Ah, Thanksgiving. The FOOD holiday. I freaking love this holiday, but have never really had the chance to host my own holiday meal. This year, as my husband and I are new residents of California, and are far from family and too poor to travel, we are finally claiming Thanksgiving as a holiday of our own. Friends from around the state will be joining us as Amanda from What We’re Eating and I bust out the best Fancy Pants Thanksgiving Meal we can…in a ghetto McGuyver-style, of course, because my movers have yet to deliver my life to me, which includes 30 kitchen appliances near and dear to my heart. And my ten inch Wustoff. Sit and spin, Bekins. So in honor of my first Thanksgiving, I wanted to celebrate one of my favorite holiday ingredients, and a very American one at that: the cranberry. It’s tart, it’s sassy, and if you play your cards right, this bitch will make you damn happy. Today’s Recipe: My kick-ass Cranberry sorbet with ginger and orange. This recipe originally appeared in my New Years Eve 2009 post . This sorbet is full flavored and yet light and refreshing. Cranberries can be made very sweet, but if handle properly they can cleanse the palate quite well, especially if you don’t overload them with too much sugar. I improvised this recipe after reading a few cranberry sorbet recipes online and using my previous sorbet making skills. The key is to under season the recipe. Not too much grated ginger, and just a hint of orange zest and juice so that the cranberries are subtly flavored.
: Leena’s Cranberry sorbet with ginger and orange
- 1 cup fresh cranberries (thawed if frozen)
- 1 cup of water
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon grated orange zest
- a splash of hard liquor (I used Grand Marnier)
- Heat the sugar and water over medium heat, stirring until the sugar crystals dissolve.
- Add cranberries, orange juice, zest and ginger and let simmer until cranberries start burst and mixture is boiling. Let cool, and then puree in blender.
- Push the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, and reserve liquid. Add a big splash of liquor (just under a T) into the liquid to prevent from freezing solidly, and cool sorbet base in fridge overnight before churning. I prefer churning my sorbet the day it will be served, but you can do it several days in advance.
~LTG!
