Zesty Cranberry Sauce With Lots of Orange

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Though cranberries are decidedly NOT local when you buy them here in northern California, there was no way I was going to skip the cranberry sauce at our Thanksgiving dinner. I consider that bowl of sweet, tart goodness to be the jewel on the Thanksgiving table. Food miles be damned this once!

Cranberries beginning to simmer

I had never made cranberry sauce before and was pleasantly surprised by how simple it is. After looking at a bunch of recipes online and in cookbooks, I settled on one that is a mix of a recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes and the good old standby, The Joy of Cooking. Although it's pretty simple, this one sounded the best to me as I always like the zesty orange flavor and I don't personally care for nuts, raisins or spices in my cranberry sauce (though go for it, if you do!)

I'm afraid the photos don't do the beautiful, jewel-like quality of the cranberries or the resulting sauce justice at all. I was hoping for sun today but it's been rainy and dark all day so flash photography it is... Luckily for my family, the lack of natural light won't affect the taste at all...


Happy Thanksgiving!

Bowl of cranberry sauce on the table

Zesty Cranberry Sauce
Makes 2 1/4 cups


Ingredients
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 4 cups (1 12-oz package) cranberries
* 2-3 Tbsps orange zest
* 1/2 cup orange juice (just juice the orange you've zested)
* Handful of orange peel, cut into thin strips (I'd use an organic orange in the hopes of avoiding both pesticides and wax)

Directions

1. Wash the cranberries and pick through them to get rid of any that are soft or damaged. Bring the water and sugar to boil in a saucepan and stir to help the sugar dissolve.

2. Add the cranberries and orange zest and simmer (reducing the heat) for 7-10 minutes or until all the cranberries have burst.

3. Add the strips of orange peel. You can also add other things at this point if they sound good to you - dried currants, crystallized ginger, nutmeg, allspice, etc.

4. Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Zesty Cranberry Sauce With Lots of Orange

Though cranberries are decidedly NOT local when you buy them here in northern California, there was no way I was going to skip the cranberry sauce at our Thanksgiving dinner. I consider that bowl of sweet, tart goodness to be the jewel on the Thanksgiving table. Food miles be damned this once!

Cranberries beginning to simmer

I had never made cranberry sauce before and was pleasantly surprised by how simple it is. After looking at a bunch of recipes online and in cookbooks, I settled on one that is a mix of a recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes and the good old standby, The Joy of Cooking. Although it's pretty simple, this one sounded the best to me as I always like the zesty orange flavor and I don't personally care for nuts, raisins or spices in my cranberry sauce (though go for it, if you do!)

I'm afraid the photos don't do the beautiful, jewel-like quality of the cranberries or the resulting sauce justice at all. I was hoping for sun today but it's been rainy and dark all day so flash photography it is... Luckily for my family, the lack of natural light won't affect the taste at all...


Happy Thanksgiving!

Bowl of cranberry sauce on the table

Zesty Cranberry Sauce
Makes 2 1/4 cups


Ingredients
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup water
* 4 cups (1 12-oz package) cranberries
* 2-3 Tbsps orange zest
* 1/2 cup orange juice (just juice the orange you've zested)
* Handful of orange peel, cut into thin strips (I'd use an organic orange in the hopes of avoiding both pesticides and wax)

Directions

1. Wash the cranberries and pick through them to get rid of any that are soft or damaged. Bring the water and sugar to boil in a saucepan and stir to help the sugar dissolve.

2. Add the cranberries and orange zest and simmer (reducing the heat) for 7-10 minutes or until all the cranberries have burst.

3. Add the strips of orange peel. You can also add other things at this point if they sound good to you - dried currants, crystallized ginger, nutmeg, allspice, etc.

4. Remove from heat. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in refrigerator. The sauce will thicken as it cools.

No comments: