Fish Poached in Wine Sauce

 As James mentioned in his recent post on Herb-Crusted Salmon we each selected a seafood recipe from our cooking-with-wine cookbooks. I used the index-card-sized Cooking Seafood and Poultry with Wine by Bruce Carlson to prepare white fish poached in white wine (in this case Chablis). One of the earliest recipes I posted on this blog was for Fish in a Packet: this recipe is not unlike that one, except that it used wine, and it also included a cream sauce. 

The fish fillet was placed in a foil packet along with 2/3 c. of wine, a bit of minced onion, some fresh parsley, and a tablespoon of butter, and some salt and pepper. I put the packet onto a baking sheet and baked at 375 for 20 minutes. Meanwhile I prepared the sauce in my indispensable cast-iron skillet. I melted 3 T. butter and blended with 3 T flour and stirred until smooth. I added 1/2 of heavy cream and when the fish was done in the oven poured some of the liquid from the packet into the sauce, and stirred. I moved the fish to a platter and poured the sauce over it, then sprinkled with fresh parmesan cheese and placed under the broiler for about a minute to brown.

This was quite delicious. Of course we paired it with the same wine we used in cooking.

Peaches in Red Wine

Yesterday was National Red Wine day, of course as avid Malbec fans virtually every day in Red Wine Day at our house, nevertheless, we decided to celebrate by stepping up our game with a red wine cocktail. I had saved the Peaches in Red Wine recipe from my Facebook feed earlier in the week. It was fortuitous that we had two chilled peaches already in our refrigerator. 

The recipe calls for two cups of red wine for serving 4-6 people. We both had a good laugh about that. Two cups serves two people at our house! I measured the wine into a mixing bowl and added 1/4 cup of sugar, a pinch of black pepper, a shake of nutmeg, and two shakes of ground ginger. I stirred everything together and chilled for an hour. Meanwhile I peeled the peaches and cut into wedges. After the wine chilled I put the cold peach wedges into wine glasses and then poured the wine over them. 

A cool treat for a beautiful day - enjoyed on our front porch.

Red Wine Cookies

I saved this recipe earlier this year when it showed up on my Facebook feed expecting that at some point I would have an open, but unfinished bottle of red wine. Although an unfinished bottle of wine is a rare event at our house, it does occasionally happen. We actually ended up with two open bottles at the same time when we had one at each of our houses. Since the recipe indicates that you can use any type of red wine we figured mixing would be fine. Once we had both bottles in the same place I began the process of reducing the wine, following the instructions to use the same pan in which I first melted butter until foamy.

I also mixed the wet and dry ingredients separately (as indicated), and then together which really made for a lot of dishes. The beach house has a rather small dishwasher so we had to wash these in two rounds, as well as wash the cookie sheet by hand, a difficult task in the rather small sink that goes with the rest of the rather small house.

This recipe demonstrates the importance of having a well-stocked pantry. You don't want get caught with leftover red wine and find that can't make cookies out of it because you are lacking the rest of the ingredients.

The cookies were rich, chewy, and not too sweet.

Glücklich Glüwein

For the solstice earlier this week, Pamela found a recipe we could prepare without returning to the grocery store -- we had not thought about it before my most recent foraging. I was especially grateful because I was still a bit annoyed by the abrupt transformation of our closest store from full service to garish self-serve, just in time for the holidays. I am not exactly boycotting, but I was certainly not ready to head back. 

As we often do on cardinal and cross-quarter days, she opened our Wicca Cookbook. Main-course recipes mainly involved lamb, which we tend to avoid. A beverage option was appealing both for its simplicity and the expected level of coziness: Glüwein.

I poured a bottle of delicious Carmenere into a large pot and since the recipe called for more than twice this amount, I did some quick kitchen math to arrive at this list of amendments:

• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• some lemon juice
• some orange juice
• some orange peel

I slowly raised this mixture to a boil and let it gently simmer -- covered -- while I made quesadillas. Since this was to be quick dinner and the Glüwein was supposed to simmer for an hour, I just slowed down the dinner prep and compromised at about 45 minutes. The recipe does not specify this, but I poured the mulled wine through a strainer into a bowl before transferring it to a serving pitcher. Not very rustic, but elegant and still very hygge. 

It may be tempting to use a cheap wine since other flavors are being added, but it was definitely worthwhile to use a wine that was very good -- and full-bodied -- on its own as the base for this concoction. The Carmenere is from the Colqui Valley of Chile and is very comparable to the Malbecs we more often drink. 

As cozy as the wine itself was the presentation. A habit we have had for 35 years has been particularly valuable throughout these unprecedented times of forced togetherness: we set the table for each meal, with cloth napkins and the like -- even a candle or oil lamp at dinner. Our pitcher and mugs were perfect for this -- and I did not think of their sun motif until we were seated. 

Lagniappe

Those quesadillas are a household favorite that had not yet appeared on this blog. I will be adding the very simple recipe shortly.

Chicken in a Packet

One of our earliest posts was for Asian Fish in a Packet. We have since adapted this recipe on a number of occasions to incorporate any ingredients we had on hand. Over the weekend while browsing some cookbooks I discovered a recipe for Chicken in Foil in Cooking Seafood and Poultry with Wine. It is essentially "Chicken in a Packet", and of course includes wine!

I already had everything the recipe called for, so no shopping was required. The only substitution I made was Malbec for Burgundy. This was very easy to prepare. It bakes much longer than fish, but is just as tasty and tender. It also made the whole house smell good. There were some chickpeas and liquids still in the packet after we ate, so we tossed that into some leftover chili we had and ate it for lunch the next day.

Pairing Malbec

Frequent readers of this blog will notice that the end of many entries contains a note about wine pairings. We learned the potential of good pairing from What to Drink with What You Eat by Dornenburg and Karen Page before we started this blog. The right wine really can make food more enjoyable, and the same can be true of coffee, beer, and other beverages. We also learned that the color of a wine is far from the most important characteristic when making a pairing.

Careful readers will notice that we often cite a Mendoza Malbec as the perfect pairing. This is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but Malbec from the Argentine region of Mendoza is so good that we are confident pairing it with almost all foods. The Malbecs vary a bit from each other (during our Mendoza visit we learned that over 250 vineyards produce that grape varietal in that small region, each with its own cultivation and vinting nuances). But they all have in common a complexity that allows for many different flavors to be brought out. And the wine is good enough on its own that a second glass after dinner will always be enjoyable.

Broquel

"Which Malbec?" one might ask. We have enjoyed dozens of different Malbecs, and all of them from Argentina or Chile have been splendid. We often buy Trapiche, which comes in several different preparations. It is one of the biggest vineyards, but we like it anyway. We recently had the Broquel, and found it to be extraordinary.

One time I (James) was in a restaurant where the only Malbec on the menu was from France. I had read that although the varietal was developed in France, its perfect expression was found only in the high deserts of the Andes, and this glass proved it. "Muddy" is the term sometimes used, and I concur.

The cartoon above is almost true, but we have not yet become quite that ridiculous. I write this one day after having made a special trip to our favorite local vineyard -- Westport Rivers, whose varied offerings we do enjoy year round -- and in fact enjoyed a Westport Dry Riesling with this evening's dinner.

Lagniappe

From Dornenburg and Page we learned something valuable about wine serving temperature: avoid the extremes: the rule of fifteen. A wine that is being kept in the fridge should be removed about 15 minutes before serving; a wine stored at room temperature should go into the fridge for about 15 minutes prior. When we remember either of these tricks, we are glad we did.

Salmon a la Pamela almondine

We recently discovered that our favorite fishmonger (Kyler's Catch) was indeed open. We should have known since the place has always been impeccably clean. They have done everything right in order to keep the retail side of their business going: masks for employees, sneeze guards, and chairs spaced six feet apart for waiting. It is also still impeccably clean. James donned his own mask and went over on Friday evening and brought back salmon and scallops. I was in charge of preparing the salmon on Friday, and he made dinner with the scallops on Saturday.

I poached the salmon in some leftover Malbec we had in the beach house refrigerator from the previous weekend. I also added some orange slices to pan. Meanwhile, I toasted some sliced almonds in some butter and honey. Once the salmon was cooked I divided it onto our plates and topped them with the almonds. Mashed potatoes made for a dandy side dish and a garnish of orange wedges completed the meal.

I had no recipe for this. I put it together with ingredients we already had. We both enjoyed the meal and will likely make it again, that is if we ever have leftover wine again. Once a bottle gets uncorked at our house it is unlikely to get re-corked. The only reason we had some in this case was because last Sunday we opened a second bottle. Fortunately, we also had a full bottle of the same wine to drink with the meal.

James wore this special nautical-themed face mask for his trip to the fish monger

Coq au Vin

An artistic look at our meal
photo credit James

During a recent Costco run James brought back some chicken thighs and I found just the thing to make with them in the W.I.N.O.S (Women in Need of Sanity) Cookbook which features recipes made with wine.

I halved the the recipe (below) as there were only two of us, and I used plain water in lieu of chicken broth, and used a fortified Pinot Noir instead of brandy, but otherwise followed it as directed. I frankly was worried that it wouldn't turn out well (despite the fact that it was made with wine) as it seemed I'd overcooked everything, but once I put it all together it wound up abundantly flavorful and with some lovely texture. We served it with rice on the side and paired with Malbec (the same wine I used to cook it).

A tasty combination

Knowing how much we enjoyed cooking seafood, for Christmas our thoughtful child went to an olive oil and vinegar shop and asked the proprietor what to recommend for cooking fish. They walked out having purchased some Baklouti Green Chili Pepper Olive Oil and Alfoos Mango White Balsamic Vinegar. But that's not all they did. They then went to a Spirit shop and showed the condiments to the shopkeeper and asked what wine to pair with them. A 2016 Poully Fuisse from the Maison Louis Latour was the answer.

Last night we stopped at our favorite fishmonger and picked up some haddock. While James went rowing Pam stayed at the beach house to prepare the fish. It was simply cooked in plenty of the olive oil then drizzled with the vinegar before eating. The spicy-sweet combination of flavors did indeed blend exceptionally well with the wine. 

So glad we raised our child to be a food and wine snob. And happy that we did not use all of the oil and vinegar so we can enjoy this dish again!

Wine Popsicles

When we first started this blog we found this website that lists American Food Holidays for every day of the year. We discovered that James' birthday is Home Brew Day which is the main reason why we now own home brewing equipment (and actually use it too!). My birthday, however, is Grape Popsicle Day, and up until this year I just haven't been interested in celebrating my birthday with stupid grape popsicles. But then, sometime between my 53rd and 54th birthdays it dawned on me that wine was made from grapes, too. And so I googled "wine popsicles" and 10 recipes appeared before my very eyes. This year I was in Maryland celebrating my birthday with my extended family so my sister and I selected the Red Wine Fudgesicles to make together. We used the Zinfandel wine recommended, and then followed the simple steps to heat the wine, and add chocolate chips and milk. They tasted just like you would expect fudgesicles to taste, with just a hint of the wine flavor coming through as well

Blogger and her sister enjoying the fruits of their labor.

 

         

Lagniappe: My niece made me a Boston Cream Pie for my birthday cake!
See the recipe she used here.

Epilogue:
What started out as a steamy day (perfect for a frozen treat) in western Howard County Maryland turned ominous when the heavy rains began. The mood at the party quickly turned as we all watched the videos one of our favorite places - Main Street Ellicott City - flood for the second time in 2 years.

Shrimp in Tomato Cream Sauce

This recipe comes from the W.I.N.O.S (Women in Need of Sanity) Cook with Wine cookbook. It didn't take long to make, and was quite tasty. Next time I make this, however, I will be sure to prep all the ingredients before beginning to cook. I did some chopping, cutting, and grating in advance, but once the cooking starts on this things move so fast it is best to have everything ready. I did realize that the shrimp (which goes into the sauce at the end) and the angel hair pasta have similar short cook times (about 3 minutes) so I did put the shrimp in at the same time I started cooking the pasta. I think this would also be very good as a vegetarian sauce if one wanted to leave the shrimp out.

Vermouth No Gin

Click to enlarge

When planning for this evening's dinner, Pam suggested I turn to W.I.N.O.S. (Women in Need of Sanity) Cook With Wine, which she had picked up when she joined me for a conference in Quebec recently. This fun, out-of-print title is no longer available from the W.I.N.O.S. web site, and Amazon offers it only through a third-party seller, at a price that I think is a bit higher than what Pam paid at a small, independent bookshop in Sherbrooke.

The extreme whimsy of Jesseph's work -- from the title to the smiley face next to all of the wines listed as ingredients -- belies the quality of the work. The recipe I chose (above) is well-written (except for the lime-lemon confusion), succinct, and easy to prepare.

I chose the Vermouth Chicken Scallopine because we still had part of a bottle of vermouth in the fridge, with no gin nor any interest in martinis. At first glance, we thought this recipe might be an excuse (always welcome) to pick up scallops from the world-renowned scallopers in our neighborhood, but in this case the word simply means "thin slice" in Italian.

I followed the recipe as written, except that I was able to skip the malletting because the chicken I purchased was already thin -- either sliced or smashed, I am not sure which. Because the chicken breasts were already prepared and were thin enough to cook quickly, this dish took only about 20 minutes to prepare. Anticipating that it would be quick, I had put some diced potatoes and sweet potatoes -- tossed with olive oil and seasoned with Old Bay and other spices -- in the oven about a half hour ahead. The combination was quite pleasing, and as Pam noted, the presentation was quite nice.

We enjoyed these dishes with a Pinot Noir, rather than a vermouth-based drink.

Thanksgiving Pot-Luck Contribution

This year we spent Thanksgiving with some friends at the Second Annual First Parish Thanksgiving Dinner. About a dozen people chipped in and shared a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the Unitarian Universalist church in Bridgewater.
James and I spent the morning preparing Wild Rice Stuffing from the New York Times cooking page. Mostly we followed the recipe as presented, with two small changes. The proportions of wild rice to brown rice were reversed, and we used hazelnuts instead of pecans (only because I didn't put pecans on the list for James to buy because I thought we already had some, only to find out they were hazelnuts).  The dish was sweet and savory -- and the leftovers were divine.

Good food, sparkling conversation, and a warm setting made this a lovely holiday. Also, we brought the biggest bottle of wine ever!

The empty bottle of homemade Barolo wine we brought to the dinner.
Shown here with a regular-sized wine bottle for scale.

Cooking with Wine

This post is a two-fer. This week I found two recipes from two different recipe books that called for wine, and prepared them over two days. One was from a cookbook called Cooking Seafood and Poultry with Wine, so I was certainly not surprised by the use of the ingredient. 

The recipe actually calls for Vermouth. I knew we had a bottle of such at our beach house, and since that is where we generally prepare any kind of seafood, this recipe for Salmon Steaks seemed like a good one to try. We bought a pound of fresh, wild-caught salmon from our favorite fish-monger Kyler's Catch in New Bedford, Massachusetts  and assembled the rest of the ingredients. Then I read the instructions, which said to marinade for four hours. It was already six o'clock p.m. and we were not going to wait until after ten to eat, so I made an adjustment and put all the ingredients into a pan making the following variations - I used scallions instead of chives, and also added lime juice, and a few red pepper flakes. Once the liquid was simmering I added the salmon, turned down the heat and covered the pan for about 12 minutes (turning once about half-way through). The fish was perfectly cooked, and the flavors were all evident. I've learned a lot about cooking since I started this blog. The most important thing I've learned is that just about any recipe can be adapted to just about any situation.

The other wine recipe came from an old favorite cookbook - The Well-Filled Tortilla. This may very well be my favorite cookbook. We prepare many of our favorite recipes from it, and still find new ones to try even after two decades of use. I don't know how we never noticed the "Good and Plenty Wine-Simmered Vegetables" before. This was easy, and relatively quick and made for perhaps the best veggie wrap I've ever had. The recipe calls for a dry white wine, so I used a Sauvignon Blanc. I used about 1/2 cup to start and added 2 chopped potatoes, a small chopped yellow squash, one chopped tomato, one sliced jalapeno, and a half of a chopped onion. The recipe also called for frozen lima beans, in lieu of which I put in a small amount of mystery beans from a CSA that I found in the freezer labeled simply "Beans 8/14" in my own handwriting. They were fine and I was glad to finally use them. I also added a bit of dry oregano and some garlic salt. Once everything was in the pan, I splashed a bit more wine in and simmered for about 20 minutes. When the potatoes were soft I declared it done and warmed two tortillas on the stove top. We filled the tortillas with the vegetables and added some fresh cilantro and sour cream. Quite delicious and easily made vegan by skipping the sour cream.

Scallops with Cream and Basil

This simple yet divine dish from the New York Times Cooking page is sure to be added to our regular line up. I actually made this well over a week ago, but just haven't gotten around to writing the blog post about it.

Living near the ocean we made a decision some years ago that any time we wanted seafood we would get it fresh (the exception to this rule is that we always keep canned tuna on hand for quick, simple salads). The scallops came from our favorite fishmonger Kyler's Catch Seafood Market.  I followed the recipe as written with one exception which was skipping the part that says to cool the pan and wipe it out after browning the scallops and before cooking the rest of the ingredients in the same pan, it seemed unnecessary since the scallops were going to go back into the pan at the end anyway. Clearly this was the right choice since this was delicious.

A Simple and Dish for Valentine's Day - Creamy Carrot Soup

We had the privilege of witnessing a true Valentine's Day Wedding this year when two members of church married after many years of dating. The wedding was simple - a 15 minute ceremony after our regular church service followed by a small reception in the parish hall with food brought in by other members of the church. We've been to weddings of all sizes and budgets, all of them are lovely and joyous. While the reception was small the food was good and there was plenty of it, so we decided not to our usual Valentine's Day date of preparing a fancy meal together, and instead had a light supper. It was a bitterly cold day in southeastern Massachusetts with temperatures well below zero and a wind chill factor of -30 so soup seemed in order. We found this easy recipe from the Extending the Table cookbook. We had all of the ingredients already in our kitchen and were glad not to have to go back out in the cold to buy anything.

I started by melting 2 T of butter in a skillet and added 2 chopped carrots. Here the recipe calls for adding some sugar to glaze the carrots, but I used up the last bit of our maple syrup instead. A bit of flour, some ground ginger (in lieu of curry powder) and 2 cups of chicken broth were added and everything was heated until the carrots were soft. This went into the blender along with a dollop of plain yogurt and 2 T. of white wine. Everything was pureed together until well mixed and creamy. We paired this with the same wine we put into the soup and also enjoyed some homemade biscuits with it. This can easily be made vegetarian by substituting vegetable stock for the chicken broth.

Coq au Riesling

A funny thing happened on our most recent visit to Plymouth, Massachusetts (America's hometown). We passed a rather large winery - Plymouth Bay Winery. Neither one of us remembered ever having seen it before, so we figured it must be new. It looked like perhaps it has moved into a former restaurant space. We're not ones to pass up a tasting so we went in. Some friendly folks greeted us and we asked how long they had been there. "Eighteen years". This is roughly the same amount of time we have lived in the area, and we visit Plymouth at least half a dozen times a year. You'd think we would have noticed something like that, especially since we're usually on the lookout for local wines! Go figure.

Anyway, we enjoyed a tasting of ten different wines including blackberry, apricot, and cranberry. We purchased several different bottles after the tasting, including two of the Widow's Walk - "a tribute to classic German Rieslings and Gewürztraminers" since I had just read this recipe for the a twist on the coq-au-vin I took it as a sign. The recipe was pretty simple to follow. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs because that's what I had in the freezer. I think I allowed too much of the liquid to boil away because mine didn't look as "stew like" as the photograph did. It was tender and tasty, however.

A Vegetarian Meal fit for a Groundhog

As yesterday was Groundhog Day (or, if you prefer, Woodchuck Day, or Whistle Pig Day) we got out our trusty Wicca Cookbook to find something appropriate to prepare for Candelmas (or Imbolc). We selected two recipes for this cross-quarter day: Candelmas Pâté, and Divinely Spiced Wine. The pâté was nut based and similar to a favorite recipe from the Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook - Walnut Feta Pâté. Candlemas Pâté, however, used hazelnuts and cream cheese. A half cup of hazelnuts were toasted for a few minutes in the oven at 350 along with 1/8 c. of sesame seeds. Once toasted these were ground together using a few spurts of the blender. They were added to a mix of 4 oz. of cream cheese, 1 minced garlic clove, a dash of sage, a tablespoon of olive oil and a bit of milk and salt and pepper. I let it chill while I mulled the wine. I used 2 cups of Malbec, a cup of grape juice, a cinnamon stick a few whole cloves and some allspice, a bit of cardamom, and 1/4 c. brown sugar. The recipe called for higher proportions of sugar and juice, and even suggested adding a bit more sugar to suit taste, but I think most things are too sweet anyway, so adjusted downward. It was good, and not too sweet. We served it with our pâté, which we spread on bagels. At first I thought it would be an odd pairing, but it actually worked out well.

Putting the Marsala in Chicken Marsala

When I go to familiar restaurants, I often debate (with myself) whether to get "the usual" or try something new. At nearby Crispi's Italian Cuisine, the result is usually a a quick decision to have the chicken marsala, because it is always satisfying. I never even really thought about making it myself, and was actually uncharacteristically uncurious about what it actually is.

That all changed a couple nights ago, as I contemplated what to do with  mushrooms remaining from the hash I had made recently (about which I apparently have yet to blog).  I found this delicious recipe, for which we already had all the required ingredients except for the Marsala fortified wine itself.

Photo: AllRecipes. Food photography is difficult, as I've often noted. Here is another example. The AllRecipes photo is  far better than anything I could have taken. I'm not sure how their version turned out so orange, though.

The rest of the story is simple: I followed the recipe without any modifications, and it was delicious. I do need to share something amusing from the web site, though. Listed as the "most helpful critical review" is this gem:

     January 22, 2003

This was good but not great. I'm terrible at flattening meat and poultry so I didn't bother. I didn't add mushrooms either as my fiance hates them. The chicken was tender and flavor pretty good but I like the marsala dishes more from my favorite Italian restaurant. My fiance was neutral on this. I doubt I'll make it again.

In other words, "I did not make chicken marsala." Pouring Boone's Farm over fried chicken does not count.

Lagniappe

In researching the Marsala wine, I figured out that Pinot Noir would probably be the perfect pairing, so I bought a bottle. When I got to the kitchen, I realized that there was a bottle of Malbec already open, so we used that instead. (Already-opened wine left over from the previous day is a rarity in
Casa Hayes-Boh.) The Malbec worked very well, but I now know both my food and wine selection the next time I am at Crispi's.

Cranberry Noir

Teaching is a great job because of the students. We gain at least as much as we give them. I learn something from a student every day, and because on Fridays my students are usually in elementary or middle school, I gain even more fresh ideas than the average university professor.

Photo: Leah Nash for NYT. Food photography is definitely best left to the professionals, especially for a dish like this.

And sometimes what I get from students is not just fresh ideas, but actual cool stuff. In this case: very fresh cranberries. A few years ago, I played a small role in a student getting an internship with a major cranberry grower. She is still with that grower, and this Thanksgiving I am thankful that she has brought us berries!

She did so just as I learned of a recipe that calls for Pinot Noir and cranberries. I was prepared simply to put equal amounts of each in a pan and cook until it was sauce, but I found the actual recipe is a bit more interesting, full of spices.

I used a spice grinder rather than a coffee grinder, because spices would definitely taint coffees. I also used vanilla extract because our local store did not carry vanilla pods. I then heated all of the ingredients in an indispensable cast-iron skillet. I cooked it for a bit longer than called for, but otherwise stuck pretty close to the recipe.

When Pam walked in the house she exclaimed, "It smells like Christmas!" Which of course it did.

We are going to let this chill overnight and will pair it with another Pinot Noir, but for now we can rely on taste tests of the warm sauce to confirm that this is delicious!

• 10 whole allspice berries
• 10 whole cloves
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 4 cups fresh or thawed frozencranberries
• 1 ½ cups Oregon pinot noir
• 1 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed
• 1 cup clover or wildflower honey
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• 6 strips orange zest, about 1 inch by 3 inches, removed with a vegetable peeler
• 2 (4-inch) sprigs rosemary
• 1 small cinnamon stick
• 1 vanilla pod

• PREPARATION

  1. Combine allspice, cloves and peppercorns in a spice grinder or coffee grinder and pulse until finely ground.
  2. In a medium saucepan, combine cranberries, wine, brown sugar, honey, orange juice, orange zest, rosemary, cinnamon stick and ground spices.
  3. With the tip of a paring knife, split vanilla pod lengthwise. Use the back of the knife to scrape seeds from pod. Add seeds and pod to pot.
  4. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring often, until cranberries have burst and liquid thickens slightly, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and discard zest, rosemary sprigs, cinnamon stick and vanilla pod. Transfer mixture to a bowl and let cool.