Cranberry Orange Relish

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this week I'm sharing a series of vintage recipes that are sure to turn heads at your holiday table. Bon appetit!

Do you have unusual food traditions at your holiday feast? Like creamed pearl onions, or tomato aspic, or jello salad? There's always one relative who insists it just isn't [insert holiday here] without the [insert weird recipe here]. And so the tradition continues even though no one really likes it or even knows where it came from.

Tomorrow, both of our families will come together for a combined Thanksgiving meal. Instead of driving across the state for two different family dinners, we've implemented a new custom that blends two families and two sets of traditions. We don't serve anything too off-the-wall, but we do have some special requests that may or may not be accommodated, depending on interest, ability, and demand. For example, my dad likes oyster dressing, but I'm pretty sure he's the only one, so that dish likely won't make the cut this time. A handful of us enjoy green bean casserole, so with a critical mass of green bean lovers, that one's a go. And though I don't think there's anyone who particularly loves cranberries, they're so easy to make that there's no good reason not to include them on the table. So there.

If you don't have a cranberry relish recipe for your table tomorrow, feel free to borrow this one from Fascinating Cranberries and How to Serve Them. Printed by the American Cranberry Exchange in 1936, "this little book is given to you that you may have tried and tested cranberry recipes for handy reference."

Cranberry Orange Relish
(No Cooking)
The aristocrat of relishes. Particularly good with all meats, hot or cold. 

1 pound (4 cups) cranberries
1 to 1 1/2 oranges
2 cups sugar

Method: Put cranberries through meat grinder. Pare orange with sharp knife; remove seeds; trim off white membrane (leaving the pulp exposed on the surface). 

Remember when we made sweet potatoes in orange shells? I saved the leftover pulp for just this occasion. Waste not, want not.

Put rind and pulp through grinder, mix with sugar and berries.

 
I should mention a few adaptations here. First, I used a food processor, not a meat grinder for this recipe. Because it's 2015 now.

Second, I halved the sugar called for in this recipe. Keep in mind, this recipe came from the 1930s--a time before WWII food rations. A time when sugar rained from heaven above. Or something. But just because one has two cups of sugar, does not mean one needs two cups of sugar. Except we actually didn't have two cups of sugar; we ran out after pouring in one cup. So we didn't really have a choice this time, but we totally would have chosen to cut the sugar even if we'd had 10 cups available.

Let stand before serving. For future use pour in glasses, cover with paraffin.

I poured the relish in a couple of mason jars and stored them in the fridge, ready for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. So easy, so pretty! I imagine we'll have a lot leftover, but l don't care. It isn't really Thanksgiving without the cranberry sauce.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes in Orange Shells

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this week I'm sharing a series of vintage recipes that are sure to turn heads at your holiday table. Bon appetit!

Before there was Pinterest, there were vintage cookbooks. Remember that article I shared earlier this month from the NY Times Magazine? Presentation is everything.

So today we're going to take a simple, traditional recipe and jazz it up just in time for Thanksgiving!

Whipped Sweet Potatoes in Orange Shells
(serves 8)
8 Sunkist oranges
4 cups boiled or baked sweet potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons melted butter
8 marshmallows

1) Cut off tops of oranges and remove pulp and juice with a sharp knife and spoon.

Don't let the length of this sentence fool you. This step is the most time-consuming part of the whole recipe, but it's worth it! I used a small, sharp knife and an ice cream scoop to hollow out each orange shell. This part took about 40 minutes, but I also stopped a few times to take photos and check Instagram, so who knows how long it actually takes.

At this point, you may be wondering why we're spending so much time on preparing oranges when this is supposed to be a sweet potato recipe. Well, this recipe comes from the California Fruit Growers Exchange in 1940, so yeah, oranges are going to take a starring role on this one.

2) Whip sweet potatoes with salt, butter, and orange juice to moisten to desired consistency. Use juice secured in preparing shells.

Because I used the bulk of my time hollowing out orange shells, I decided to get a few minutes back by going with canned yams for this step.

Best decision ever! In no time, my sweet potatoes were soft and mashable. I stirred in the melted butter, orange juice, and salt, and added a few pinches of brown sugar for good measure.

(P.S.--All of that leftover orange pulp didn't go to waste. Come back tomorrow to see how you can put the remaining orange pieces to use!)

3) Fill orange shells and top each with a marshmallow. Brown in moderate oven until heated through.

Because I was taking this dish to share at Friends-giving, I decided to hold off on the last step until I arrived at the party. Speaking of, take a look at this tablescape! Sunkist isn't the only one who knows the art of presentation. My friend Amanda knows how to set a table!

Before we ate, I scooped the sweet potatoes into the orange shells and placed a marshmallow on each. After a few minutes in the oven, the marshmallows melted on top of the warm, fluffy sweet potatoes and were ready to be served. 

I must say an orange shell is a clever way to serve just about anything. It's a tidy single-serving container to keep the sweet potatoes from encroaching on a crowded plate of goodies. And they're just so darn cute!

Blushing Pink Chip Dip & "Teeners" Special Dunk

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, this week I'm sharing a series of vintage recipes that are sure to turn heads at your holiday table. Bon appetit!

When I was a kid, cottage cheese was a staple in our household. For as long as I can remember, my mom would add a spoonful of cottage cheese to pretty much anything she ate--mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, chicken--and so I did, too. When I later moved away from home and ate dinner with other people, I quickly realized that my level of cottage cheese consumption was not entirely normal, and so it significantly decreased. Some day, I thought, I'll help others find a love of cottage cheese, too.

So imagine my delight upon discovering this cookbook in one of my favorite booths at the local antique mall:

"This cookbook is filled with delicious surprises for you," reads the first paragraph. "Though you are familiar with cottage cheese, you will discover many more exciting ways to use this dairy food." 

Finally, an entire cookbook featuring the delicious dairy delicacy! Jackpot! This book was written for me and the people I love.

Last week I was invited to a Friends-giving dinner party, so I decided to test out a couple of the cottage cheese-based appetizers. First up, a pretty little chip dip!

Blushing Pink Chip Dip
Yield: approx. 1 cup

1 cup small curd cottage cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chili sauce
1 tablespoon chopped parsley

In a mixer or blender combine all ingredients and beat until smooth. Chill.

An interesting combination of ingredients, but simple enough! First I chopped a little bit of fresh parsley--one tablespoon, to be exact.

Then I poured all of the ingredients into my food processor. So easy. At this point, I'm feeling like I'm on Top Chef, and I'm convinced that I will make this recipe every day, no matter how it tastes. Because it's easy and I can.

Once it was all mixed together and smooth, I poured it into a bowl with a handful of chips. My sneaky little sidekick looked on. Nice try, Sheila.

The dip wasn't really blushing per se, but it looked legit so I went for it. It was a sturdy little dip, with a hint of tangy sweetness from the chili sauce. Overall, not bad!

At Friends-giving, I asked my unsuspecting friends to taste the dip and guess its ingredients. Here are a few of their observations:

"It tastes hummus-y. Is it hummus?"
"I like it."
"Sour cream?"
"It's kind of like pimiento cheese."
"It's good, though."

Overall, I'd give it a B+. Everyone ate it, no one hated it. When I named the full list of ingredients, everyone nodded like, "Oh yeah, I could see that." Some even went back for more! It was a proud moment for cottage cheese.

Now, in hindsight, I should have stopped there while I was ahead. But like Icarus, I pushed on toward the sun, insisting on making one more cottage cheese concoction. This one was mysteriously named:

"Teeners" Special Dunk
Yields: approx. 2 cups

1 1/2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1/3 cup peanut butter, creamy style
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup catsup
3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish

First just let me say, it's got a pretty weird name with no context. Red flag #1. Second, it's got a strange line-up of ingredients. I know of no other recipes that would combine these ingredients in the wild. Red flag #2.

1) In a mixer or blender beat cottage cheese and peanut butter until smooth.

2) Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill. Good with celery sticks.
With each new ingredient, it looked and smelled worse. I think the relish chunks were the last straw for me. Red flag #3.

Once it was sufficiently blended, I poured it into a little dish and fanned out some celery sticks as instructed. Something just didn't feel right about this recipe, but still I persisted to the end. And, sure enough, it was awful. It tasted just like a nutty thousand island dressing, which is not a great flavor combo at all.

Against all better judgement, I asked my friends to participate in another taste test. Could they identify the ingredients in this recipe? Here's what they had to say:

"I taste peanut butter."
"Yes this is very peanut buttery."
"I don't think it's terrible. I wouldn't want to eat it all the time."
"It's a weird one."
"I can't quite pinpoint it."
"All I can taste is the peanut butter."
"I actually like cottage cheese a lot, but...."

What have I done!? These are supposed to be my friends and I've willingly fed them garbage! Curse you, Teeners and your stupid dunk! What a bust. If I had to give this recipe a grade, it would have barely scraped by with a D- because I'm a generous grader with a kind heart. (Just kidding, I'm actually a pretty ruthless grader. I just didn't want to see this dish in summer school.) If I had to identify its downfall, I'd probably point the finger at the peanut butter. Its inclusion with the ketchup and relish was just too confusing for the modern palate.

I am relieved to report that I didn't lose any friends that night, though I did take home two more cups of Teeners Special Dunk than I would have liked. Don't worry, family members, I learned my lesson. These won't be in tow at Thursday's meal.

Well, maybe just a little Blushing Pink Chip Dip, because, you know, I still <3 cottage cheese.