Don't get me wrong - I love all cranberry sauce - even that from the can - but, with the Bala area just north of Toronto in the Muskokas growing cranberries, and this dead simple recipe, there is really no excuse for a cranberry jelly the shape of the can to grace your table this Christmas.
Aside from serving along with turkey, cranberry sauce is best smeared on a turkey sammie - which is hungrily scarfed back by the light of the fridge at about 10 p.m. on Christmas night while everyone else is passed out in a turkey coma...wait others don't do this? As far as I'm concerned, the whole reason to make a turkey dinner is for leftovers! This cranberry sauce is also great atop a baked brie, or if you're feeling especially type A, folded into pieces of filo pastry with chunks of brie and served as bite size hors d'œuvres on New Years Eve - or heck, even topping yogurt with some of the granola I wrote about.
- 1 bag of cranberries (about 2 cups)
- 1 cup white sugar
- zest and juice from one orange
- 1 tbsp of fresh peeled and grated ginger (about 2 inches of root before grated)
Throw all into a medium saucepan over medium heat bring to a bubbling simmer, cover and lower heat to low. Allow to cook for about 20 mins until cranberries start to break down when stirred. Pour into serving bowls and chill, the natural pectin in the cranberry skins will make this set up into a thick jelly when cooled. Makes about 2 cups. Will last in the fridge for about a week.
Tip
Cranberries freeze wonderfully in the bags they come in - I buy a couple of bags in the fall when they are harvested and then freeze them for the holidays and for adding by the handful to muffins and crisps.
