Cranberries

Are these not the most gorgeous cranberries you've ever seen?

My friend, whom I've known since childhood, just dropped them off this morning at my house.

Her dad picks them somewhere around Lake Rossignol, down in Queens County where we grew up.

When she asked me last week if I'd like to have some, of course I said 'Yes.'

I was assuming she'd give me just a few cupfuls for baking, but when the doorbell rang today, there was Angela holding out a huge grocery bag full of the freshest, most perfectly red, round, shiny berries I'd ever seen. There must have been 20 cups of fruit in that bag!

Time for me to get baking. The first thing I did was whip up a little pastry for a cranberry-apple tart.

(Well, actually, before that, I got out my camera, because anything this good-looking deserves to have its picture taken!)






I'm not much of a pie baker, but I do enjoy making free-form, open faced pies. You can't make a mistake with them. The more ragged and crooked you make them, the more beautifully rustic and homemade they look.

I don't really follow a recipe for this tart. If you want a "real" recipe to follow, I'll come back later and post exact measurements, but for now, here's what I did: I just tossed together a little flour, salt and sugar, cut in some butter and shortening, squeezed it gently into a ball and rolled it out. Then I tossed some apples and cranberries with a little lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and mounded on top of the pastry. I pulled the sides of the pastry up around the fruit, gave it a little hug with my hands to hold it together and baked it in the oven, first at 450F for about 15 minutes and then at 350F for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry was golden and crisp.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

Thanks for the cranberries!!!

Update!!!: Here's the recipe I promised for the free-form apple tart. If you don't have fresh cranberries, leave them out, but this combination is so delicious and, I'm thinking, healthy, too.

RUSTIC APPLE TART

Toss grated old cheddar cheese in this pastry to add flakiness and a flavour similar to enjoying a wedge of sharp cheddar with warm apple pie.
Pastry:
375 ml (1 1/2 cups) unbleached flour
2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt
50 ml (1/4 cup) cold butter, cubed
50 ml (1/4 cup) cold shortening, cubed
Optional: 125 ml (1/2 cup) grated old cheddar
cheese
75 ml (1/3 cup) ice water

Filling:
6 Gravenstein apples, cored and
thinly sliced (peel if you like)
250 ml (1 cup) cranberries
15 ml (1 tbsp) lemon juice
50 ml (1/4 cup) sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon
1 ml (1/4 tsp) nutmeg
15-20 ml (1-2 tbsp) cold butter
30 ml (2 tbsp) sugar mixed with 5 ml (1 tsp) cinnamon

Make sure butter and shortening are well chilled. Put mixing bowl, pastry cutter, even flour in fridge for a little while if kitchen is warm.
Sift flour and salt into bowl. Cut in butter, shortening with pastry cutter or fork until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Don’t make pieces of butter and shortening too small. If using grated cheddar, toss in now.
Drizzle in ice water, a spoonful at a time; mix with fork just until mixture starts to come together. You may not need all the water. Tip mixture out onto sheet of plastic wrap; use it to help you press mixture together into a ball.
Flatten into a disc, wrap well with plastic; chill 20-30 minutes.
To roll, lay large sheet of baking parchment on work surface; dust lightly with flour. Unwrap pastry disc; roll with floured rolling pin into large circle. (Or make individual tarts by cutting pastry into four and rolling each piece.) Slide pastry, paper and all, onto baking sheet; refrigerate while you preheat oven and prepare fruit.
Preheat oven to 220 C (425 F).
Toss apples with lemon juice and first amount of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mound fruit on top of pastry, leaving three to five centimetres (an inch or two) of pastry around fruit.
Bring pastry edges up and around mound of fruit, leaving centre uncovered. Hug edges of circle with hands to hold pastry in place. Dot tart with bits of butter; sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 220 C (425 F) for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 175 C (350 F) and bake 30-45 minutes until apples are tender and pastry is golden and crisp.