There's a jingle in the air! - Festive Food Fair

Naturally with Thanksgiving just past and Christmas round the corner, it is impossible to miss the holiday atmosphere both in the houses and in the surrounding stores and any retail institution where keeping up with the holiday Jones, is expected and mandatory.
I think the one think that I feel people have in common is their love of brightness and lights during this time of the year where in this hemisphere the days just are shorter. It is a common theme in so many festivals, celebrated during this time of the year. The ones that I can think off are,
Chanukah, Chirstmas and Kwanza: These three festivals certainly will dominate the universe in the United States for the next few weeks. People in the food blogging world celebrate the way they can, with posts now featuring chesnut recipes, cranberry recipes and the like. Anna's blog morsels and musings is hosting a festive food festival, I just cannot wait to see the results.
Well, along with the lights comes the food, there are so many parties and food fests this time of the year. One particular event, I am very fond of is a potluck belonging to a charity I work with. What I love is the multicultural dimension of the foods that show up. I created this recipe last year and every one loved it so much, I think I will take this to them again on friday. I like this served with stuffing or mashed potatoes.

Ginger Pepper Chicken with a Cranberry Balsamic sauce

Ingredients

2 inches of ginger
6 cloves of garlic
6 green chillies
1.5 tbsp black peppercorns( you can use multicolored)
2 tsp kosher salt
1 small chicken skinned and jointed
2 leeks
2 purple top turnips thinly sliced
3/4 cup thickly sliced mushrooms
1 red onion thinly sliced
1/2 cup white flour
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

For the sauce

1 cup cranberries
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Method of Preparation

1. Grind the ginger, garlic, chillies and peppercorns into a coase paste.
2. Apply the salt and the above paste on the chicken and let this rest for at least 1 hour.

3. Cut the leeks into large thin sections, please use as much of the green as you can.
4. Coat the chicken with the flour.
5. Heat the chicken in a large non-stick skillet (you will need more oil if using a conventional skillet) .
6. Place the chicken pieces in a single layer and cook for 5-7 minutes and brown, turn and brown the other side.
7. Add in the leeks, mushrooms, and onions and mix gently.

8. Line the sides of the pan with the turnips and cover with a tightfitting lid for 8 minutes till the vegetables are just done.
9. In the meantime, heat the water and the sugar.
10. When this comes to a boil add the cranberries and cook for 5 min, till they pop.
11. Add in the vingegar.
12. Mix this into the chicken and cook for another 5 minutes till the sauce is fairly thick.
13. Serve with a plain stuffing or mashed potatoes.


I do not often take pictures of the stages, but I am glad that I did, it reminded me of the mushrooms while writing up the recipe.