November 2011: "Cranberry"

[DKM]

Sound like a good Challenge for this time of the year.

[buceriasdon]

Found a can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce at my local Walmart yesterday and threw a quick thin and crispy together. The sweet, too sweet for my taste, sauce called out for some heat to balance the favor profile out. I sliced a jalapeno chile and cooked a chicken breast coated with some Frank's Sissy Hot Sauce that some friends brought down for me and need to use up or throw out. A little grated Manchego cheese baked in a counter top oven, not bad, not bad at all.
Don

[norma427]

Don,

Your "cranberry" pie does sound tasty!   Your added "heat", sounds like it balanced out the sweet taste of the cranberry sauce.  Nice job!

Norma

[norma427]

This is my “Cranberry” submission for this month.  The cranberries were cooked with a simple syrup that I also added 1 squeezed lemon and lemon zest.  When the cranberries were almost finished cooking, I added black sliced grapes.  The cranberry pizza was dressed with the a little St. Dalfour Royal Fig, cranberry mixture, and Grande mozzarella.  When the pie was almost finished baking I took some ground pumpkin seeds (I had toasted from my Halloween pumpkin) and sprinkled them over the pie.  The rim was basted with butter and Parmesan cheese after the bake.

Other pictures are under my other thread, if anyone is interested.
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,13686.msg159029.html#msg159029

Norma

[buceriasdon]

Norma, Looks good, I can only find dehydrated cranberries here. Rats.
Don

[buceriasdon]

Maybe not really liking cranberry sauce as a youth is coming back to haunt me as I have to admit I'm struggling a bit with this month's challenge. My second pizza turned out ok except the rehydrated cranberries didn't come through taste wise as I had hoped. I first made a alfredo sauce which I put on lightly, followed by a small amount, maybe a quarter of a cup for a ten inch pizza, of manchego cheese then boiled shredded chicken and cranberries sprinkled with thyme. I think fresh or even frozen cranberries would have worked well but I can't find any here. Maybe the next one I'll just skip the alfredo sauce altogether.

[norma427]

Norma, Looks good, I can only find dehydrated cranberries here. Rats.
Don

Don,

Thanks for saying the cranberry pie looks good.  My mom had a slice heated in the microwave this morning and said it was great.  It was more or less like a dessert pizza.

Sorry, you can only find dehydrated cranberries where you live.  I didn't check to see if cranberries are in the stores around my area this year. My cranberries were frozen from last Christmas, but they still were good. lol  I know they sell dried cranberries at market. I eat the dried cranberries with nuts a lot.

Norma

[buceriasdon]

Norma,The dehydrated cranberries I bought were not Ocean Spray Crasins or however they are called,they were grown in the USA but packaged in Mexico. It could be the Ocean Spray brand is stronger in taste. It could also be that rehydrating them in water took out the flavor though I have never had a problem with dehydrated tomatoes doing that.
Don

[norma427]

Norma,The dehydrated cranberries I bought were not Ocean Spray Crasins or however they are called,they were grown in the USA but packaged in Mexico. It could be the Ocean Spray brand is stronger in taste. It could also be that rehydrating them in water took out the flavor though I have never had a problem with dehydrated tomatoes doing that.
Don

Don,

I never tried to rehydrate the craisins I buy.  I have no idea what brand they are because they either come in a plastic bag or plastic container. Good luck if you try to hydrate the craisins in a different way other than water.

Norma

[buceriasdon]

Not a pizza I would want all the time, a bit rich for me, but I have to say very good, the best so far. I used half a can of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, about 200 grams mixed with two chipote chiles chopped fine with a teaspoon adobo Si,este pizza no para gringos. Chicken, onion and Manchego cheese. I'm still sweating on my forehead The crust, which was outstanding, was a four day reefer, 65% hydrated AP flour baked for four and one half minutes in an electric countertop oven on a 3/8" steel plate! A glorified toaster oven!
Don

[dhorst]

Wow, steel plate, huh?  Very interesting!

[cosgrojo]

Ok guys and gals... Sorry for posting hyperlinks, but I don't have a working computer at the moment, and this is the only way to show off my creation.

What we have here is a pizza crust made with cranberry juice, 24 hour cold ferment. I made a red onion and peach & apricot marmalade (also with some cranberry juice to deglaze) for the base sauce. Smoked Swiss and sharp cheddar 50/50 blend. Topped with chopped pecans, finely sliced Brussels sprouts, and roasted chicken. Baked on run o the mill pizza stone at 525 (didn't time it, took it out when it was done).

It was quite delicious... Thanks for the inspiration, cranberries were a great choice!

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/a9ea5bbe.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/5b0b4331.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/e561d32c.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/7fed4593.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/b09ecc6d.jpg

http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n579/cosgrojo/38f9d583.jpg

[buceriasdon]

Josh, Very tasty sounding pizza and very creative. Thanks for posting.
Don

[cosgrojo]

Thanks Don, means a lot coming from you. Your continued creativeness on the monthly challenges are very inspiring. You, and everyone else here for that matter, put out some amazing pizzas. I am most impressed with the color contrast. The visual aspect is what I feel I am weakest at.  I usually think flavor and dough, not aesthetics... Thanks for the compliment.

[PHXCobra]

I have a very simple one I did as a dessert for Thanksgiving.  The only pic I have is pre-baked but you will get the idea.

Sauce:
Started with some simple sugar (1/3 cup H₂O , 1/3 cup Sugar) and got that boiling.  Added 1 can of the Ocean Spray Cranberry sauce with the chunks in it.  After that was in there I added 1 8oz package of Philadelphia cream cheese and mixed well.  After everything was incorporated well I put it in the fridge overnight.

I used Pete's PJ's emergency dough and added a little extra honey to sweeten it up a little.  Add sauce to the dough and bake.  About halfway through the baking cycle I put fresh raspberries and graham cracker crumbles on the top.  The thing was a success, everybody LOVED it and there wasn't any left.

http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g112/ASUSMC86/521e3390.jpg