Brandied Cranberries

2 Cups sugar

½ cup water

1 cinnamon stick

1 pound cranberries, washed

½ thin skinned orange, finely chopped, including rind

½ cup brandy or cognac

A few whole cloves

In a heavy, 2-quart saucepan, combine sugar and water. Boil 3 minutes, and don’t stir.

Add cloves, cinnamon, cranberries, and orange.

Cook over low heat, stirring, 4-5 minutes or till cranberries pop.

Remove from heat, stir in brandy, and let cool.

Take out cloves and cinnamon, then pack cranberries into containers and refrigerate.

El Mojito Perfecto

It is summer in the northern hemisphere, which means, if where you are is anywhere like where I am, it is quite hot. And what better way to cool off on a hot day than with a cold drink? And who knows cold drinks better than the residents of tropical island nations like Cuba? Exactly. Which is why today's recipe is for

El Mojito Perfecto

A mojito is a Cuban rum-based drink with flavors of lime and mint. It was famously enjoyed by Hemingway when he was working on The Old Man and the Sea, but authorities have yet to conclusively link it to his suicide. The mojito is so tasty that you'll forget that there is alcohol in it, but there is, so don't drive, operate heavy machinery, or be underage when you drink it. The safety valve for mojitos is that, even though they are tasty enough that you could get drunk without realizing you are drinking, they are complicated enough to make that you'll become incapable of making any more before long.

For each glass you're going to make, acquire the following:

• 1 lime
• 5 mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon powdered sugar
• 1.5 ounces simple syrup (sugar and water, which we'll cover below)
• Several cubes of ice
• 2 ounces white rum
• Enough club soda to top off the glass, maybe an ounce

You'll also have to have these handy:

• 1 sharp knife
• 1 tall, thin (highball) glass
• 1 wooden spoon with a wooden handle (or special muddling instrument)
• 1 small sauce pan
• 1 juicer, if you've got it

To make simple syrup (and my version of simple syrup is as simple as it's going to get), combine equal parts water and granulated sugar (let's say 1.5 tablespoons of each) in your sauce pan. Heat this over medium on your stove, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved in the water. Don't let it boil.

Squeeze all the juice you can out of the lime. You should be able to get about an ounce from it. If you can't, start a new lime.

Add the mint leaves, powdered sugar, and ounce of lime juice to the bottom of your glass. Shove the handle-end of your wooden spoon into the glass and muddle the mint. Muddling means mixing up the mint with the sugar and lime juice in a mildly violent fashion. The goal is to tear apart the mint to a certain degree in order to release its flavors. When you can smell minty freshness coming from the glass, you know you've done it right.

Add 1.5 ounces of the simple syrup to the glass, then fill it with cubes of ice. Now pour in the two ounces of rum and add a splash of club soda—just enough to top off the drink, not more than an ounce.

Enjoy with friends (although I just told you how to make one mojito, you should probably make enough for everybody). And remember, as Cuban Spider-Man says, with great mojito comes great responsibility.

Cooking Terms and What They Mean

A 1949 educational video instructive on gender roles as well as cooking.

Marinara Amended

This is not a full Recipe Friday today because (1) I don't have the time or inclination to write out a whole recipe and (2) I've been wanting to revisit one of my old recipes anyway.

A long while ago I posted the recipe to a good marinara sauce. Since then I've tweaked it a little to make it a great marinara sauce. So next time you want to make a sauce, follow that recipe, but with the following revisions:

• Don't even bother with green onions. Use a real onion. And use a whole one, not just a half.
• Add the sugar earlier: pour it over the onions when they are sautéeing in the oil. The idea is that it will bring out their sugars and sort of half-caramelize them (although you are not using that much sugar, and no butter).
• Rather than cutting up the whole tomatoes, squeeze them in your hands until they are mashed up. This will require pouring the contents of the can into a bowl, because you probably can't fit your fists into the can. Remember to wash up first.
• When you add the tomatoes, also add a six-ounce can of tomato paste. This will make the sauce thicker.

I'm really hungry right now. I want this sauce to spring spontaneously from the computer screen and feed me. But that would never happen. Darn reality.

SUMMER

I was planning on blogging about my latest successes in grilling vegetables, and about how much I'm loving grilling food in the summer.

Instead, I'll leave you with this:

HELP!

Tomorrow I'll be going to a Super Bowl party. I'm assuming that very few of the people there will be interested in watching the game, which makes me think that I need to make something fabulous and kitch. I'm thinking deviled eggs, chicken wings, or a cream cheese, caviar, and avacado spread that my mom used to make (see picture). Any thoughts? New ideas? If I come up with something good, I'll post it. Otherwise, I want your advice. Brian might be the only reader of this blog, in which case, Brian, what do you suggest?

Dan Quayle's Cream of Potatoe Soup

On a cold day, enjoy this soup, which is straightforward, cheap, tasty, and now comes with outdated political humor absolutely free.

Ingredients:

• 8 or 9 medium (two-inch diameter) potatoes
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
  
• 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup half and half (you can substitute 1 cup of milk plus a tablespoon of butter)
  

Implements:

• Blender or food processor
  
• Oven
• Large sauce pan
• Spoon
• Knife
• Peeler

Start off by preparing your potatoes: clean them, scrubbing with a brush or a sponge, and cut or tear off any eyes or sprouts. Peel them (but don't—and I say this from experience—put the peels in your garbage disposal), and then cut out any bad or discolored spots. Then cut them into quarters (or sixths if any are slightly larger). The goal is to have a bunch of potato pieces that are all the same size. Put these in your sauce pan evenly and pour just enough water into the pan to reach the top of the pile of potatoes. Then set the potatoes to boil for ten minutes. The clock starts when the water starts boiling.

In the meantime, make sure your other ingredients are ready to go. Mix together the flour, dill, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and set it aside. If you don't already have chicken broth, make it by adding two packets or cubes of chicken bouillon to two cups of water, but there is no need to boil it because it will cook in the soup. Measure out your cup of half and half and set it aside.

When the ten minutes are up, drain and rinse the potatoes, returning the sauce pan to the stove. Put the potatoes in a blender or food processor with 1 cup (half) of the chicken broth. Blend it until it is evenly smooth, stopping the blades and rearranging the potatoes with a spoon if you have to.

In the sauce pan, set the heat to medium, then add a little bit of oil and the pat of butter. When the butter has melted, stir in the flour-seasoning mixture and then, all at once, the half and half. Stir it constantly until it gets thick and bubbly, then start the timer for a minute and keep stirring until the timer goes off.

Stir in the blended potatoes and the remaining broth. Keep stirring for another minute or however long it takes to heat the soup through. You may add more half and half to change the consistency or more salt and pepper to taste. That's it—you're done.