In the Kitchen: Spiced Cranberry Sauce

If you ask me my favorite Thanksgiving food, I'll tell you it's cranberry sauce, which I know sounds crazy- I mean, what with gravy, and mashed potatoes, and pie and all that? It's true though- I am obsessed with cranberry sauce- but not just any cranberry sauce. It has to be real, from scratch sauce- not that business in the cans. Every time I make this sauce, people ask for the recipe (and tell me they usually hate cranberry sauce, but not this one), so I thought it was about time I shared it!

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 bag whole, fresh cranberries
Zest of 1 orange
Juice of that same orange, plus enough water to make 1 cup
1 cup sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Directions:
Rinse cranberries thoroughly, picking out any super squishy ones, and picking off any stems.
Zest and juice orange.
In a non-reactive saucepan, bring water+juice mixture to a boil, add sugar, spices, and cranberries. Reduce heat to med-low until berries start popping and the sauce has thickened.
Remove from heat, cool to room temp, then cover and chill in fridge.

You can make this ahead of time, and to make a bigger batch, just multiply everything except the liquid, which you'll only need an extra half cup of per extra bag of cranberries. Super easy, super good. I'm going to sneak a spoonful right now actually.

Happy Thanksgiving friends! I hope you have a wonderful time with people you love.

In The Kitchen: Breakfast Polenta with Butternut Squash

Last year I was delightfully surprised to find that polenta is super easy to make. Ever since, I've been a bit obsessed- topped with a meaty ragu, or roasted mushrooms- it's basically my favorite meal. Because it's so easy, I even started making an extra large pot each time, so that there would be leftovers for breakfast. When I made a recent batch- this time with the addition of butternut squash- for a post on The Jungalow, I saved some so I could share the breakfast version with you too! 

Breakfast Polenta with Butternut Squash 

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 2-4 (depending on how much leftover polenta you have)

Ingredients: 

2-4 cups left over creamy butternut polenta
1/4 cup milk for each cup of polenta
Dried cherries (I prefer the tart, Montmorency variety)
Roasted pepitas
Maple syrup

Directions:

In a small saucepan, heat up left over polenta, stirring in milk, until smooth, and hot. 

Serve polenta in bowls, topped with dried cherries, pepitas, and maple syrup. 

So easy and SO good- especially this time of year, when the mornings are chilly! Even better- there are a ton of other ways to dress up left over polenta for breakfast- anything you'd put on oatmeal will work here- dried fruits, nuts, spices, butter, brown sugar, honey- whatever strikes your fancy! You can even go savory with an egg, or sauteed greens. 

Make sure to visit The Jungalow today to get the recipe for the butternut squash polenta, if you haven't already. I can only hope you'll become as obsessed as I am! 

Bourbon & Stout Beef Stew

Last week, after finding stew meat on sale at the grocery store, I whipped up some beef stew and it turned out so well I thought I'd share the recipe with you (plus it gave me an excuse to photograph produce, which is one of my favorite subjects lately). While it's not quite a traditional Irish stew, I think it could work quite nicely for Saint Patrick's Day, in case you're thinking of making something festive next Monday.

Bourbon & Stout Beef Stew
(Makes 4 hearty servings)

Ingredients:

1 pound beef stew meat (chuck or bottom round roast cut into cubes)
2 T butter
1/2 medium onion
1 T minced garlic
2 T tomato paste
2 c beef broth
Dash Worcestershire sauce
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 c sliced crimini mushrooms
2 T bourbon
1/4 c stout beer
1/4 c minced fresh Italian parsley

Preparation: 

Sprinkle stew meat with salt and pepper. Melt butter in a heavy pot over medium-high heat. Once melted, brown the stew meat, working in batches if needed to ensure the meat isn't crowded in the pan. Once nicely browned, remove the meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate. Set meat aside.

Add garlic and onion to pan and stir, scraping all the brown bits up from the bottom of the pan. Cook for 2 minutes, then add tomato paste and cook 2 minutes more. Add beef stock and Worcestershire, stirring constantly. Add beef back to the pan. Cover pan, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 60 minutes.

After 1 hour, add potatoes, carrots, stout and bourbon, stirring well. Let simmer for 15 minutes, then add mushrooms.  If the sauce seems too thick, add more beef stock as needed. Simmer 15 minutes more, or until vegetables are tender. Add most of the minced parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with mashed potatoes, polenta or biscuits. Sprinkle with additional parsley just before serving.

Original recipe, styling, and photography by Danae Horst for Gather and Hunt. 

In the Kitchen: Perfect Party Margarita

Margaritas are always popular in our house- we make them often and have come to like them better at home- mostly because we are now margarita snobs and to get a good one out can cost a pretty penny. As you probably know by now, I love throwing a good party, and my favorite party food is any simple Mexican dish, so we often also have margaritas at our parties. Over the years, I've developed this Perfect Party Margarita- perfect because a) it's not quite as strong as a really high quality margarita you'd get from a good bar so people can have several without incidence, b) it's a little sweeter, thus appealing to folks who are used to margaritas made with syrupy sour mixes, and c) it uses simple, high quality ingredients so I still feel proud of what I'm serving my guests. It also gets rave reviews, which is always a bonus.

You'll Need:

6 cups good limeade- I like Simply Limeade, it's just water, lime juice and sugar.
1 1/2 cups 100% agave tequila- I use Sauza gold, it has nice vanilla notes and is quality, but not so nice you feel like you're wasting it by mixing it with other flavors.
2/3 c triple sec- for this recipe I use the cheapest I can find.
1 orange
Lime wedges
Flake sea salt, or the margarita salt they sell in the mixer section
Ice

Start by mixing the limeade, tequila, and triple sec together in a pitcher. Squeeze the juice from the orange in, and mix again. I like to also float a few small slices of orange in the pitcher for color, and a little more flavor.

Prepare the lime wedges by slicing a small slit near one end of each wedge.

Prepare the glasses:

-Using the slit, place a lime wedge on the rim of the glass and slide all the way around a few times to wet the rim with the juice.
-Remove the lime and dip the rim of the glass into a saucer or small bowl of salt. You may need to press it into the salt a few times to get good coverage.
-Fill about 2/3 full with ice and place a lime wedge on the rim.

Now just add the margarita mixture to each glass and serve! This recipe will make enough for about 4-6 drinks, depending on the size of the glass and how much ice you use.

I hope these Perfect Party Margaritas will serve you well at your next shindig- I know we'll be enjoying some this Sunday at our Cinco de Mayo fiesta!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

P.S. I'm trying to think of a name for a cocktail column, rather than lumping them in with the recipe column. If you have an idea for a name, I'd love to hear it!

In the Kitchen: My Favorite Guacamole

With Cinco de Mayo coming up, there are probably hundreds of guacamole recipes floating around the blog world right now- all claiming to be the best, the most amazing, the guac that will change your life. Well I don't know about those guacamole recipes, but what I do know is that this recipe- my favorite guacamole- is the dish I'm asked to bring to nearly every party and potluck. It's a simple dish, using simple ingredients and you can whip it up in about 10 minutes. I've never really given the recipe out before, so today is kind of a big deal- go ahead and feel special, you probably should.

For my favorite guacamole you'll need:

2 perfectly ripe large avocados (or 3-4 small ones)

1/2 a white or yellow onion (sweet or red onions don't have the right flavor)

1-2 roma tomatoes (other varieties work, i just prefer the texture and less seedy nature of romas)

1 bunch cilantro

1 lime

Salt

Start by chopping the tomato, onion and cilantro- the size is up to you. I like the tomato to be diced, the onion to be a bit finer (but still diced- not minced), and the cilantro to be roughly minced. 

Next, mix it all up in a small bowl, and add a little bit of lime juice (about 1/4-1/2 a lime worth) and salt to taste. You now have pico de gallo. For parties I usually make a double batch of pico and put it out to accompany the guacamole (plus, I have discovered there are actually people who don't like avocado- so they appreciate having something to enjoy with chips). 

Let the pico sit while you prep the avocados. Once I've sliced them in half lengthwise and removed the pits, I like to make about 4 cuts, without cutting through the skin, essentially scoring each half. This makes it easy to remove the flesh with a spoon. 

Once you've scored all your avo, scoop the flesh out with a spoon into a large bowl. With a pastry blender (a potato masher also works, but I like the texture you get with a pastry blender best), mash the avocado slightly- it should become a bit paste-like, but you still want chunks of avocado- try not to over-mash. 

Side note: if you have a mortar and pestle large enough, use it instead of this method. That's how I would do it if I had room for one.

Now, using a slotted spoon, to drain out the liquid that's formed at the bottom of the bowl, add the pico de gallo, folding it in until combined. Taste it (preferably with a tortilla chip), and add more lime juice or salt, until it's the way you like it. If you've prepared it ahead of time, add one, or all, of the pits back into the bowl- this will prevent the guacamole from browning (this trick also works well for leftovers).

Serve your guacamole with good quality tortilla chips (I prefer either chips made at local Mexican grocery stores, or a thinner, crispier style of chip known as Totopos, which can be found at Whole Foods, Cost Plus, and other specialty grocery stores), or enjoy it with a Mexican dish like carne asada or carnitas. 

I hope you'll try your guacamole this way- I don't think you'll be disappointed. Either way- let me know what you think! 

Recipe, photography and styling by Danae Horst for Gather and Hunt. 

In the Kitchen: Easter Brunch (Part 2)

Unless this is your very first time at Gather and Hunt, you probably know that the Old Fashioned is my drink. For the Easter brunch menu I wanted a cocktail that was a little outside the usual mimosa and bloody mary realm, so I decided to try a breakfast version of my go-to drink and created the Maple Old Fashioned. 

Possibly even more simple than a regular Old Fashioned, for this cocktail you'll need:

Bourbon or whiskey (I'm on a rye kick lately, and Bulleit is one of my favorites for rye or bourbon)
Orange bitters (Angostura is my top choice for orange bitters)
Good quality pure maple syrup
Orange slices (to add a little color I used a blood orange)

Start by squeezing an orange wedge into the bottom of the glass (no muddling required). Add 2-3 dashes orange bitters and 1 tablespoon maple syrup. Top with 2 oz whiskey. Stir. Add 2-3 ice cubes. Enjoy.

I even skipped the cherry on this one, which is usually my favorite part (as long as the cherries are good and not those neon red ones). The maple really complements the spice of the rye nicely and since it's small in ounces, your guests will still have room for coffee.

I hope these Easter brunch ideas have been helpful. Have a lovely holiday weekend and let me know if you make any of the dishes from my menu- I'd love to know what you thought.

In the Kitchen: Easter Brunch (Part 1)

For the final posts in the Easter table series we're getting down to the important stuff- food and drink.

To keep the meal as simple as the rest of the table I choose a few easy recipes that wouldn't have me in the kitchen the whole day. You may already know this about me, but I'm a terrible recipe user- I always add in my own things, change amounts that don't seem right to me, etc. The great thing about the recipes I picked is that they can be altered easily, so don't be afraid to try a change that appeals to you. 

Easter brunch menu:

Individual spring vegetable frittatas

Lemon ricotta pancakes with blueberries and Meyer lemon syrup (recipe below)

Thick cut bacon

Coffee

Maple Old Fashioned

A few quick notes about the changes I made to these Martha Stewart recipes:

-For the frittatas, I only made 1/4 of what the recipe calls for- it serves 4 that way. I used asparagus, red bell pepper, and carrot for the veggies and an aged Irish cheddar for the cheese. I also skipped the mini muffin tin and used a regular muffin tin- each frittata was a perfect portion for one person, just know you might need to cook them 5 minutes longer or so.

-The ricotta pancakes are great with orange as the recipe calls for, but since I had some Meyer lemons to use up, I swapped lemon zest in for the orange and added some extra sugar to balance out the tartness. 

For the Meyer lemon syrup you'll need:

~6 Meyer lemons to yield 1 cup juice (regular lemon juice will work, it'll just be a bit more tart)

Zest of 6 Meyer lemons

1 1/2 cups sugar

Start by zesting the lemons. I wanted to leave the zest in the syrup to give it a speckled appearance, so I used my fine Microplane zester. If you prefer to strain the zest out, you can get bigger strips with a traditional zester or a vegetable peeler. Be careful to only remove the outer rind, leaving the bitter pith (white part) behind.

Next, cut all the lemons in half and juice them into a liquid measuring cup. 

Strain the juice into a small saucepan, add the lemon zest and the sugar and simmer over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. If you plan to use this syrup only for drinks, remove the pan as soon as the sugar is dissolved, if you're using it for pancakes or desserts, cook another 5 minutes to get a thicker consistency. 

Let the syrup cool to room temperature and transfer to a jar or bottle. Syrup will keep, refridgerated, for up to 4 weeks. 

This tart syrup is great on pancakes, but can also be used on iced cream, to make sodas and cocktails or to sweeten your tea (I've been using it in iced tea and it's amazing). 

Now that the food is taken care of, stay tuned for part two- the Maple Old Fashioned recipe!

In The Kitchen: Spiced Cream

Last week I posted an Instagram photo while I was making iced cream and a few of you asked for the recipe, so I'm happily obliging today.

A few years back, shortly after my mister and I were married, I started working on a new business- an iced cream shop. I spent months and months creating and testing recipes, looking at spaces in our Seattle neighborhood, searching for used equipment and all the other work that goes into opening a small business. We even held a big iced cream social (our shop was going to be called 'Social') that also served as a tasting party where I gathered feedback from our friends. Though a variety of things ended up getting in the way of my iced cream shop plans, those months at least left me with a great collection of original iced cream recipes. Today's flavor- Spiced Cream- is my mister's favorite and I think it's a great choice for this time of the year. The spices and vanilla have a warmth reminiscent of masala chai that can make even the gloomiest winter day a bit better, but for those of us in warmer climates, it's still a refreshing treat on a sunny day.

For a 2 qt. batch you'll need:

3 c. heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 c. whole milk
9 large egg yolks
1 c. sugar (this is one of the few recipes I use baker's sugar for rather than evaporated cane juice)
1/4 t. salt
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg (freshly grated is best)
1/4 t. each ginger, clove, cardamom, allspice
1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper (if you're feeling adventurous)
(These spice measurements are a good starting point, but you can add more to taste).

Bring cream, milk, vanilla and spices to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. In the meantime, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and salt until thick.

Once the cream mixture is simmering (small bubbles will appear across the surface), remove from heat and slowly whisk the hot cream into the egg yolk mixture. I like to 'temper' the mixture by quickly whisking about 1/4 cup of the cream into the eggs before adding the rest.

Return mixture to saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until it reaches 178°F (about 5 minutes). Immediately remove from heat. The temperature is very important so the easiest way to ensure you don't scald the mixture is to keep a thermometer clipped to the side of the pan, making sure the tip doesn't touch the bottom or side of the pan. If you have a digital thermometer, you can set it to monitor the temp and beep when it's reached 178°.

Set a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and and strain the iced cream base into the bowl. Place bowl inside a larger bowl and surround with ice. Add water to create an ice bath and place the bowls in the fridge. Stir periodically until the mixture has chilled completely.

Once chilled, freeze the iced cream base in your iced cream maker according to the manufacturers instructions. (We have the Cuisinart 2 qt maker and for an affordable home machine I think it's wonderful).

After the iced cream maker has done it's job, transfer the iced cream to a freezer safe container and freeze until it's at your preferred consistency- 2 hours is usually perfect. Serve and enjoy! If you're looking for a slightly fancier dessert, homemade gingersnaps make a great companion to the spicy flavors of the iced cream.

A few notes:

- You can try making this low fat by using lower fat milk, but I can't attest to the results. It will likely not be as creamy and smooth.

-Homemade iced cream, without all the preservatives and stabilizers of many store bought brands, melts much faster, so you'll want to serve it right before it will be eaten for best consistency.

-This recipe is a great base for other iced cream flavors, just omit the spices and add other ingredients.

Once you try this recipe at home, let me know what you think! I'd also love to hear your ideas for any additions or substitutions.

In The Kitchen: Dark & Stormy Cocktail

Cocktails are one of my favorite things to make at home- partly because it's much more thrifty to make them at home, and partly because I've always wanted to be a bartender (but couldn't take the hours these days). Today I thought I'd share one of my favorites, a drink that is equally appropriate for cold Northeast nights, as it is for sunny SoCal afternoons- the Dark & Stormy.

First, a tiny bit of history (this is a vintage blog after all). The Dark & Stormy was supposedly created in the late 19th century after the British Navy purchased a ginger beer plant in Bermuda. Lore has it that ginger beer and rum were both beverages readily available on British naval vessels, and it wasn't long before they were combined. Today, the Bermudan rum company Gosling's actually holds a trademark on the name "Dark 'N' Stormy" and that trademark dictates that the drink be made only with Gosling's Black Seal Rum and ginger beer- nothing more.

The cocktail I'm sharing today, while similar to, and inspired by, the Dark 'n' Stormy, is my own take on the drink so I'm using the legally safe moniker 'Dark & Stormy'.

Gosling's rum is not a liquor we usually keep on hand, however The Kraken black spiced rum is (we love it mixed with eggnog at the holiday's), so it has become our rum of choice in this drink.

Other than the dark rum, you'll need:

Fresh ginger
Lime*
Ginger beer of choice
(I like a spicy one, especially in this drink, so Fever-Tree or Reed's is my pick. If you're in Seattle, go for locally made Rachel's Ginger Beer- it's amazing and what I used when we could get it).

Start with a slice of fresh ginger combined with a lime wedge in a tall glass. Muddle the ginger and lime until the lime is juiced and the ginger is broken up a bit.

After muddling, you can opt to leave the lime and ginger in the bottom of the glass, or remove them with a slotted spoon (like I did) and then fill the glass with ice.

Add 2 oz. dark rum, top off with ginger beer, and garnish with a slice of lime.

This drink is great for parties with it's simple ingredients, and if you have guests who don't drink alcohol they can enjoy a spicy ginger beer all by itself (ginger beer is a non-alcoholic soda).

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you have an enjoyable weekend ahead of you. I think I'm heading to the Beverly West Elm tomorrow for the Etsy pop-up shop with Emily Henderson. If you'll be there- let me know- I'd love to meet up for a Smilebooth photo!

*Want to know how to pick a good lime? Look for one with even skin texture, that's a bit soft when you gently squeeze it. Didn't get a soft one? No worries- just pop it in the microwave for 5-8 seconds before cutting to soften it up and make the juices easier to release.

In the Kitchen: Ombre Frosted Sugar Cookies

I'm trying another new feature today- In the Kitchen. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do- I used to do it for a living in fact-so I figured it was about time to share that part of my life here at Gather and Hunt. 

For Valentine's Day this year I picked a slightly less traditional palette of corals and peaches and realized that these colors lend themselves well to the ongoing ombre trend. Sugar cookies have always been one of my favorite Valentine's treats (my mom used to make really pretty ones each year), so I quickly decided on this combo of ombre and tasty sugar cookies. 

I prefer a soft, chewy sugar cookie so I used this recipe. This is the second time I've used it and I think it's a winner. The recipe isn't written for rolled cookies, but I just divided the dough into quarters, refrigerated it for a few hours, rolled it out, and cut it with a heart shaped cutter. Depending on how thin you roll the dough out, you might need to decrease the bake time by a minute or two.

For the icing, I tried something I haven't done before- royal icing with meringue powder. I used this Joy of Baking recipe, and pretty much stuck to it, except I used 1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract (more than was called for) and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla- I hate the taste of powdered sugar, so I always use more flavoring than is called for.

I sorted through a few different techniques for achieving the ombre look with the icing, and though I didn't end up using it (I did try)- I settled on this one as the best. Using Wilton's 'Creamy Peach' gel food coloring, I made four shades, each a little bit darker than the last. A little goes a long way with the gel color, so always start with less than you think you'll need- you can always add more. 

Loosely based on that technique, I'll walk you through what I did.

To keep the cookie from getting overloaded with icing, I started with a crumb coat. Just add a little more water to a portion of the royal icing until it's the consistency of runny sour cream and brush it on. Let dry for a few hours until completely set. 

Once the crumb coat is dry, set up your decorating station. Depending on how many cookies you're decorating, you'll probably want to sit since it takes awhile. I laid out parchment paper on our table to protect it from stains from the food coloring. Since I only have two cloth pastry bags, I picked some disposable ones for this project. Setting the bags inside a glass will keep the icing from getting all over. 

You'll be working with one color at a time- icing all the cookies in that color before moving on to the next. The timing usually works out so that by the time you've finished one color, the cookies you iced first are set and ready for the next color. 

It actually took me two layers of color to figure this out, but the easiest method was to pipe icing onto the area I wanted covered first. 

Next, to even out the coverage, I used a small paint brush (a new one) to gently push the icing around until the whole area was iced. Since I opted not to pipe a border, I just made sure each color of icing reached all the way down the sides of the cookies.

See- that top layer of icing looks much better than the bottom two-proof that things are often trial and error, even in blog land. Instead of re-doing them, I figured you could learn from my mistake. 

After letting them dry for a few hours, the icing should be set and the cookies are ready to go. Though they're not perfect, I still think they turned out pretty cute.

Just to add some variety, I made a few big hearts and thought I'd try a slightly different design- using concentric hearts. The mister and I were talking about Care Bear hearts the other day and this reminds me of that design. Again, not perfect, but cute. 

If the icing is fully set on these cookies they can be stacked and packaged- perfect for giving as a Valentine. I plan to use mine at the ombre party I'll be posting later this week.

So, what do you think of this new feature? I'd love to hear your thoughts- just comment below.