Christmas Berry Cocktail

 

This season we made our own cranberry liqueur from local Mattapoisett berries. Our friend, Karen Hetu, usually sells us about 10 pounds but this year we told her we would make her a 750 ml bottle of liqueur and she gave us more than enough berries to make plenty and enough left over to bake with - at no charge.

To make the liqueur, we chopped about 16 oz. of fresh cranberries in a food processor. Not too finely chopped - some halves and large pieces left. We placed these in a large gallon jug with cooled simple syrup (1 cup water to 2 cups sugar dissolved in hot water) and added 4 cups of vodka. Stir vigorously every few days for at least three weeks. Strain with cheesecloth into bottles.

The cocktail can be made with 3 oz. of our cranberry liqueur, 1/2 oz. lime juice, 1 oz. St. Elderflower in a sugar-rimmed glass with bit of lime juice and lime zest on the sugar. Add seltzer or soda water for a less-potent drink.

Garnish with a rosemary sprig, fresh berries and an orange twist.

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

This was the recipe Gerry used to make the vegetarian lasagna that Judah requested for Christmas dinner. Gerry also made his own special meat lasagna, too.

Photo from Juliasalbum.com

This recipe is from Julia's Album.  There are a few adaptations. I pureed the squash filling in a food processor into a smooth mixture. I pureed the spinach mixture gently, leaving pieces of spinach intact. Gerry used no-cook noodles and did not use paprika on top of the lasagna, as requested in Julia's recipe.

Butternut Squash Filling:

·    2 cups butternut squash (roasted for about 30 minutes in the oven and pureed - about half of a squash)
·    1 cup ricotta cheese
·    ½ cup milk or more, if needed
·    ¼ teaspoon salt plus ⅛ teaspoon more

·    ¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Spinach Filling:

·    8 oz fresh spinach
·    1 cup ricotta cheese
·    1 cup mozzarella cheese
·    2 garlic cloves minced
·    ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste

Other Ingredients:

10 oz lasagna noodles cooked (Gerry used to no-cook but soaked them in very warm water for 15 minutes before assembling. They can sit in the warm water longer.)

1-½ cups mozzarella cheese or more

½ cup Parmesan cheese on top

¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning

¼ teaspoon dried basil

Instructions 

1.   Preheat oven to 375 F.

Butternut Squash Filling:

1.  Using food processor, combine 2 cups of butternut squash puree with the ricotta cheese, milk, salt and nutmeg. Add more milk if needed (to make the butternut squash filling very creamy). Mix very well, taste and add more salt, if needed.

Spinach Filling:

1.  Saute the fresh spinach in a bit of oil and a half of a lemon (zested and juiced.) Combine the sauteed spinach with ricotta cheese, mozzarella, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor until blended. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if needed.

Cooking lasagna noodles:

1.  Bring a very large pot of water to boil, and cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Rinse in cold water, drain. Using knife, trim noodles to fit your baking dish (if necessary). Or simply do as I did with no-cook noodles.

How to assemble the lasagna:

1.   Prepare a baking dish - Gerry used a pottery baking dish 11 inches x 8.5 inches x 3 inches deep. Grease the lasagna dish lightly with olive oil spray. Spread ⅓ of butternut squash filling on the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle lightly with mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked lasagna noodles without overlapping.

2.    Spread half of spinach filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked noodles.

3.    Spread another layer (⅓) of butternut squash mixture, then sprinkle lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with cooked noodles.

4.   Spread the remaining half of spinach filling over the noodles. Top lightly with Mozzarella cheese. Top with the final layer of cooked noodles.

5.   Spread a generous amount of butternut squash filling (the remaining ⅓) over this final layer of noodles, sprinkle with grated Parmesan and remaining mozzarella cheese (about ½ cup of mozzarella). Generously sprinkle the cheese with Italian seasoning, and  basil.

6.    Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake additional 10 minutes.

Traditional Pizzelles

Gerry bought an electric pizzelle maker this Christmas and made at three batches that everyone enjoyed either just plain or with a scoop of ice cream. We should have cracked open that large jar of Nutella that the girls got me to buy last summer! (He had help from his grandchildren!)

There are many recipes to try that came with the maker. There are four lovely designs and it is easy to use with no spray or shortening on the heating plates.

Traditional Pizzelles 

• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1-3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsps. baking powder
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract
• 1/4 anise extract
• 1/2 tsp. anise seed
• 1 tsp, grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup cooled melted butter

Beat the eggs and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the melted butter, vanilla and anise extracts, anise seed and lemon zest. Beat until blended.

Whisk flour, salt and baking powder.

Combine the egg and flour mixtures together and fold until incorporated.

Turn the temperature on the pizzelle maker to MAX to heat the iron.

Using a small ice cream scoop, place a scoop of dough on each design, closing the upper iron and lock. Bake for 2-3 minutes. Open the irons and remove the pizzelle. Let cool and break off excess. 

Add cocoa for chocolate pizzelles, or lemon extract for lemon pizzelles. 

Paula Deen's Christmas Morning Strata (without hot sauce)

This was easy to make on Christmas Eve just before midnight - or so I learned. We put it in the chilly garage overnight in a large covered baking dish and baked it at 350 degrees for an hour at about 10:00 in the morning. Everyone loved it.

About four days before Christmas Eve, I bought the two-pack of Costco's white oval loaves. While assembling the strata, I cut all of the ends off - about 3 inches of each. Then I cut the bread into 1-1/2 or 2 inch thick slices - about five slices for each loaf. Gerry buttered one side of each slice and cut them into cubes. We placed all the cubes into a baking dish (ours was a stainless pan a bit bigger than 9x13 but shallow).

Cook 1 pound of breakfast sausage (I removed the sausage from the casings, but you could buy it loose) and cook 5-10 minutes until browned.

Add 1 T of fresh chopped sage and fold it into the co
oked sausage and cook a minute more.

Sprinkle the sausage onto the bread cubes evenly across and into corners.

Sprinkle with 1 cup yellow and 1 cup white cheese or any combination you'd like of grated cheese (I substituted 1/2 cup with grated Jarlsberg.)

Whisk together 7 eggs with 3 cups milk, 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper and 1/2 tsp. dry mustard. Salt and pepper to taste. (I used a rotary hand mixer to really blend the eggs and powders.)

Pour over the bread and sausage evenly. Cover and refrigerate. 

Bake for 1 hour or until bubbly

Chile Seasoning for Homemade Chile

I often use a chili seasoning packet instead of mixing up seasoning for a pot of chili. This recipe is used with two pounds of meat (ground beef or bison and ground pork.) I added some bacon fat that I had saved earlier in the day.  Add these to a crockpot and turn to high. 

I then added in a few cans of fire-roasted chopped tomatoes, a large can of crushed tomatoes, 1 chopped onion, 1 cup of chopped multi-colored peppers, a few tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1 T maple syrup and half of the chili seasoning recipe below. Cook all on high in a crockpot for several hours.  Add few cups of beef stock (or Better Than Bouillon mixed with 3 cups water) and cook a few more hours on high. Add 1 can each of red kidney, cannellini and black beans (all rinsed), add a small package of frozen white corn if desired and cook on low for at least an hour. Add more masa (fine corn meal) to thicken but make sure it is mixed well with liquids.

Gerry said it was the best chili I've ever made, and I've made a lot of chili!

Chili Seasoning.

• 1/4 cup masa flour
• 1 T. tomato powder
• 4 tsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. white or brown sugar (or substitute with rich maple syrup above)
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 2 tsp. dried parsley
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 ground black pepper
  

Blend all in a spice blender or small food processor

Blue Cheese Dressing for Wedge Salads

I always have a fresh store-bought Blue Cheese dressing on hand from the produce section of the grocery store.

Well, always was not today! But I did have a wedge of lovely blue cheese. I found a recipe online and thankfully had all the ingredients here at home.

I had already crumbled a good chunk of the cheese on each salad, so used a only half of the cheese in this recipe.

• 1 cup of Blue Cheese crumbled
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. mayonnaise
• 1/2 c. buttermilk
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1/4 c. pepper
• dash of Worcestershire sauce

Use an immersion blender (or simply whisk the ingredients together.)  Let sit if you'd like the dressing a bit thicker.

We always crumble Blue cheese and bacon, chop a ripe tomato and grate a hard-boiled egg on each salad. I also add other things I have on hand. This photo has sliced mini-peppers and chopped black olives on top of a mix of lettuces and spinach.