Need a party gift or a simple-yet-fancy holiday dessert?
This easy-to-make chocolate pecan pie fits the bill. Using only a few simple ingredients and a pre-made crust, the prep time is only ten minutes. (You can substitute your favorite crust recipe if you prefer to make the crust from scratch.)
The recipe suggests serving the pie with a garnish of whipped cream and chocolate-dipped pecans, but we prefer ours with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Make your chocolate pecan pie as good as it can be by using high-quality chocolate chips. Our favorites are the baking chips from Guittard, one of the world’s great chocolate producers (and made in the U.S.A., in San Francisco). We order them by the case and give them as gifts to friends who bake. At supermarkets, we pick up Ghirardelli.
Don’t be put off by terms like “Extra Dark” and “Bittersweet” on the Guittard and Ghirardelli packages. Both of these products, at 63% and 60% cacao, respectively, are just perfect for chocolate chip cookies and chocolate pecan pies.
Add some spark to your cranberry sauce with a bit of Port.
This tip is from Sable & Rosenfeld, who gave us the roast turkey recipe below. You can purchase their Port Cranberry Sauce online.
You can use your favorite cranberry sauce recipe, or this classic cranberry-orange relish that can be made several days in advance. Another tip: Cranberry sauce can be frozen and defrosted to enjoy with any meat or poultry dish.
CRANBERRY SAUCE WITH PORT RECIPE
Ingredients
1 package (12-ounces) fresh cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
2 large oranges, washed but unpeeled
1-1/4 cups sugar
Cranberry-orange relish, finely pulsed.
Photo by S.F. Foodphoto | IST.
Preparation
1. Wash cranberries under cold running water. Soak overnight in Ruby Port with cinnamon stick.
2. To begin making the sauce, drain the cranberries—but don’t toss the Port. It can be used in another recipe or sauce (or you can drink it!).
3. Slice orange into eighths; remove any seeds.
4. Place half of the cranberries and half of the oranges in a food processor. Pulse until evenly chopped.
5. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with the other half of the cranberries and oranges.
6. Add sugar to taste. We typically reduce the sugar, so add one cup to begin with; chill and adjust sugar if necessary. Cranberry sauce should be tart-and-sweet, not overly sweet.
A beautiful garnish for the turkey platter. Photo courtesy SableAndRosenfeld.com.
Ninety percent of Americans serve turkey on Thanksgiving; 50% of us serve it for Christmas dinner as well.
Gourmet food producer Sable & Rosenfeld suggests a delicious and fragrant turkey garnish of figs, fresh sage and “Champagne” grapes.
The smallest of the seedless grapes, what is popularly known as the Champagne grape, is an ancient Greek grape variety properly called the Black Corinth, Vitis vinifera. It’s the grape that produces the fruit known as Zante currants. (Zante currants are not true currants: Here’s the scoop.)
The “Champagne” grape is not used for making Champagne. The sparkling wine is made from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or a combination of the two; Pinot Meunier can be added for fruitiness.
So why is the Corinth grape called the Champagne grape?
The reference purportedly comes from a magazine shoot where a flute of Champagne was photographed next to a cluster of the small grapes. Alas, a misnomer was born.
Do a seasonal switch-up on everybody’s favorite cookies—chocolate chip cookies—for the holidays. Add dried cranberries to your chocolate chip cookie (or oatmeal cookie) recipe.
You can find dried cranberries in most food stores. Ocean Spray Craisins are a marketing name for dried cranberries (cranberry “raisins”).
Just split the amount of chocolate chips in your recipe by half, making up the remainder with the cranberries. Do the same with the raisins in the oatmeal cookie recipe.
You can also divide the chips between chocolate and white chocolate, or use all white chocolate chips. White chocolate and cranberries are a great pairing.
Make Christmas Lima Beans part of your
holiday. Photo by River Soma | THE NIBBLE.
Phaseolus lunatus (FAZ-ee-oh-lus loo-NAY-tus) isn’t any old bean. It’s the Christmas Lima Bean.
And it makes a great stocking stuffer, party favor or small gift for just about anybody.
A cream-colored bean with dark burgundy markings, the Christmas Lima doesn’t look particularly Christmasy. But this heirloom relative of the common lima bean keeps its beautiful markings even after being cooked—most beautiful beans don’t—making them festive-looking at the table. They also have a chestnut-like flavor that evokes chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
To those who don’t like lima beans: This is a different experience entirely.
The Christmas Lima is also known as the Calico Bean, Chestnut Lima Bean, Fagioli del Papa (in Italy), Giant Florida Pole Bean and Speckled Pole Bean. But similar to the marketing makeover done to the Patagonian toothfish, (rechristened Chilean sea bass), Jonathan Stewart Liebowitz (so much more cool as Jon Stewart) and so many others, Christmas Lima Bean sounds that much more interesting and delicious.
HOW TO SERVE CHRISTMAS LIMA BEANS
The flavor is big and bold, so you can make a curry or use a chile sauce.
Add them to rice, quinoa and other grain salads; to soups, stews and casseroles; and to add flavor and protein to stuffings.
Enjoy them with a drizzle of olive oil, grated Parmesan or hard goat cheese and a few herbs.
They are terrific in a wild mushroom ragout with garlic.
Steve Sando, proprietor of Rancho Gordo beans, says that his Christmas Lima Beans in a Gorgonzola Sauce was his best recipe ever. The red and white bean in white Gorgonzola sauce topped with your favorite green herbs is Christmas food, indeed.
Order them from Rancho Gordo, a NIBBLE Top Pick of The Week, 1.707.259.1935 (PST).
