mommy would add, I bought myself some candied ginger.

I gave it a good mince.

If you love ginger, you could double the amount. This gave the cranberries a nice, subtle gingery bite.

Stir everything together and turn the burner on medium.

Once the berries start to pop, cook them for another 15-20 minutes, to allow their jamminess to come out.

At this point, you could strain your sauce (if you like it in jelly form--just use a cheesecloth and squeeze all the jelly out) or you could leave it as-is, for a whole-berry cranberry sauce.








Pour the sauce into your favorite serving bowl, and serve right away (if you like your sauce warm) or allow to cool. It will thicken as it cools.

Take this spin-off of the back-of-the-bag recipe and serve it to your family for Thanksgiving. Who knows--maybe one of them will realize that cranberries aren't so bad, too.

 Recipe: Orange-Ginger Cranberries

1 12-oz. bag fresh cranberries
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1/3 c. orange juice
1 tbsp. very finely minced candied ginger


Combine all ingredients in a nonreactive pot. Heat over medium until cranberries start to pop. Continue cooking for 15-20 minutes. Let cool before serving. Strain in cheesecloth, if desired.

Pork Chops With Cranberry Wine Sauce

As one of my friends likes to say while drinking wine, "Woo-hoo!" So, now that I've got the ol' box of wine in the fridge, it makes it so easy to make wine-based sauces. And today's sauce is not only wine-filled, but also festive. Because I'm betting fresh cranberries have been hitting your local grocery stores like crazy. I like to stock up on fresh cranberries this time of year--especially around Thanksgiving, when they go on sale. I buy several bags, and just toss them right into the freezer. They freeze amazingly, and by doing this I've got cranberries to use whenever I want them, all year round.

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The pork chops are the simple part. Just salt and pepper both sides.

Drizzle some olive oil into a pan and turn the heat on a little higher than medium. You want to sear your pork, but since it's bone-in, it'll have to cook a little longer. If you turn the heat on high, you might get some burning.

When the oil is hot, carefully place the pork chops in the pan. Pick your spots now, because it will be hard to move the chops once they've touched the hot pan.

Because you can't really fiddle with them once they're in the pan, there are only three chops in this picture. Once I flipped them over, I was able to position them to fit the fourth. It's like a puzzle...but made of pork.

Let the pork chops cook on one side for 3 minutes. By that time, they should have a nice sear and not stick to the pan anymore. Flip them over and cook for another three minutes.

After your second three minutes is up, move the pan to a preheated 400F oven and let the oven finish cooking the chops all the way through. 7-8 minutes should do it.

While the chops are cooking, you can assemble your sauce ingredients. First, measure out a cup of cranberries.

Be sure to look for any wrinkly ones. There were a few stems in mine, too, which I've never seen before. So check for stems.

Then chop up some onion. I used half a small onion. Shallot would be really nice here, it's a bit milder.

Now get a liquid measuring cup and pour in half a cup (or so) of red wine.

Top it off with half a cup of chicken broth.

Add in a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. Careful when you drop it in, it splashes!

Measure a tablespoon of tomato paste, too. It will make your sauce nice and rich.

And finally, grab some fresh thyme. Pull the leaves off and add them to the cup. If you don't have fresh, just use half the amount of dried.

When your chops have finished their cook time in the oven, pull them out (be careful, the pan's handle will be hot! I grab an oven mitt and stick it on the handle to pull the pan from the oven. That way, nobody accidentally gets burned. Also, avoid mitts with polyester on the inside, it will melt onto your handle. Stick with plain cotton if you've got it.) Set the chops aside on a  clean plate and leave them somewhere to stay warm.

Now that the chops are out of the pan, put the butter and onions in. Let the onions soak up the meaty browned bits on the bottom.

When the onions are softened, pour in the cranberries. Let them saute until they begin popping, about 5 minutes.

Once the cranberries have started to pop, use a spoon to crush most of the cranberries.

Pour in the wine mixture.

Let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes.

It should get sort of jammy. If you get distracted and let it cook down too long, just add a bit more liquid--chicken broth, wine, or even water.













Serve the sauce with the pork chops. It's also great with chicken or turkey!

Recipe: Pork Chops With Cranberry Wine Sauce

1 1/2 lbs. bone-in pork chops
salt and pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. butter
half a small onion
1 c. cranberries
1/2 c. red wine
1/2 c. chicken broth
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme


Salt and pepper pork chops on both sides. Heat oil in an oven-safe pan until it glistens in the pan; carefully set the pork chops in the pan. Sear both sides for 3 minutes per side. Move pan to a 400F oven for 7-8 minutes.

While pork chops cook, combine wine, chicken broth, brown sugar, tomato paste, and thyme. Set aside.

Carefully remove pan from the oven; move to stove. Remove pork chops and place somewhere to keep warm.

Using the same pan, saute onions in butter over medium heat until softened. Add cranberries.

When cranberries begin to pop. deglaze pan with wine mixture. Use a spoon to gently crush cranberries. Simmer sauce for 10-15 minutes. Serve sauce with chops.

Fennel and White Wine Meatballs

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It seems like The Kid asks for spaghetti and meatballs for dinner every day. I would love to oblige, but I ate a lot of jarred sauce in my early 20's. At this stage in my life, I like to have adult meals every once in a while. So I made these Fennel and White Wine meatballs the last time The Kid asked for "sketti." And guess what--she loved them as much as I did.

To make the meatballs, I used ground pork and some Italian sausage.

Pork and fennel go really well together.

I put a bunch of garlic cloves and some onion in my food processor and chopped them up finely.

Then they were added to the meat mixture.

Some hot pepper flakes will wake your taste buds up (but don't worry, these meatballs aren't super spicy, I promise!)

And of course, some fennel is added, because these are fennel meatballs. For optimum flavor, toast the seeds in a hot, dry pan before adding them.

And, as always, don't forget to add salt and pepper.

An egg will bind your meatballs together.

As will some breadcrumbs.

Regular breadcrumbs would have been more traditional--unfortunately, I was all out and Panko crumbs were all I had. Worked out okay though.

Drizzle in about half a small bottle of white wine. You know those little bottles that they sell in 4-packs? Yeah, those. You'll need two of those for this recipe in total. Or just buy a big bottle of wine and measure it manually.

Finally, some olive oil will add some moisture and richness to your meatballs.

Remove any jewelry you don't want to gunk up with meat, and start mixing!

Wash your hands well and pour some olive oil into a large pot.

Form your meat mixture into meatballs.

Then (very, very carefully!) drop them into the hot oil.

Now, here's the thing about these meatballs. They're very, very delicate. If you're the person who likes to touch their food constantly, open the oven to check on baked goods every couple of minutes, etc., I would put someone else in charge of these meatballs. You need to let them form a nice crust before flipping them, or they'll fall apart.

And flip them carefully. I used my little spatula to slowly lift them, making sure that there was no sticking (if they're sticking, just let them cook a bit longer.) Then slowly roll them over.

You'll also want to make sure that you have plenty of room to flip the meatballs, since there will be no lifting and moving them to other parts of the pot until they're completely crusty on the outsides.

When all your meatballs are golden brown on the outside, carefully remove them and put them in a bowl or plate and set them aside for later.

Oh, and if some of your meatballs break, don't sweat it--they'll melt into the tomato sauce and will ust make it more hearty and delicious.

So anyway, once your meatballs have vacated the pan, add more olive oil if necessary. You'll need it to saute some onions and garlic.

Once the onions and garlic have soaked up the meat bits and are softened, pour in the remaining wine. The rest of the bottle from before, and another whole bottle (and remember, we're talking mini bottles here!)

I decided to use a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes in the sauce.

Pour the tomatoes in. Sauce first.

Then diced.

To tie the meatball flavors to the sauce, both have white wine and fennel seeds.

Stir the sauce together and then add the meatballs back in to the pot.

Cover and let the sauce poach the meatballs for at least half an hour.












That should give you the perfect amount of time to make some spaghetti to serve under your sauce and meatballs! Long noodles are great for this--the sauce is on the thinner side, but the noodles absorb it so well that you get the taste of tomato in every bite.

Recipe: Fennel and White Wine Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork
1/2 lb. ground sausage
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 large onion, peeled
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp. fennel seeds
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 egg
2/3 c. bread crumbs
1/2 c. white wine (about 1/2 a small bottle)
1 tbsp. olive oil
olive oil, for frying


Recipe: Fennel and White Wine Tomato Sauce:
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 1/2 bottles white wine (about a cup and a half)
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tsp. fennel seeds