KitchenCritical

Ingredients   -One 12 oz. bag of whole fresh cranberries.  -4 oz. unsweetened applesauce (the same as in the little plastic to-go ones we use for lunch).  -¾ cup filtered water  -½ tbsp Raspberry vinegar, or substitute apple cider vinegar.  -1 tsp salt -3 ½ Tbsp white sugar.  -A shot of decent orange liqueur or triple sec (Gran Gala, Blue Curacao, Grand Marnier, Cointreau).    Ditch the atrocious canned version. Procedure    -Add all the ingredients in a pot, place on low heat on your smallest burner, and cover. If you have a gas range, a heat diffuser helps.  -Stir it once in a while. Once it thickens and the berries break up, correct for salt and sweetness to taste. Done.

An ice cream maker is ideal, but not required.      This ice cream will not be overly sweet nor overly spiced. The flavor of the pumpkin is allowed to come to the forefront. This formula yields a modest serving for about six people, though you can scale everything up in equal proportions for more. Lactose intolerant people might find this reasonably digestible. Ingredients -12 oz by weight fresh skinned pumpkin or orange squash, such as calabaza or butternut squash (about half a medium butternut). Remove the seeds and scrape the dangly internal fibers off with the side of a spoon and cut into chunks.  -3/4 cup Heavy cream  -3/4 cup oat milk or whole milk. Why oat milk? It has no lactose. By the way, Heavy Cream has very little lactose if at all. This is why lactose intolerant people can usually get away with cheese and butter.   -1/4 tsp vanilla extract  -ONE, just one, whole clove  -ONE, just one, green cardamom pod, lightly pressed so the shell is open, but do not grind.  -ONE and on

Ask any American if they like anchovies and the answer is likely an emphatic no. Ask them if they've had it, and the answer is the same. It seems to be that as is the prospect of eating, say, a cockroach, one doesn't have to try one to know that it's revolting. Judgment is passed, and verdict rendered. Yet you do eat anchovy, and you like it. You may simply be unaware of how common an ingredient it really is.  These popular items: Thai and Vietnamese food, all Caesar salads, anything with Worcestershire, a great deal of Italian dishes and many dishes of any provenance that are featured in high end restaurants all contain some preparation of anchovy, an extract of it or a similarly fermented, oily fish, yet none of the above contain "anchovy" in the name.  The reason is that anchovies, through the long curing process, develop flavor compounds, amino acids and naturally occurring glutamates (MSG) that enhance all other flavors it is joined with. Chefs know this and

 I'm a curmudgeon, so the cloying and ubiquitous fall season "spiced" scents will be an assault on my senses until after New Year. Pumpkin Parm beats pumpkin spice.  Pumpkin needs no cinnamon, allspice, clove, ginger, vanilla, brown sugar or maple. Even less so their artificial counterpart "flavorings" added to lattes and hideous dyed pastries with an almost religious fervor until the Spice Assault subsides once again.  I hereby offer you this recipe. To fellow curmudgeons it will be a relief, and to the Autumn Army a chance to see the orange gourd that is their seasonal totem with a fresh entourage. To entice the Spice crowd, I add a perennial rather than seasonal superstar: parmesan.  Ingredients : Approximately 3 cups of any pumpkin, calabaza, butternut, etc, chopped into rough cubes. 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth One leek, tough outer leaves removed, chopped. One medium parsnip, chopped. One tablespoon each of butter and heavy cream. Olive oil, enough to

 For a snack, salad topping, or a nutritious alternative to popcorn, you can't beat roasted chickpeas. Here's what you need: Cooked chickpeas, well drained on a colander. They should be as dry as possible. Extra Virgin olive oil. Good Salt  Black pepper, freshly ground. Fresh Lemon Garlic Powder Cumin powder Cayenne powder The Process For the cooked chickpeas, you can cook your own or use canned. For canned chickpeas, dump them in a colander and rinse well, tossing them around in the colander. You want to get that mucoid slime off of them. Grossed out? Good. Cook your own.  For cooked chickpeas, you will cook them less than you do for  hummus.   If using an instant pot, cook unsoaked Chickpeas for 38 minutes on high pressure in salted water. On the stovetop, an overnight soak is recommended. Simmer slowly in salted water until tender but not mushy. It may take a while, depending on how long you soaked them. Whether you use canned or cook your own, you'll want to drain them

 The humble radish is widely available in any grocery store, where it is sometimes sold along with its edible green leaves.  Though it's flavor is described elsewhere as "pungent," that may be an unfair description. It's flavor is like mild watercress. It's texture is firm, crunchy, watery, like raw carrot. As you chew it, you will get a mild, wasabi or horseradish-like aroma but without the eye watering kick. Indeed, they are a related species. And that striking color, which no camera can do justice, is due to anthocyanins, a type of flavonoid which may have several important health benefits. What's not to like about this fresh, colorful member of the mustard family?  At less than one calorie per radish, you'll get these flavonoids along with a modest but broad range of vitamins and minerals in a very inexpensive package. Like most brassicas, they will stay fresh for an extraordinary amount of time in the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator. Here is a s