Ruby Red Holidays
By Jody Stump
It’s that time of year when the frost on the pumpkins has turned to ice and the faint jingle of sleigh bells can be heard approaching in the distance. Party planning is in full swing and these are days for dancing. I faced my first holiday crisis last week when I had a black-tie ball to attend and a Cinderella-moment to overcome. I simply hadn’t a thing to wear! Since my ankle surgery I dress from the toes up, choosing backless slippers-and I had none. My fairy godmother was none other than one of Malibu’s more delightful merchants, Indiana Joan’s, who had a stunning pair of ruby and rhinestone slippers at a more than reasonable price. Thank you, Joan, I danced all night and into the dawn.
Rubies at dawn remind me of mist rising off the bogs of Nantucket where I’ve spent many a holiday morning in rapt wonder at the fog rising in rosy wisps like cotton candy. If you’re unfamiliar with Nantucket, it’s a little island, only 11 miles long, lying off the elbow of Cape Cod. A less flashy cousin to Martha’s Vineyard, the Nantucket Conservancy holds 60 percent of the land and the rest is maintained in its traditional style of white trimmed cedar cottages, age-stained silver by the salt air. It’s a peaceful place, almost flat and windswept, with its most notable feature being the world’s largest contiguous, natural cranberry bog, a veritable river of jeweled red crisscrossing the island.
Cranberries are American natives, abundantly used by the Indians of Plymouth Bay as a dye and preservative as well as a frequent dessert mixed with honey. In fact, the berry is so abundantly imbued with benzoic acid, it is its own preservative and jams made primarily from cranberries will last for up to a year. Perhaps you remember the Pilgrim tales of surviving on pemmican the Indians gave them during those first fierce winters. That was any form of game soaked in cranberries. Cranberries are exceptionally high in vitamin C-a real advantage in climates with little sunlight-and they are so naturally high in pectin, they form a jelly just by being boiled. These gorgeous little digestible gems are indispensable additions to the holiday table and they look beautiful draped around the tree.
CRANBERRY CONSERVE
(Adapted from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook)
1 thin-skinned orange, cut into sections
1 pound fresh cranberries
1/2 cup dried currants
2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups raspberry vinegar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
1. Coarsely chop oranges in food processor.
2. Combine oranges and all other ingredients except walnuts in a heavy saucepan and simmer until all the cranberries have popped. Remove from heat and stir in the nuts.
3. Pack in hot sterilized glass jars until used. Lasts up to a year-it’s best about a week after cooking.
Variations:
1) Cranberry Tart: This jam makes a delicious sour-sweet filling for a butter pastry tart. Just fill the tart shell with the jam and add this topping:
Cream 3 tablespoons of room temperature butter with 1/4 cup sugar. Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts and the minced zest of an orange with just enough flour top make the mixture crumble. Sprinkle over the conserve and bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve with whipped cream.
2) Cranberry-Apple Chutney: Using the same basic recipe, you can make a more savory accompaniment for roasts by adjusting the spices, adding onions and apples, omitting the nuts and substituting cider vinegar for the raspberry vinegar. Here’s how:
Simmer 1 cup thinly sliced onions with 1 cup water for 5 minutes. Reduce the sugar to 1 1/2 cups (substituting part white for brown) and stir in a scant 3/4 cup of vinegar. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of chopped ginger and 1/2 teaspoon of curry powder to the berries and chopped oranges along with 1/2 cup orange juice. Cook as directed.