A few years back, I wrote in this column that in summer I prefer to entertain simply. There’s too darn much to do at that time of year, and while I want to see my friends — and feed them; feeding people expresses love — I don’t want to spend the whole day in the kitchen preparing to do so.
I realized a few days ago that I feel the same way about entertaining during the holiday season. The days are getting shorter, and there is a lot to fit into the dwindling hours of sunlight: shopping, planning, decorating and the like.
In my case, there are also singing and book-signing appearances to squeeze in before I shut those down for the winter.
Once again, then, I turn to easy forms of entertaining and cooking.
I invite people to come share an evening drink with a simple appetizer.
I host cookie swaps.
Except for Christmas Day — a full meal is mandatory as far as my family is concerned — I don’t invite people to eat a full meal at my home unless it’s a simple supper of soup, bread, and salad.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing recipes that lend themselves to this sort of scaled-back hosting. Today, I focus on my Aunt Lura’s Cranberry Chutney.
This spread is technically more a conserve than a chutney. I tend to think of chutney as spicy, and there’s not a lot of spice here. There is a lot of flavor, however.
My Aunt Lura was my mother’s baby sister. Like many siblings, they were similar in a lot of ways but different in others. My mother was a tomboy with short, straight hair. In the 1920s, when she was small, people thought she looked like Jackie Coogan, the little boy who starred in the film “The Kid.”
My grandmother, a traditional “lady,” didn’t approve of Jan’s look or her behavior. My mother stayed true to herself.
Lura was about as far from a tomboy as she could be. She loved doing “girly” things like sewing and playing with dolls. As I child, I was jealous that she and her children had a vast collection of dolls with which to play, including a Scarlett O’Hara doll from the time of “Gone with the Wind.”
When Lura was little her hair was styled lovingly by my ecstatic grandmother in ringlets that made her look like the child star Shirley Temple, who was born just a couple of months after Lura in 1928.
Both sisters were strong minded. They didn’t always see eye to eye. I was frequently exasperated by their endless arguments about who had done what in 1945 or 1953 or 1977. I certainly didn’t care about those small details, but they were obsessed with them … or at least with being right about them.
Nevertheless, they shared a strong bond. Lura always said that my mother, who was her elder by almost a decade, had been a sort of second mother to her. They both loved cooking, family, and home. And they both had big smiles that could light up a room.
I have no idea how Lura came up with this chutney recipe, but it was a perennial favorite with her. She knew that cranberries, like my beloved rhubarb, are available for only a short time each year. She wanted to make that harvest last.
The chutney can be used in a lot of ways. It can be a sort of side dish or relish along with poultry, fish or meat, like regular cranberry sauce.
It can be put in a sandwich with chicken, tuna or turkey. I particularly like to grill these sandwiches, either in a frying pan or a panini press, with a little Swiss cheese.
The chutney also makes a nice host/hostess present or small holiday gift. At this time of year, one is invited to a lot of parties, and it’s nice to have simple presents on hand to bring along.
To return to the theme of this column, simple entertaining, the chutney can be served with cream cheese and crackers for an easy appetizer. One makes the chutney in advance so all one needs to do when company arrives is open the cream cheese and crackers and pour a few drinks. Snap!
If you want to be more elegant, use goat cheese or brie instead of the cream cheese. For me, the plainer cream cheese sets off the flavor of the chutney nicely.
The recipe appears below. If you are dealing with nut allergies, you may of course make the chutney without the walnuts. And if you have only three cups of cranberries (the recipe was devised when they came in four-cup bags), cut down on the other ingredients accordingly.
If you’re looking for a holiday gift, stop by Historic Deerfield’s Museum Store this Sunday, Dec. 14, between 1 and 3 p.m. Weather permitting, I’ll be there serving nibbles (including this chutney!) and signing copies of my cookbooks for sale.
Aunt Lura’s Cranberry Chutney
Ingredients:
1/4 cup orange juice
4 cups fresh cranberries
1 peeled, seeded orange, cut in in chunks
2 cups sugar
1 cup chopped peeled and cored apple
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I sometimes use a little more)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (again, a little more won’t hurt)
TINKY WEISBLAT / For the Recorder
Instructions:
Place all the ingredients in a pan. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until tender, stirring frequently. The cooking time will vary depending on the juiciness of the ingredients. It will probably be somewhere around half an hour.
Ladle the chutney into sterilized jars and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes. Or just store it in sealed containers in the refrigerator; it lasts for weeks if kept cold. Makes 4 to 5 cups.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning cookbook author and singer known as the Diva of Deliciousness. Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.