Turkey Needs a Drink

Check out my latest science experiment: cranberry-infused vodka.  I spent a month fretting about those peaches, infusing and turning progressively browner with each day, and imagining that the whole thing would end up in the compost heap.  But last weekend I spent several hours filtering the stuff and once the peaches were dumped, the remaining spirits were clear and a lovely peach hue.  And more importantly, it tastes great!  Especially mixed with orange juice or lemonade.

So I started another small batch to share with my Thanksgiving company, this time with cranberries.  You know, in the holiday spirit and whatnot.  Check out the top photo, taken immediately after combining the alcohol with the crushed berries.  And the next photo is taken about five days later.  The vodka is a bright, zippy red and the cranberries look like maraschino cherries (yuck).  I added a little bit of simple syrup to this one, since cranberries are so sour.  I wonder what kinds of cocktails I should make with it.  Any suggestions?

Pie #3, Sort of

Well, I think I've been converted.  Anyone who would mess with the time and painstaking labor of a piecrust, when they could just (literally) throw together a galette dough, has obviously got too little to do.  Our friend Taylor, while visiting our little berry patch from San Francisco, showed me how to make a galette with some blue-, rasp-, and blackberries obtained from my local farmer's market.  He was inspired, he said, by a show he saw on the Food Network where famed chef Jacques Pepin made a galette in about thirty seconds flat.  I timed Taylor on his galette-- about 19 minutes, which is peanuts compared to any piecrust.  Watch, follow, and learn.

1. Put 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour in a bowl.  Put together a glass of ice water and set it to the side within reach.  Add a pinch of salt, and three big pinches of sugar.  Pour a little ice water on, and start kneading.  Add ice water as needed until the dough holds together.

2. Turn dough out onto a floured surface.  Roll out until you have a large, flattened piece of dough in, really, whatever shape you like.  Cut in half, and lay each piece next to its mate on a cookie sheet.

3. Mix your berries (I had three pints) with sugar-- a quarter cup, I'd say; less if your fruit is extra sweet.  Add a squeeze of lemon, and a tablespoon of tapioca if the juiciness is out of control, and mix 'em up.

4. Spoon half the berry mixture in a little heap onto one dough sheet, and repeat with the rest of the berries on the other dough.  Fold up the sides of the dough and make little pouches out of them.  You could probably make quite cute little purses, if you cared to.  Try and make sure there are no holes in the bottom so as to not lose any precious juices.

5. Bake at 425F for 25-30 minutes.

If you're going the fresh summer berry route and if you're taking the galettes camping with you as we did, you'd probably best pick up a can of whipped cream and douse them well before eating like a hog.