As I mentioned Monday, Thanksgiving is coming, and in my not-so-humble opinion, cranberry sauce is just about as important as the turkey. SO. Why just open a can and splorch this tubular (totally!) thing out on a dish to serve friends and family? How much better (and really not too, too difficult) to make and serve your own wicked tasty cranberry relish?
I’ve been making this Julia Child recipe for more years than I care to count, and it is still my very favorite…
INGREDIENTS
•3 pkg (12 oz each) fresh cranberries
•3 oranges
•1 lemon
•2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
•3 cups sugar, divided
So few ingredients, such a tasty, TASTY sauce!
Wash and pick over the cranberries to remove any woody stems and berries-gone-bad.
Gather the zest (colored part of the peel) of the oranges and lemon together with one cup of the sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse a fine powder.
Juice the zested oranges and lemon, and add 1-1/2 cups of orange juice, the juice from the lemon, the remaining two cups of sugar, and the ginger to the cranberries in a large pot.
Stir in the pulverized zest, bring to a boil over medium high heat, and allow to boil, stirring, for about three minutes, until the berries have burst.
That’s it, you have now made your very own cranberry relish!
Take the pot off the heat and allow to cool for about an hour – don’t worry if it looks to be runny, the sauce will gel nicely once it’s cooled.
Taste the cooled sauce and, recalling that this is a relish to go with a meal and not a jelly, so it shouldn’t be super sweet, add additional sugar and re-boil if you think it needs it (trust me, after 30 years of making this relish, it won’t).
Ladle your cooled relish into jars and store in the fridge until needed for the big day – and then again for all those sammiches the day(s) after.
Thanks again, Julia.