Flippant Culinary Style - Cranberry Sauces from Xmas 2008

This year was similar to many years past in that I was requested to bring vegetable dishes to the Christmas Eve Hooper dinner. One of the Hoopers put in a special request for my cranberry chutney. However, this simple request revealed a defect in my flippant culinary style. My passion is recipes, writing them, reading them, finding them. But not filing them. I hate filing. My motto when it comes to paperwork is: You know when it is time to file things when the item you were looking for was found in the 'to be filed' pile. Then, and only then do I even consider wasting my time stuffing paper into over crowded files.
This is the first time my office paperwork policy has tripped up my culinary world. I have no idea to which cranberry chutney recipe she refers. Bummer really, that I cannot keep track of such things. Each year I make what sounds good, looks good in a magazine, is sent to me by a friend, found on a website, referred to in a cookbook... whatever inspires me at the moment. I have no recipe loyalty, I make what I want each day. Once in a while I revisit favorite recipes, but in general, I'm always looking forward to something new. I don't have time to cut out, collate, collect, categorize, and certainly not FILE any recipe.

So, in an effort to fulfill the cranberry chutney request, I searched online and found two really nice recipes to bring to the Christmas Eve event. One I have used before, it's a recipe I heard on National Public Radio several years ago. It's a horseradish concoction that is excellent with roast beef.

The second cranberry recipe is simply one I found when I googled 'recipe, cranberry, chutney'. I liked the looks of it, the comments at the website were positive, so I used it. It received rave reviews by the Hoopers. It would be excellent on ice cream and went great with the turkey.

In an effort to keep track of things, and to be able to answer when someone asks: What was in that cranberry stuff you brought to the Hooper Christmas Eve Party last year?, here are the recipes.

Mama Stamberg's Cranberry Relish

Ingredients:
1 bag whole raw cranberries, washed
1 small white onion, cut into large dice
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons horseradish from a jar

Method:
Put the cranberries and the onion into a food processor and pulse to a course puree. Add everything else and mix. The color will be shocking pink.

Keep refrigerated until ready to use. May be frozen and left a little slushy for a unique texture.

Makes 1-1/2 pints.

Spiced Cranberry Chutney with Apple

Ingredients:
1 cup water
3/4 cup white sugar
1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
1 cup apples - peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Method:
In a medium saucepan bring the water and sugar to a boil over medium heat. Add the cranberries, apples, cider vinegar, raisins and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 10 minutes stirring often.
Pour mixture into a mixing bowl. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the sauce. Cool to room temperature and serve or cover and refrigerate. Bring chutney to room temperature before serving.

Balsamic Reduction Chimmichurri Sauce for Beef Steak

By special request...

We've done Argentinian inspired Chimmichurri sauces for beef on several occasions. They are an easy addition to any grilled beef dish as you can make them ahead of time and twist the ingredients to fit the rest of your menu.

For this dinner I wanted to incorporate a reduced balsamic vinegar in the sauce.
Here's what we did:

Balsamic Chimmichurri Sauce for Grilled Beef

1 bottle cheap Balsamic Vinegar
1 bunch Italian parsley
3 garlic cloves
red chile flakes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
salt
freshly ground pepper
juice of 1/2 of a lemon

Pour the vinegar into a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Continue to boil over medium heat until it has reduced down to about 2/3 C of liquid. Let it cool.

Wash and mince the parsley leaves. Crush or mince the garlic cloves.

Pour 3 Tablespoons of the reduced balsamic vinegar into a medium sized bowl, add the chopped parsley, garlic, a pinch of red chile flakes and a dash of salt and a grind of black pepper.

Pour in 1/3 Cup of olive oil. Mix well with a fork and taste. Add 1-3 teaspoons of lemon juice (or red wine vinegar) to add a little acidity if it is too sweet. Add more salt, pepper or chile flakes to your taste.

Set aside, spoon over cooked beef!

OVER THE TOP SUGGESTION:
Take the beef off the grill a little early, RARE. Let is rest a minute and put it onto a broiler plate, the metal ones from steak houses. Spoon a tablespoon or so of the sauce over the steak. Crumble 2 Tablespoons of blue cheese (Gorgonzola, Saga, or Cabrales) over the steak. Put it under the broiler for 10-20 seconds - heating the steak, softening the cheese. Yum.

Soubise correction

Okay, I know you've been upset ever since you read the review of Avenue. You can't believe that me, a professionally trained cook would make such a mistake. Yes, I am human and I too forget the families of sauces from time to time.

It turns out, Soubise is made from Bechamel (white sauce) and not chicken stock. I referred to my LaRousse Gastronomique when I realized that I just wasn't sure about the sauce's origins. LaRousse says that Soubise can refer to any sauce of pureed onions (or finely dice) especially ones served with eggs.

Did you know that the sauce is named after an 18th century aristocrat and marshal of France, Charles de Rohan, Prince of Soubise?

No, I'll bet you didn't.