A Cranberry Tart, A Seasonal Treat

The finished tart, shiny and yummy

We were off for a post-Thanksgiving gathering and I told our host that we would be bringing something “seasonal.” I wouldn’t say what, because I like there to be some element of surprise. What I brought was a cranberry tart. It was seasonal (needs fresh cranberries), yummy, and it’s not difficult to make.

I will offer the caveat: I’ve got some kitchen skills, and (at least) I think I’m pretty good at making desserts. I made this more difficult by baking it in a tart shell, because I like the way that looks. It could be done in a pie shell, but even then I would use the richer tart crust. The tart really is akin to a pecan pie, but with cranberries (and that’s good because I don’t much care for pecan pie).

I finished it off with an apricot glaze, as a result of binging on episodes of The French Chef. Once again, this is not difficult, and the glaze isn’t simply pretty, the apricots give the tart another level of flavor. You can paint this stuff on practically anything.

Docking. Almost ready to bake

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Cranberry Sauce — Simple, as in Syrup

Ready to cool and gel in the fridge

When I was growing up, I was given the task of chopping up the cranberries and the orange for the cranberry relish. I also got to open the can for the cranberry sauce. Eventually my family went to using the whole berry sauce, which I guess was a step in the right direction. Maybe.

Many years later, long after I had left my parents’ home, I learned that it’s easy to make whole berry cranberry sauce yourself. This is another one of those things where the recipe is on the back of the package, nobody every looks at it. Also, I suspect that people assume that this is going to be a whole lot of work, but it’s really simple.

A “simple syrup” is just 1 cup of sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water. Oh, simple. We have to go a little more complex than that, because cooking this stuff in sugar water is kinda boring. You need to amp it up just a little. You have a choice of liquids: cranberry juice (not cocktail) or red wine.

Just in the pot and starting to pop.

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Cranberry Relish — Not Just for Thanksgiving

Cranberry relish

Fresh cranberries are in season, so it’s time to start making things with cranberries. The easiest one to make is fresh cranberry relish, which is so easy to make that there’s no reason not to, nor should you wait until you’re roasting a turkey to have cranberry relish. It would go perfectly well with just about any sort of poultry, including plain old roast chicken.[1]

If I may digress, I’m well aware that roast chicken scares some people, though I’ve never been sure why. It’s not pâté de canard en croûte,[2] and even that isn’t all that scary. Take a bird, throw it in the oven. Yeah, once you’re used to that, you can do things like put oil and herbs on the skin, you can truss it up, and so forth. In the end, it’s all just throwing a bird in the oven and letting it cook (I like a nice, hot 375° oven). And while it’s cooking, you can make cranberry relish in just a few minutes.

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