November 8, 2010

Cranberry Salad Dressing

This makes a nice dressing for fall salads, over pears, etc. Add some chopped nuts to the salad too, and maybe some goat cheese? Very easy to make and something a little different.

Ingredients:

2C fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 C water
1/4 C orange juice
3/4 C sugar
2Tbs. walnut oil
extra orange juice for thinning dressing if needed
orange zest (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the cranberries, water, juice, and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the berries are mostly popped. Stir frequently. You want to keep an eye on this and watch out for spattering!

Remove from heat and let cool. Push the mixture through a sieve so that the skins and most of the seeds can be discarded. Add walnut oil and orange juice until the dressing is a consistency that you like. Stir in zest and S&P. Taste as you go!
These recipes will hopefully give you some ideas about how to use produce from your garden or farmer's market. There are also other recipes that are simply here because they are our favorites, or someone made a request at the last church lunch! I'd like to encourage you to alter these recipes to suit your own tastes, your family's needs, and to use what you have on hand. Therefore, some of my recipes will not have exact measurements. So...if any of the recipes leaves you scratching your head, just send me an email and I'll try to answer your question. HappyGrowing@eatingfromthegarden.com