Spiced Cranberry Sauce and Sweet Potato Hash with Pulled Pork

Friday afternoon ended with a lovely massage.  After a very hectic week at the office, there's not much better way to spend some time on a Friday!  Then, I had to go shopping.  Now, unlike a lot of my friends I do NOT have the shopping gene.  Unless, of course, it means shopping for cookbooks or my gardens...  The pocket in my purse where I stash my car keys, keys to my other two offices, modem, good pen, and assorted other "sharp" objects had sprung a leak.  EVERYTHING had worked its way through the hole and was now under the lining of my purse.  I'd discovered it Thursday evening when I'd worked way late and just wanted to get home.  Connie and I'd driven separately so I was at the office by myself.  I'd locked my office door behind myself and headed for the front door of the office.  No keys.  ARGH!  I rummaged and rooted to no avail.  Finally in desperation I headed to my admin's desk and emptied my purse.  I could feel them but not get them.  Fine then.  Scissors it was.  A few snips and the whole lining of my purse was split.  And, my keys were in hand.  Now, I had to deal with replacing the purse.  Ugh!  That meant shopping.  So, Friday I was off to Macy's to find a purse.  Two separate pockets, both of which zip.  Black.  Strap I can carry over my shoulder.  Not much to ask, eh?  Well, there was ONE purse that met my requirements.  Ok, fine then, it'd do. 

On my way home I detoured to Goodwill.  My friends Pete and Roby came up with a brilliant idea a few years ago.  When they take her famous rum cake to a party, they use a plate they've bought at Goodwill.  No messing with paper plates that bend, fold and crinkle.  No Styrofoam that's so incredibly bad for the environment.  Just a one of a kind plate.  We're heading to three parties and I'm taking Lizzy Do's famous mounds bars.  Here's my link to them:  Kate's.  And, here's her link:  Liz.  I wanted three plates.  Lucky me.  I found three plain, white plates that'd be perfect.  And, on the way past the cookbooks, I finally bought a classic I've never owned, Marcella's Italian Kitchen.  For all of $2.49 :-)  Shopping trip over, time to head home and fix dinner.

It was one of those I can't find a recipe nights.  So, we improvised.  Our friends Tom and Barb had given us a few homegrown sweet potatoes.  I'd not yet found the perfect recipe for them.  We had leftover pulled pork.  The two might just combine with an apple (also from Tom and Barb) and some shallot to make a wonderful sweet potato hash.  Topped with a fried egg.  Connie had mentioned that cranberry sauce sometime soon would be good.  I'd read a recipe for spiced cranberry sauce.  But, it must be in the mountain of recipes in the office ready to be scanned in.  Fine then.  I'd make both up.

The cranberry sauce was first.  Whiskey and orange juice would be good with warm spices.  Brown sugar was a must.  And, maybe a hint of chipotle pepper...  It worked!  Then, on to the hash.  Peel, dice and cook the sweet potatoes.  Saute the apples and some shallot in butter.  Drain and add the sweet potatoes.  Something was missing.  How about some Italian seasoning  It's actually a mix called Renaissance rub. 

What did we think?  Both were a four on a scale of one to five.  As Connie said, fives are reserved for something we could pretty much eat every day.  Like slices of happiness.  We did add a bit of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce to the hash.  It was still a four.  Very good but I wouldn't want it every day...

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

2 lbs fresh cranberries
1/2 c brown sugar
1 heaping tablespoon orange juice concentrate
2 T whiskey
1/4 t chipotle chili powder
1 t ground allspice
1/4 t cardamom

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan.  Cook, stirring frequently, until the cranberries have mostly popped and the mixture has thickened.

Sweet Potato and Pulled Pork Hash

Ingredients:

4 small or 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 lb pulled pork
1 large apple, diced
1 shallot, minced
2 T butter
1 T Italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
4 fried eggs

Directions:

Cook the sweet potatoes in boiling, salted water until just tender.  It'll take 5-8 minutes. 

While those are cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the shallot and apple.  Saute just until softened. 

In yet another pan, small skillet this time, fry four eggs.  Drain the sweet potatoes and add those to the apple and shallot along with the pulled pork and Italian seasoning.  Stir gently to mix .  Serve a mound of hash topped with a fried egg. 

Clean Out the Freezer for Two

We're trying to clean out the freezer so there's room for all the party food the first week of January. Gads, it's only a month away! Tonight I decided it was time to finish one of the last of the pork tenderloins. They'd been marinated in soy sauce, bourbon and brown sugar then grilled. I made the spicy cranberry sauce and warmed the tenderloins up in that. Then, made some couscous and tossed in a handful of dried cranberries as it was cooking. Alongside, I served broccoli with sesame seeds. That was fabulous. Absolutely a five! We gave the cranberry sauce and couscous a four. It was really good too, but could've used a bit more ginger flavor. Next time I'll try adding a bit of ground ginger.

Spicy Cranberry Sauce

One can jellied cranberry sauce
1 T country Dijon mustard
2 t soy sauce
1 T brown sugar
2 T finely minced crystallized ginger

Melt the cranberry sauce in a saucepan and add the other ingredients.



Roasted Broccoli with Sesame Seeds
Preheat oven to 450. Separate broccoli into florets. Put them in a baking dish that’s large enough to accommodate them without being crowded. Drizzle broccoli with olive oil. Roast until browned – about 20 minutes. Toss with a drizzle of soy sauce, a small splash of lemon juice and a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds.

About a week ago I made some risotto. Trying to clean out the massive quantities of homemade chicken stock in the freezer... Since John Marvel doesn't get mushrooms at home and he was going to get to share the risotto, that was the flavoring. Now, risotto is one of those things I didn't even have until a few years ago. I loved it at first bite. It sounds pretty intimidating to make but is really quite easy. And, you can pretty much put in anything as long as you've got the wine, stock and onion.

Mushroom Risotto

Heat 5 cups of good quality chicken stock. Saute 8 oz of mixed mushrooms (button, cremini, shitake...) in 3T of unsalted butter. Set them aside. Saute one small onion, diced, in 2 T butter and 1T olive oil. Add 1 1/2 c Arborio rice and stir until slightly golden. Add 1/2 c dry white wine. Once it's absorbed, add the stock 1/2 c at a time, stirring frequently. Once the rice is creamy and the stock has been absorbed, add 1/2 c grated romano cheese, about 2t of white truffle oil (optional,) salt and pepper and the reserved mushrooms. Serve with more grated romano.