2 cups whole, fresh cranberries, washed

1 small onion

3/4 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons horseradish, from a jar

 

1.) Pulse cranberries and onion together in a food processor. (Leave it a bit chunky, don’t over-process. It’s not meant to be smooth.)

2.) Add sour cream, sugar and horseradish and mix together.

3.) Place in container and freeze.

4.) Several hours before serving, take out of the freezer and move to the refrigerator to thaw. Stir again and serve.

8 cups cubed, peeled sweet potato (about 3 pounds)

4 cups water

1/4 cup lemon sections (about 1 large lemon, I use a grapefruit spoon to section the fruit from the membrane)

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons maple syrup (use the real stuff, not the imitation stuff)

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Dash of salt

1.) Combine sweet potatoes, water and lemon sections in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Remove sweet potatoes from pan, using a slotted spoon, reserving cooking liquid.

2.) Bring cooking liquid to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/3 cup, or about 15 minutes.

3.) Stir in brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, cinnamon, cayenne pepper and salt.

4.) Stir in sweet potatoes and cook until thoroughly heated.

(This can be prepared a day or two in advance and reheated in the oven or microwave right before serving.)

SMOKY PUMPKIN SOUP

(Recipe adapted slightly from The Spectator via Steve Kidd.)

1 smallish pumpkin, ideally a medium-sized munchkin pumpkin (I used a sugar pumpkin.)

4-8 rashers of smoky streaky bacon

4 cloves garlic

1 onion

5 carrots

1 TB. smoked paprika

1 tsp. chilli flakes

1/2 tsp. dried sage

1/4 tsp. dried thyme

850ml of chicken or vegetable stock (about a quart)

A splash or two of heavy cream

 

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a fairly deep baking tray with tin foil.

2. Peel all your vegetables, and chop into chunks about 1.5 inches squared (peel the garlic, but leave it whole). Throw into a baking tray and snip bacon into similarly sized portions, draping it directly over the top of the vegetables. Sprinkle all four of your herbs and spices over the top, season, and drizzle generously with oil.

3. Roast the vegetables for 45-60 minutes. You want the vegetables tender and charred to bring out the smoky taste, but not incinerated. If needs be, towards the end of cooking, place a baking sheet on a higher oven shelf to protect the veg from direct heat.

4. Allow to cool slightly. Tip into a big, high sided casserole dish if using a stick blender, or decant directly into a juicer or food processor if you’re better equipped than me.

5. Gently blitz the vegetables whilst slowly adding the stock (if you’re not used to a stick blender: make sure it’s properly submerged, and do very short blasts to avoid covering yourself in hot pumpkin).

6. Reheat to piping hot just before heating. Stir in heavy cream, if using. This soup will sit happily in the fridge for four days.

7. Ta dah!

Icing on the Cake:

We ate this with grated sharp cheddar, crunchy pumpkin seeds piled on top, and a doorstep slice of spelt bread.

 

CRUST

42 gingersnap cookies (about 9 ounces)

2 TBS. granulated sugar

5 TBS. butter, melted

FILLING

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree (about 2 cups)

2 eggs

1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk

3 TBS. pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. salt

Pinch of ground cloves

GANACHE

10 ounces white chocolate (NOT white chocolate chips, but the very best quality you can buy)

2/3 cup heavy cream

1.5 TBS. butter, at room temperature, cut in three pieces

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper so that the ends extend over the sides of the pan.

Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse together the gingersnaps and sugar until they become fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse a few more times to incorporate. Press the crumbs evenly into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes.

Make the filling: While crust is baking, prepare the pumpkin filling. Beat together the cream cheese and the brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin and mix on low speed until completely incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well until fully incorporated and scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Add the evaporated milk, maple syrup and vanilla, and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves and mix on low to incorporate.

Pour the filling over the prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles. Bake until the filling is set in the center, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from over and set on a wire rack to cool. Once the bars have cooled to room temperature, prepare the ganache topping.

Make the white chocolate ganache: Chop the white chocolate into small pieces and place in a heat-safe bowl. Bring the cream to a boil (you can do this in a microwave oven) and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for 30 seconds and then, using a whisk, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting in the center of the bowl and working your way out in ever-widening concentric circles. When the ganache is smooth, add the butter one piece at a time, stirring until it is incorporated. If the ganache is too thin, place in refrigerator for a few minutes, checking until the ganache has thickened up enough to use.

Spread ganache over cheesecake bars. Refrigerate until set. Lift bars out of pan with the edges of the parchment paper and cut into squares.

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

2 lbs. ground Italian sausage (I usually use chicken sausage or a combo of chicken and pork)

2 tsp. thyme, dried

1 tsp. basil, dried

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

2 cups celery, diced

2 cups carrot, diced

2 cups cabbage, chopped (I love the bagged, pre-shredded cabbage/coleslaw mixes)

100 oz. beef broth

28 oz. can chopped tomatoes

1 cup barley

2 TBS. brown sugar

2 TBS. balsamic vinegar

2 TBS. Worcestershire sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Shaved parmesan cheese

In a 9-quart pot, cook garlic, onions and sausage over medium heat until onions are soft and sausage begins to brown. Add thyme, basil and red pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes. Add celery, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, barley and beef broth. Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer, covered for about an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, stir in brown sugar, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Top with shaved parmesan.