company's coming.... not

We'd planned to have this meal with friends, but were utterly thwarted by this year's intense flu season. First our friends' little girl got sick; even if that hadn't derailed our plans, V woke up this morning with a sore throat and a fever. Sharing this meal would have meant also sharing some nasty germs - so not a gift we want to give our friends. But the ingredients were ready to go, and I felt fine, so I went ahead and we had a very fancy dinner for the two of us.

Menu: Quince-Rosemary Glazed Ham; Braised Leeks & Potatoes; Pan-Seared Brussels Sprouts; Pear Sorbet

For the ham, I baked a 4 lb. boneless smoked ham for 2 hours at 350F, basting every 20-30 minutes with quince-rosemary jelly (a homemade gift). Probably could have cooked it a bit less, but I was trying to time things with the leek-and-potato braise.

Cranberry-Orange Buttermilk Rolls

I was just trying to find this recipe so I could make my shopping list for the week, and it looks like I somehow neglected to post it here. I made this last year for Thanksgiving, and actually ended up baking another big batch the next day to eat with our leftovers. It's a tweaked version of the raisin bread recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes.

orange-cranberry buttermilk rolls: 
The basic method is described here: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/dining/211brex.html

The recipe theoretically makes 3- 1 1/2lb loaves; I instead made plum-sized balls of dough and bunched them together in a pan.  You could do smaller batches in a brownie pan or pie plate.  If you don't use the dough all at once, it will keep for a week in the fridge in a lidded container.

• 2 C lukewarm water
• 1 C buttermilk
• 1 1/2 Tbsp yeast (1 1/2 packets)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1/3 C white sugar
• 6 1/2 C AP flour
• 1 C (or so) dried cranberries
• zest from two large organic oranges
  
• butter or something to grease the pan (I usually use this stuff: http://www.amazon.com/Spectrum-Canola-Baking-Spray-Flour/dp/B001HTNBNG)

Mix all the dry ingredients together.  Mix in the cranberries and orange zest.  Mix in the liquids; keep going until ALL the flour is incorporated.  Cover loosely and allow to rise until the dough rises and collapses (or at least flattens on top): 2-5 hours.  (It's much easier to use the dough when it's allowed to cool in the fridge overnight, but you can go on to the next step right away if you need to.)

Shape the dough, and put it in your greased baking pan.  Allow to rise for at least an hour (up to about 4 hours should be fine - 2 hours or so is ideal).  Twenty minutes before you're going to bake the rolls, preheat the oven to 375F.  Bake the rolls on a center rack for 30-45 minutes, until golden brown.