Gearing Up For The Family Feast

It’s time to think about Thanksgiving dinner … especially if you are the hostess making it. Planning ahead keeps the stress level at a minimum, so why not make the cranberry sauce and bake the cranberry bread in the next week or so?

Crystallized ginger adds a little twist to the cranberry sauce for this year’s feast. I double the recipe to keep in the refrigerator because it is equally delicious to serve with roast pork, beef or ham.

This old-fashioned cranberry bread recipe yields two loaves; I recommend freezing one and enjoying the other before Thanksgiving. It “hits the spot” with a cup of afternoon tea.

If you’re asked to bring hors d’oeuvres for Thanksgiving, make a salmon and tuna salad appetizer. Use fresh wild salmon and a good quality of canned tuna for the best presentation. Cook salmon for dinner one night this week and make an extra piece for this recipe. It’s very tasty and impressive. Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving dishes and stuffing in the weeks leading up to the Big Turkey Feast. Bon appetit!

FAMILY FAVORITE CRANBERRY SAUCE

(Yields about 1½ pints)

1, 12-ounce package fresh cranberries, 4 cups, washed and picked over

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar ( divided in half)

1, 2-inch cinnamon stick

1 lemon, washed and sliced

1 golden delicious apple, washed, cored and cut into chunks

Grated zest of one orange, peeled and sections chopped

1 cup raisins

1 heaping tablespoon chopped crystallized ginger

To prepare:

Wash cranberries in cold water and pick off the stems, drain and transfer the berries to a heavy saucepan over moderate high heat. Add orange juice, water, half of the sugar, cinnamon stick, sliced lemon, apple, orange zest and sections, raisins and crystallized ginger. Cover the pan and bring to a boil, then REDUCE the heat and simmer until the berries have popped and the sauce has thickened, about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the sweetness — adding more sugar according to personal preference and continue cooking until the sugar is dissolved. Cool to room temperature, remove the cinnamon stick and transfer to a clean glass jar and refrigerate. Can be stored up to one month in the refrigerator.

OLD FASHIONED CRANBERRY BREAD

(Yield, 2 large loaves)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

2 extra large eggs

6 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

Grated zest and juice squeezed from 2 large oranges

3 cups fresh whole cranberries, washed, picked over and well drained

1 1/2 cups slivered almonds

2 1/2 cups orange juice, (measure freshly squeezed, add regular juice to measure 2 1/2 cups total)

To prepare:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease two, 9x3x5-inch loaf pans and dust with flour. Tap out excess flour.

Working in a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add eggs and beat thoroughly. In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Grate orange zest into the flour mixture and mix well.

Toss cranberries and almonds in a bowl and set aside.

With the beaters running, add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture alternately with the orange juice. Stir just until all the ingredients are blended. Fold in cranberries and almonds. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. The crack down the center of the bread is characteristic. Remove hot bread from the pans and cool on a rack. To store, wrap in parchment paper then in aluminum foil and refrigerate or freeze for up to one month.

TUNA & WILD SALMON APPETIZER WITH AVOCADO

(Hors d’oeuvres for 8 to 10)

4 ounces roasted or seared salmon, flaked

7 ounces tuna, flaked

9 large pimiento stuffed olives, chopped

1 stalk celery with leaves sliced thin

1 medium white onion, diced

about 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

About 2 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 to 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For presentation:

2 to 3 firm, ripe avocados peeled, and diced

Toasted sliced French bread

To prepare:

In a mixing bowl, with a table fork or your fingers, flake the salmon and tuna until well blended. Add olives, celery, onion, parsley, and mix well. Add mayonnaise, mustard and about one-teaspoon lemon juice. Taste, add salt and pepper, taste again and adjust the seasonings. Transfer to a clean container and refrigerate.

For hors d’oeuvres, mound salad on a small square of toast or on white ceramic spoons and garnish with diced avocado.

For a first course, slice avocado and artfully arrange in a small shallow bowl or plate, mound the fish salad in the center and garnish with parsley leaf.

For a triple-decker sandwich, mound the fish salad on a slice of toast and top with thin slices of avocado; add a lettuce leaf, a slice of tomato and top with slice of toast.