A healthier, tastier recipe than the traditional cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving dinner

Cranberry sauce is of course a mainstay of any Thanksgiving dinner. In Switzerland, we eat a lot of game, so it is good to always have some on hand to eat with deer, wild fowl, boar, or whatever the hunters bring in.

Photo courtesy of Dr. Mafisto.

This is a variation of the very plain, classic recipe. I’ve been using it for years. It’s easy, quick and a no-brainer. You can make it ahead of time (in fact, it’s better to make it a day or two before Thanksgiving). In addition, it keeps for ages, just like jelly or jam.

Cranberry-Orange relish recipe

Place cranberries in a large saucepan with sugar and water.

Juice the orange and remove any white pith that lingers. Cut peel into small juliennes or zests, carefully removing any pith that is sticking to the then. Add zests and juice to cranberry mixture.

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When it comes to traditional American recipes, Fanny Farmer is still about as reliable a source as you can find.

Since corn was the main grain in North America before the Europeans arrived, I think every Thanksgiving meal should include some kind of corn dish, just for symbolic purposes. We can be almost certain that the Pilgrims ate some version of this dish at their feast with the Indians.

The American Market in Geneva and Nyon sells Quaker Yellow Corn Meal. Otherwise, a coarse, but precooked, yellow polenta can do the trick. Like pumpkin pie, it can be a bit tricky, depending on the altitude and the ingredients, and especially when you use polenta, so you might want to do a trial run before the big day.

If you can’t find black molasses (in Europe, what they call mélasse is often a mixture of molasses and other kinds of syrups), the American Market also sells Grandma’s pure black molasses.

Fanny Farmer’s Indian pudding recipe

1/4 cup coarse-grain yellow corn meal
1 cup cold milk
3 cups scalded milk
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon or 1 tsp ginger (whichever you prefer)
4 T butter

Mix corn meal with 1/4 cup cold milk until smooth. Add slowly to scalded milk and cook in double boiler for 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in molasses, salt, sugar, cinnamon, ginger and butter. Pour into buttered 9-inch/23 cm baking dish. Pour remaining cold milk over the top. Bake 3 hours at 300° F/150° C. Serves 4 to 6.

Cupcakes in the City opened in Geneva today

For those of you who just reminisce about cupcakes, or for those of you who continually have your eye out for the perfect cupcake after watching still another episode of Sex in the City, a new store, Cupcakes in the City, dedicated exclusively to the beloved American cupcake, opened today in the Eaux-Vives neighborhood in Geneva.

A wide range of both savory and sweet cupcakes is available, as well as the equipment necessary to make cupcakes at home.

The flavors have a sophisticated, European twist that your average birthday party or school fête cupcake doesn’t have, such as honey and Speculoos (ginger cookies), lime and ricotta, Carambar caramel, etc. They plan to expand the range over time, and ice cream cupcakes will be available during the summer months.

They come in mini and standard sizes, going respectively for CHF 3.20 and 5.50. You can special-order XXL ones, birthday cakes, and customized party and reception cakes.

The three partners are already planning to open other shops in Switzerland and abroad.

Cupcakes in the City
12 Rue Henri-Blanvalet
1207 Geneva
Tel./ Fax +41 22 700 28 43
e-mail: info@cupcakesandthecity.ch
Site: www.cupcakesandthecity.ch
Open Mon.-Fri. 10:30 to 18:30, Thursday late closing 21:00.

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MarketView is published every week or so so you can take a look at our list before you go to the market.  It should serve as a tool to help you make your grocery list and menus for the week before you go off to the market.

Summer fruit and vegetables in the Lake Geneva region are all but gone, and autumn and root vegetables are now on the agenda.

Fall fruit and vegetables

Baby carrots, baby turnips, baby beets, radishes of all types. New potatoes of all varieties.

Swiss chard (blettes), Jerusalem artichokes (topinambur), parsnips (panais), celeriac (celery root of knob celery, called céleri rave in French).

Cepe mushrooms (bolets) (delicious this year), field chanterelles (dark brown and gold in color, only available for a very short period in the autumn), black truffles, and a wide variety of other wild mushrooms.

Field chanterelles are only available in the fall.

Wild greens of all types, mesclun (mixed wild salad greens), wild arugula rocket salad, cabbage of all types, kohlrabi (colrave), beets, leeks, pumpkin, squash of all types, cauliflower, broccoli. Herbs of all types.

Most producers make their own mixture of seasonal soup greens and vegetables, which you can just add to a chicken broth.

Grapes (try the hard-to-find framboisé variety, absolutely delicious), apples, pears.

Flowers

In a couple of weeks, chrysanthemums will be the only local flowers available, so take advantage of what’s still available.

MarketView is published every week or so so you can take a look at our list before you go to the market.  It should serve as a tool to help you make your grocery list and menus for the week before you go off to the market.

Amazingly, we are still blessed with a few summer vegetables in the Lake Geneva region, so we still have an interesting mix of spring, summer, and fall fruit and vegetables. As I keep saying, it is surprising what a variety of local fruit and vegetables are still available this late in the growing season.

Spring and summer fruit and vegetables

Aubergine/eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgette/zucchini, green beans, radishes, bell peppers of all colors.

Extra-sweet strawberries, last of the corn, raspberries, blackberries (rarer than the other berries).

Rosemary, many varieties of basil, some mint (end of season), dill, coriander, parsley, laurel, scallions.

Fall fruit and vegetables

Local parsnips from just over the border in France.

Baby carrots, baby turnips, radishes of all types.

New potatoes of all varieties, Swiss chard (blettes), Jerusalem artichokes (topinambur), parsnips (panais).

Local Comice pears.

Grapes (try the hard-to-find framboisé variety, absolutely delicious):

Apples, pears, plums, red peaches (pêches de vigne).

Wild greens of all types, mesclun (mixed wild salad greens).

Cabbage, beets, wild arugula rocket salad.

Herbs of all types, but seeing the last of the mint.

In Switzerland, each producer makes her own mixture of seasonal vegetables for soup.

Most producers make their own mixture of seasonal soup greens and vegetables, which you can just add to a chicken broth.

Cepe mushrooms (bolets).

Black truffles, and a wide variety of other wild mushrooms.

Leeks, pumpkin, squash of all types, cauliflower, broccoli.

Flowers

Bad Foods that Are Good for Weight Loss gives common sense, practical advice about “bad” foods that can actually be good for weight loss if eaten in moderation and in the right way.

Great info on everything to do with cooking: Cooking Up A Story

Tips on cooking up fresh pumpkin and how to choose just the right pumpkin. As Americans and Canadians probably already know from experience, the water content of European pumpkins is often quite different from that of the North American varieties, which becomes a real problem when you’re using North American recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Photo courtesy of Michael Elliot.

Fortunately, farmers markets in the Lake Geneva region offer a wide variety of pumpkins, so you should be able to find the right variety so you can still make your family recipes. But I do forewarn you: pumpkin pie can be tricky, so it’s best to do a trial run before the Big Day.

And don’t forget to save the seeds. Larita’s pumpkin seed recipe is a bit too American, in that we tend to use more natural ingredients in Switzerland, but one could perhaps use Migros or Coop “Country Potatoes” seasoning and simply skip her American smoke flavouring. In this case, it would be best to leave out the other spices, since this seasoning is in fact a mixture of some of the same spices.

To launch the chasse or hunting season: Wild River Review – Wild Table

Warren Bobrow’s new blog is full of old-fashioned and traditional recipes with a modern edge, as well as tips on how to live the gentleman’s life in general. Try his pumpkin-filled pasta recipe.

For manifestos on the importance of buying local food, as well as traditional recipes and food ideas: The Slow Cook

Ed Bruske is really just a foodie who engages in the concerns of a hungry planet, so you will find a variety of food-related topics, as well as recipes. I particularly like his “I’m an Elitest” post, in which he addresses the “ravings of James McWilliams, the writer who argues that there’s something sinister about the local food movement,” because it gives you both sides of the story: Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry vs. James McWilliams.

For a homely English slant: Yummy Homely Food

Laure Moyle took a 3-month holiday, but has finally returned just in time for chocolate week. She creates original, yet somewhat traditional recipes, using traditional British ingredients. Since she grew up in France, they often have a touch of the French, and use the local ingredients she finds near her home in Sussex. Sometimes it’s nice to have simple, unpretentious, yet good quality, comfort food.

She puts a particular emphasis on getting Kids in the Kitchen.

Bridge2Food reports that the new UK PowerBar Protein Plus 80% Lion Crisp, a protein shake, uses Nestle‘s chocolate and caramel wafers for flavouring. This gives the whey-based shake, a Nestlé brand, a chocolate and toffee flavour and a crunchy texture similar to the popular Lion Crisp, a chocolate-covered wafer bar.

Whey-based protein drinks and bars are often used by athletes and muscle builders as a source of quick protein in the 30 minutes or 1 hour after an intensive workout, when it is considered important to take in protein in order to prevent breakdown of muscle tissue. Whey protein, which is a naturally occurring dairy protein found in cow’s milk, is prized because of its low fat content. It is also thought that because it is usually consumed in liquid form, the body processes it more quickly and efficiently than higher fat, solid proteins. The shake can be made with either low-fat milk or water.

Erratum: On 22 October 2009, I mistakenly reported that the Powerbar was manufactured by Sport Tiedje. It is in fact a Nestlé brand. Sport Tiedje has requested that we remove the photo.