Cranberry sauce muffins

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What can you do with leftover cranberry sauce? Lots of things, actually, including these delicious morning-after cranberry sauce muffins. They took just about half an hour to make, and my family gobbled them up. My younger son, who admittedly has a bit of a sweet tooth, ate three for breakfast and would have had a fourth if I hadn't intervened. I had to stop him: There's only so much sugar high I can take on a holiday weekend.

The batter for these muffins is as basic as it comes: flour, sugar, eggs, milk, oil. I added wheat germ for a little boost of texture and nutrition, but they'd be fine without, too, if you like your muffins more delicate than hearty.

I used leftover cranberry fig relish, possibly the most delicious cranberry sauce I've ever encountered. But any chunky cranberry sauce will work. Just don't try the canned jellied kind - you definitely want the whole fruit.

Cranberry sauce muffins

    1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup sugar
    1/2 tsp salt
    2 tsp baking powder
    3/4 cup milk
    1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil
    1 egg
    1/2 cup wheat germ
    1 cup chunky cranberry sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. In a measuring cup, mix together the milk, oil and egg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients in the bowl, folding gently just until everything is incorporated. Stir in the wheat germ and cranberry sauce.

Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray and divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake about 25 minutes, until the tops are light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Turn the muffins out of the tin and cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Spinach balls

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I'm always looking for ways to prepare vegetables that will appeal to kids. My older son likes most vegetables in most forms; I don't worry about him. My younger son, also known as Hot Dog Boy, is harder to please. He likes artichoke soup and zucchini fritters, and he chowed down on the spinach pancakes I made a few months back. You know my theory of feeding vegetables to kids: Mix veggies with cheese and fry them in olive oil, and you raise your odds of success significantly.

I thought these spinach balls might make it onto the "yes please" list. They're not fried, but the mixture has both cheese and melted butter, and they're finger food - who says no to finger food vegetables? Alas, Hot Dog Boy declined. Maybe it was all the other delicious stuff on the counter that day. Or, wait, maybe it was the fact that the grownups didn't leave any for the kids. Oops.

There are lots of recipes online similar to this one. I first saw spinach balls in New York Cookbook: From Pelham Bay to Park Avenue, Firehouses to Four-Star Restaurants by Molly O'Neill. My dear friend Judith gave me that book when I moved from New York to southern California - so I could always have a little taste of home, she said. Of course, when I wanted to make the spinach balls for Thanksgiving, I couldn't put my hands on the book. This recipe is close, though.

Spinach balls make a great holiday side dish (we had them at Thanksgiving) or cocktail nibble. You can shape them ahead, freeze them, and bake them straight from the freezer, adding 10 minutes or so onto the total baking time.

Spinach balls

• 2 boxes frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• 2 cups small croutons (store-bought or homemade)
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 large onions, finely chopped (if I'd been thinking, I would have done this in the food processor)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese
• 2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp Italian herb mix or fines herbes mix
• freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix all ingredients together. Chill 15 minutes, or until the mixture is firm enough to shape. Roll into 2-inch balls, using 1 heaping tablespoon per ball. Place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until the balls are lightly browned. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Cranberry fig relish recipe

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Every good cook seems to have a knockout Thanksgiving recipe for fresh cranberry sauce or fresh cranberry relish. This is my new knockout recipe, a cranberry relish with dried figs and pecans. It's not actually my recipe - it comes from the California Fig Advisory Board website. I found the recipe when the California fig folks kindly sent me several large bags of dried figs with which to experiment. I know you'll love it.

And yes, I know Thanksgiving has come and gone. But there's always Christmas. And next Thanksgiving. Some of us like to be prepared.

Cranberry fig relish (from the California Fig Advisory Board)

• 1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
• 3/4 cup chopped dried California figs (preferably Mission)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 package (12 ounces) fresh cranberries
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Combine orange juice, figs and wine in medium, non-reactive saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Add granulated sugar, brown sugar and cranberries. Cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until mixture is slightly thickened and berries pop, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly. Stir in pecans. Cover and chill.

Makes 1 1/2 cups sauce. Of course, I quadrupled the recipe, just to make sure we'd have enough.

Baked goat cheese dip with caramelized onions and California figs

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Figs, caramelized onions and warm goat cheese = YUM (photos: Trent Lanz)

Here's why I decided to make this baked goat cheese dip with figs and caramelized onions when fellow food blogger Melissa Lanz (www.wellprepped.com) and her charming family came over for dinner last weekend:

1. It was chilly and I wanted something warm and cozy.
2. I'd baked fresh bread and wanted something luscious and creamy to spread on it.
3. Nothing is more welcoming for guests than the smell of frying onions.
4. The day before I'd received a package from the California Fig Advisory Board containing 16 POUNDS (yes, you read that right) of delicious dried figs.

Now I know I've told you about my love affair with fresh figs (and the resulting fig cake with almonds, fig goat cheese pie, and fresh fig salad with feta cheese). Dried figs, however, are another matter. Where fresh figs taste light and barely sweet, dried figs are sticky and chewy, a little gritty from the tiny seeds inside. I hadn't spent a lot of time with dried figs.

I decided to start with this recipe from the California Figs website. It couldn't be easier: You crumble goat cheese in the bottom of a baking dish, then saute some onions. Add chopped figs plumped in a little sherry and spread the whole mixture over the goat cheese. You pop it into the oven and everything comes together. It's a little messy when you scoop it on slices of bread, but the right kind of messy. The kind that makes you want to lick every little crevice of your hand.

Keep your antennae up and check back in a day or so, because the California Fig Advisory Board is going to send one lucky reader a heap o' dried California figs too. Giveaway starts soon....

Yep, those are my chubby fingers holding the bread

Baked goat cheese with caramelized onions and Mission figs
(from the California Figs website)

• 2 pounds goat cheese
• 14 dried California Mission figs, sliced (1 cup)
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 large Spanish onions, thinly sliced
• 10 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 2 tsp salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 baguettes sliced, for dipping

Preheat oven to 350° F. Crumble goat cheese into an oven-safe dish and set aside.

In a small pot, combine figs and sherry with enough water to barely cover figs. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat and let figs plump while onions are cooking.

Pour olive oil into a large skillet and place over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Using a slotted spoon, remove plumped figs from the pot, leaving behind any of the liquid. Add figs to cooked onions, stir to combine and then spoon over goat cheese.

Place dish into top half of oven for 20 minutes, until edges begin to bubble. Remove and serve immediately with sliced baguettes.

Note: Thanks to the California Fig Advisory Board for providing the figs used in this recipe.

Persian beef stew with quince (khoreshe behh)

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Persian beef stew with quince and prunes

My love affair with quince continues. Sometimes, as a native New Yorker living in southern California, I feel like I've landed in a sort of agricultural Wonka factory, where every time I turn around I'm discovering a new fruit or vegetable that makes me as giddy as a Fizzy Lifting Drink. My first taste of poached quince was a Fizzy Lifting Drink moment. I expected the taste and texture of canned pears, somehow; instead I got pure thick velvet, scented with rose and apricot. It swept me off my feet.

I polled the crowd on the In Erika's Kitchen Facebook page about quince. Shirin, another home cook in Los Angeles, waxed wistful about her mother's Persian beef stew with quince. I had to have the recipe. Shirin got it from her mom, Haydeh, and with their permission I share it with you.

I can't find the words to describe just how delicious and unusual this beef stew is. Beef, quince, prunes and turmeric combine to make a rich, aromatic broth. It smells and tastes like a fireplace in winter: warm, thick, a little smoky.

I made this beef stew in the slow cooker, although it could easily cook on the stove. If you have trouble finding quince, ask the produce manager at a local gourmet grocery - he or she should be able to find you some until the end of the year.

See the green spot on the spoon? That's me, taking the photo

Persian beef stew with quince (Khoreshe behh)
adapted from a recipe by Haydeh Bina Motavasel

• 4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 2 pounds stew beef cut into smallish cubes (lamb or veal work also)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2-3 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• 2 quinces, cored and cubed, not peeled
• handful of prunes
• 3 Tbsp honey

Heat 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Brown the meat in batches until it is seared well on all sides, then remove the meat to a plate. Add the onions and cook 6-8 minutes, until the onions are starting to brown nicely. Add the meat and any juices that have accumulated on the plate back to the pot. Add the turmeric, cinnamon, tomato paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and enough water to come halfway up the meat mixture. Stir to combine and bring the pot to a simmer.

While the meat is coming to a simmer, heat the remaining 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet and saute the quince for a few minutes. You don't want to cook it thoroughly, just to start caramelizing the edges. Add the quince to the stew pot along with the prunes and honey. By this time the stew should be simmering; stir everything to combine, cover the pot, and let it cook a good three hours over very low heat. Check it occasionally to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot, and if it looks dry, add some water. Shirin notes that the longer it cooks, the better it will be.

Serve with white Basmati rice.

Slow cooker method: After you brown the meat and onions, add them to the slow cooker along with the turmeric, cinnamon, tomato paste, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and a cup or two of water. Saute the quince and add those to the slow cooker along with the prunes. Drizzle the honey over all. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 8 hours.

I find quince extraordinarily beautiful