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With the holidays fast approaching I am working on my menus.  This year is the first year I get to host the whole family for Thanksgiving.  I am excited beyond words and not a bit nervous.  I can’t wait!  Lately, I have been testing out Cranberry sauce recipes.  This week I tested Ina Garten’s Fruit Conserve and I loved it.  My husband even loved it and he doesn’t really go for whole berry sauces.  I think the secret is lots of sugar, okay so it’s not the healthiest choice, but it is delicious.  I really enjoyed the addition of apples and lemon and orange zest. 

Here’s the recipe in case you are interested in adding it to your Thanksgiving table.

Ina’s Cranberry Fruit Conserve

1 (12-ounce) bag of fresh cranberries, cleaned
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 orange, zest grated and juiced
1 lemon, zest grated and juiced
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cook the cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the skins pop open. Add the apple, zests, and juices and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the raisins and nuts. Let cool, and serve chilled.

I can’t tell you how much I am enjoying The Next Iron Chef.  I have been catching up with the latest episodes online.  That’s right if you miss any episode - no worries - you can catch it on Food Network’s website.  I guess one of the reasons I really like this show is I can finally put faces and personalities with some of the most famous chefs in the country.  I have to say from the start I have always favored Besh and Symon.  I have liked Symon and his fabulous personality since I read Rhulman’s book.

I had a secret hope that they would have the other Iron Chefs be the judges in this contest.  How great would it be to hear Morimoto say something through an interpreter.  I think Mario would have had a great sense of humor about the whole thing.  It would have been a really great twist. 

The show overall is fun and interesting and if you missed it check it out online. 

This weekend I caught my first Dinner Impossible.  I don’t usually watch reality television, but I caught two great shows this weekend.  One was this Dinner Impossible episode and the other was the Next Iron Chef Show.  I really enjoyed Dinner Impossible, I think Guy was a great challenger to Robert Irvine and made the show so much more fun.  Guy’s light heartedness was a great counterbalance to Robert’s more austere personality.  The challenge was cooking camp food for 500 campers.  Each chef had to make a chicken dish, a pizza, a pasta dish, a salad and a dessert.  Guy and Robert really gave it to each other throughout the show.  At one point Guy turned off Robert’s ovens and it really was funny to see Robert get all hot and bothered about it. 

Guy wound up winning the challenge and the funniest thing was Robert attributed it to Guy’s making more kid friendly food that was “less gourmet”.  I think each took plenty of shortcuts, but the food came out with relatively the same skill level.  I don’t think Guy dumbed it down too much for the kids.  He definitely had a much easier time with the kids then Robert. 

If all the shows are as funny as this one it is definitely worth your time. 

Okay, so I have been on the hunt for the best canned tomatoes in the supermarket and this week I had an absolute dismal experience with Cento Peeled Crushed Tomatoes.  I have tried the Cento whole tomatoes and thought they were pretty decent, but man the crushed tomatoes that is another story.  The consistency of these tomatoes was much like tomato paste with half the flavor.  The texture was absolutely awful.  The tomatoes were bitter and paste-like, Yuck!  That’s all I can really say.  I know that canned tomatoes can be a bone of contention with many people.  The funniest thing is not nearly as hard to find good whole canned tomatoes as it is to find good crushed canned tomatoes.  The texture is definitely not stellar, my suggestion is to crush them yourself.  That’s what I normally do, but I have been testing canned crushed tomatoes and I think this officially ends the testing - stick with the whole tomatoes.

Do you know of any decent crushed canned tomatoes?  Please leave your comments below.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been making some of Martha Stewart’s desserts and treats.  I really have enjoyed her quick and easy one bowl chocolate cupcakes, caramel apples, and her kettle corn.  The caramel apples and kettle corn are featured in the October issue of her magazine.  The caramel apples are a blast to make.  Here a few tips for making them work well for you.  You need to have a candy thermometer - when I say need, I mean need.  The recipe calls for an exact temperature reading and with caramel that is extremely important.  Be sure to have your ice water bath ready for when the caramel is done.  Before you start the caramel make sure you have the apples on their sticks.  I suggest using room temperature apples, refrigerated apples will have condensation and thus the caramel will not stick to them as well as it should. 

Okay, lately I’ve noticed that I am getting a lot of interest in all things Maine.  Most people coming to the site are looking for very specific Maine food information, so for those of you who can’t get enough Maine I am starting a new series of posts with the topic being Maine food. 

Today, I am looking at Cooking Classes in Maine. 

Mid-coast Maine -

The Robinhood Free Meetinghouse Restaurant (Georgetown) does classes from mid-October to mid-May, if you are interested in finding out more follow this link http://www.robinhood-meetinghouse.com/cook.htm

Now You’re Cooking in Bath offers a wide variety of cooking classes throughout the year - here’s a link to their current list of classes - http://www.acooksemporium.com/calendar.php

Hartstone Inn in Camden offers cooking classes this time of year.  If you want to make it a vacation, then you can stay at the inn.  Here’s the link to the current classes - http://hartstoneinn.com/class_schedule.htm

Portland Maine -

Stonewall Kitchen offers cooking classes throughout the year, here’s the link - http://www.stonewallkitchen.com/swk_store_portland.aspx#PortlandClasses

Five Seasons Cooking School offers a wide variety of cooking class options - check them out at http://www.fiveseasonscookingschool.net/

Lyman Maine -

Stone Turtle Baking School offers some great classes on working pizza and wood fires -http://www.stoneturtlebaking.com/webdocs/091207schedule.pdf

If you know of any other great cooking classes, please leave a comment for others!

I know that most people watch Food Network, but not so many people watch PBS.  I have to say one of the best shows hands down in the food world is America’s Test Kitchen.  This show is a lot of science and information, but more importantly a lot of great food.  One of the things that America’s Test Kitchen (Cook’s Illustrated) does that no one else seems to do really well is testing products for their readers and television watchers.  I love this!  Their test are thorough and fair and honest.  If a product doesn’t cut it then they aren’t afraid to say so.  One of the most interesting tests they have done is the stand mixer test.  If you are looking for a great stand mixer, then you might want to pick up a KitchenAid Pro 600.  I can attest to the fact that it is a really great stand mixer.  It’s durable, relatively cheap in comparison with other mixers in the same category, and it is incredibly functional. Here’s the link if you are interested in finding out more about the stand mixer reviews  http://www.cooksillustrated.com/testing.asp?testingid=356&bdc=4272 .

If you want to see what America’s Test Kitchen is all about visit them on the web at http://www.americastestkitchen.com/

I just adore fall, especially anything to do with squash or pumpkin.  These pumpkin scones are delicious and fun to make.  Here’s my take on pumpkin scones.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbls. sugar
• 1 Tbls. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 6 Tbls. cold butter
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 6 Tbls. heavy cream
• 1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, spices in large bowl.  Using a pastry cutter, but butter into dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, heavy cream, and egg.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Form the dough into a disk.

Pat out the dough on a floured surface and form into circle about 1 inch thick.  Using pizza cutter slice the dough into triangles.  Place on non-stick baking sheet.

Bake for 14-16 minutes.  Scones will turn light brown.  Place on wire rack to cool.

These scones are delicious with a powdered sugar glaze.  Here’s a quick list of ingredients for that…

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 Tbls. whole milk
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. nutmeg
• pinch ginger
• pinch ground cloves

Mix together and drizzle over scones (once they have cooled slightly).

Well, I picked up The Reach of the Chef today and I have to say thus far I am not as impressed with it as I was with the Making of a Chef (Making from here on out) and the Soul of a Chef (Soul from here on out). I really loved Making and I loved Soul equally.  I loved the way that Soul introduced some of the big names of food and shared their stories.  The real beauty resting in the pursuit for perfection that drives many of the best professional chefs.  This book is filled with commentary on how and why chefs become famous.  Something about it comes across as disjointed and negative.  I found the other books much more positive. I am sure the  topic itself cooking in the age of celebrity chefs leads to some cynicism in the foodie world.  The cult of celebrity is evident in everything these days.  I am hoping that the book redeems itself as I continue reading.  I will probably have a full review for next week if you are interested.  Click on the photo above to check it out at Amazon.

I’ve been looking at Dessert Techniques for quite awhile.  I am not sure why it took me so long to pick it up, but I am so glad I did. This book covers everything from buttercream frostings to choux paste.  If you have always wanted to know how the great dessert shops do it, then this book is for you.  The book covers the techniques, as well as recipes so you can test your new skills.  The book also covers baking equipment, terminology, and basic techniques.  They show the very basics like segmenting citrus to fancy techniques like chocolate decorations.  If you love baking and pastry as much as I do, then you will find yourself reading every single page of this great little book.  (Apparently, other readers have had a little trouble with the book.  They say if you are just starting out then this might not be for you.  This is according to some Amazon reviews.  I think it is a great book even for a beginner, but I thought you should know what others have said.)  If you want to find out more about it then click on the picture above to learn more.

I also picked up The Reach of the Chef by Rhulman today, so stay tuned for a review of that in the coming week.