Monday, December 12, 2016 D69

Don’t wait for holidays to try cranberry desserts

FOODTIP OF THE WEEK

By Charlene PetersMore Content Now

When I was a little girl, every year at Halloween I would adorn my brunette

hair with a tiara my mother wore at her high school prom in the 50s. Later, when my son traded in his Skee Ball tickets to gift me a plastic, multi-colored jeweled tiara for my birthday, that tiara lust returned. Ten years later, I re-married and wore a tiara covered in rows of cubic zirconia.

Six years later, living in Paris and about to celebrate another birthday, I headed to Monaco for the weekend to celebrate with my friend and birthday twin Alexa. It was a lovely train ride along the French Mediterranean coastline to the tiny, independent city-state. It was here at the Hermitage Monte-Carlo, a Belle-Epoch jewel, where I was once again inspired to take on the role of a princess, sans tiara and title. The title, of course, belonged to royalty, but I was the one staying in one of Conde Nast Traveler magazine’s top 10 hotels in France.

As soon as we checked in, my invisible tiara was set in place as I pulled open the shutters to a panoramic view of the Mediterranean and a larger marina dotted with yachts.

Reluctantly, Alexa and I departed our palatial quarters to continue our princess fantasy with dinner at Elsa restaurant at Monte Carlo Beach Hotel. Chef Paolo Sari serves 100-percent organic food that has gained Elsa a Michelin star. Each tasting plate was a masterpiece adorned with edible flowers. To break the illusion seemed disrespectful, but we eventually disrupted the artistic plates to devour the culinary magic.

The next day, Chef Marcel Ravin created a Michelin-starred gastronomic experi-ence during our birthday dinner at Blue Bay Restaurant. All princesses begin dinner with Champagne; we were no exception. The 5-course Escapade menu on the terrace began with bubbly and a plate of mango and passion-fruit soaked in vodka and vanilla syrup. Italian Vermentino wines paired well with green papaya spaghetti, served carbonara-style. My palate escalated to elite status with the taste of white truffle slices from Alba, Parmesan cheese with Jubugo ham, sea bass served in a sweet pot and John Dory fish.

I didn’t need a tiara to feel like Monaco’s Princess Charlene, because everywhere I turned I was treated like royalty.

— In a quest to sate her thirst for the exotic, Charlene Peters has become a passionate world traveler and sensorial scholar. In 2014, she traded her north of Boston home and career at GateHouse Media to live a year in Paris, where she studied food, culture and communication and was the Paris correspondent for Forbes Travel Guide. From Paris, she re-located to Napa Valley and is thrilled to revive her syn-dicated Taste of Travel column to share new insights into taste.

Bring balance to family dinners

A delicious and nutri-tious dinner seems like the last thing on every-one’s mind during busy weeks throughout the year. Registered dietitian and cookbook author Carolyn O’Neil offers a few quick, simple tips:

Follow guidelines. Ameri-cans are only meeting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s MyPlate recommendations for vegetables, fruit, proteins, dairy and grains seven days out of the year. By pairing frozen meals and pizzas with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy, you can build a family meal that meets the Dietary Guide-lines for Americans.

Start with sides. When meal-planning, don’t forget to think about how you’ll round out your meal with vegetables, fruits, grains and low-fat dairy for a balanced diet.

— Family Features/Stouffer’s

Sweet Pea Hummus • 2 packages (9 ounces each) frozen sweet peas, thawed• 3 garlic cloves, chopped• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice• 1/16 teaspoon table salt• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste• 1 cucumber, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

Place peas and garlic in food processor; with processor running, pour oil through food chute in slow, steady stream, pro-cessing until smooth.

Stir in lemon juice and salt; season with freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Cover and chill 2 hours.

Serve with cucumber slices.

— Family Features/Stouffer’s

4 to 6: A green bean pod contains 4 to 6 beans.

“The Spice Companion: A Guide to the World of Spices” by Lior Lev Sercarz

Since founding his spice shop in 2006, Lior Lev Ser-carz has become the go-to source for fresh and unusual spices as well as small-batch custom blends for renowned chefs around the world. For each of the 102 curated spices in “The Spice Companion,” Ser-carz provides the history and origin, information on where to buy and how to store it, five traditional cuisine pairings, three quick suggestions for use and a unique spice blend recipe to highlight it in the kitchen.

— Clarkson Potter

C ranberries are not indigenous to our area of the country,

so for many years we had to wait until the holiday season to get fresh ones.

When fresh cranberries are available, I usually buy several bags and freeze them for use during other times of the year. This was useful when I wanted cranberries in some of my new recipes that we used in cooking classes.

Of course, dried sweet-ened cranberries then entered the culinary picture. These are good and can be substituted for raisins in most recipes, but during the holidays, I still prefer fresh cranberries.

Two of my favorite desserts with fresh cran-berries are the following Cranberry Nut Cobbler

and Cranberry Pecan Pie. When I took the cobbler to a church dinner, every-body thought it was cherry cobbler. I must admit that it looks like it is made with dark cherries, and it actu-ally taste a little like cherry cobbler.

Pineapple is a good flavor partner with cran-berries, so you might want to substitute pineapple ice cream topping for the light corn syrup in the pecan pie. If so, omit the orange peel.

Cranberry Nut Cobbler• 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided• 2 cups water• 1 (12 oz.) bag fresh cranberries• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (or nuts of choice)• 1/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine 1 cup sugar, the water and cranberries in large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 3 minutes until berries are popping. They will be soft, but not mushy. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and nuts. Melt butter in a 3-quart baking dish. Pour cranberry mixture into dish. Pour the batter for the crust over the cranberry filling.

Bake for 30 to 35 min-utes, or until crust is golden brown.

Orange Pourable Crust:• 3/4 cup sugar• 1 cup self-rising flour (see note below for using all-purpose flour)• 2/3 cup orange juice

Combine all ingredients and beat until well mixed. Pour over cranberry filling as instructed above.

NOTE: If you don’t have self-rising flour, add 1/2 tea-spoon salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to 1 cup all-purpose flour.

Cranberry Pecan Pie• 3 eggs• 1 cup light corn syrup• 2/3 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar• 4 tablespoons melted butter• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh orange peel• 3/4 cup chopped fresh

cranberries• 1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust• 1 cup pecan halves

Preheat oven to 325 F. In large bowl, beat the eggs with a fork just until blended. Stir in corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter and orange peel. Sprinkle cran-berries in the crust. Arrange pecan halves on top of cran-berries. Pour syrup mixture carefully over pecans. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until filling is set. If edges of crust browns too quickly, cover edges with a strip of foil to prevent further browning.

— Prudence Hilburn of Piedmont, Alabama, has won more than 30 national cooking awards and writ-ten several cookbooks. Write her at prudencehil-burn@aol.com.

PRUDENCE HILBURN

ANSWER: B. Iceberg

What is the most popular variety of lettuce?

FOOD QUIZ

A. RomaineB. IcebergC. Leaf

D. Butterhead-Boston

EASY RECIPE

THE DISH ON…

NUMBER TO KNOW

FAMILY FEATURES

Monte CarloTASTE OF TRAVEL

Left: Breakfast inside Hotel Hermitage, under the dome designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel. CHARLENE PETERS PHOTO

Below: Fillet of sole lacquered with citrus, sweet potatoes and cabbage prepared by Chef Marcel Ravin, Le Blue Bay in Monaco. BLUE BAY RESTAURANT COURTESY PHOTO

Fillet of SoleServes 4• 1 1/2 pounds sole, filleted• 1/2 pound white fish • 1 cup cream• 1/3 cup egg whites• 1 tsp. salt• 1 tsp. pepper• 1 tsp. nutmeg

1. Remove the skin from the sole.2. Make a thin stuffing by mixing the white fish, cream, egg whites, salt, pepper and nutmeg.3. Spread the stuffing on the

fillets. Roll the fillets in alu-minum foil and cook for 20 minutes at 140 degrees F.

Sauce with Citrus Fruits• 2 cups of sole heads• 2 cloves garlic• 1 sprig of thyme• 6 shallots• 2 carrots• 2 stalks of celery• 10 peppercorn seeds• 6 1/3 cups veal stockReduction:• 1 2/3 cups juiced pomelos (or grapefruit)

• 1 2/3 cups orange juice• 1 2/3 cups carrot juice• 1/2 cup lemon juice• 2 tablespoons sugar

1. Brown the sole bones then add herbs. 2. Deglaze with reduced juices then add veal stock. Simmer for 30 minutes.2. Strain with a cheesecloth and keep warm.3. Garnish with baked sweet potatoes cooked in orange juice and butter, then puree.4. Use 1 cup of boiled, salted cabbage and garlic cloves for dressing the plate.

Fillet of Sole in

Elsa restaurant gives columnist the Princess treatment