I have been making this Julia Child recipe for 30 years, but never thought to scale it back from Ms. Child’s somewhat, ermmm, huge proportions.
Starting with three pounds of cranberries gives one rather a lot of cranberry relish, and, even with holiday festivities and gatherings, I have almost always ended up tossing some away, worried that it had sat in the fridge for far too long.
Then, a thought came to me.
What if I just scaled it back?
Yeh, I know, 30 years and I am just now thinking this?
Still and all, it may have taken a while, but I have now seen the light. And it is good.
This recipe will make plenty of cranberry relish for a family dinner, and mebbe some sammiches later, but you won’t be reaching around a huge tub o’ the stuff in the fridge for the foreseeable future.
And, since today is the day our cousins north o’ the border are celebrating Thanksgiving, it seems the perfect time to share this pared down, but still wicked tasty, holiday tradition.
INGREDIENTS
•12 oz (one bag) fresh cranberries
•Zest of 1 orange
•Zest of 1/2 lemon
•1/3 cup sugar
•1/8 tsp powdered ginger
•3/4 cup sugar
•1 tbsp Aperol*
•1/2 cup orange juice
•2 tbsp lemon juice
*Or any orange liqueur.
Rinse and pick over the cranberries, discarding any wood stems or soft berries, and place in a small pot.
Add the orange and half lemon zest to a blender or food processor with the 1/3 cup of sugar and pulse until nicely combined. Add to the cranberries in the pot.
Stir the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar, ginger, Aperol, orange and lemon juices into the berries and bring to a ‘boiling over’ boil for two or three minutes, just until the berries have burst.
You are gonna want to be stirring this all the time at this point.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool and rest for 30 minutes.
Give it a taste and, if you think it needs it, add more sugar; but, as Julia remarked when she first published this recipe, “recall that this is a relish, and should not be too sweet.” Large batch or small, I have never felt the need to add additional sugar.
Transfer the relish to a blessedly small container and stash in the fridge until needed – it will gel nicely once cooled.
Step away from the canned stuff and enjoy your relish.