The One Dish You Should Make This and Every Thanksgiving
Roasted Cranberry Sauce (recipe below)
Let’s face it, many in America make a juicy turkey, fragrant stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes, perfectly roasted green beans, bread rolls. Most of us also buy the same canned cranberry sauce we grew up eating at our grandparents and parents tables.
It’s the one staple, if ditched, tastes wildly better when homemade. Imagine a tangy and sweet sauce with a little bite served alongside your favorite Thanksgiving meal. Is your mouth watering, yet? A roasted cranberry sauce is an extremely easy dish to make and it offers the greatest wow factor. Your family will thank you profusely. Mine do and they look forward to it every single year.
Say goodbye to boring gelatinous cranberry puree and start enjoying a fragrant, fresh sauce. Thumb your nose at 2020 with all its unhappy surprises and make your own tasty cranberry celebration.
Terry’s Roasted Cranberry Sauce (Adapted from Saveur)
Ingredients
1 orange
1 pound of fresh or frozen cranberries (picked over)
2 shallots*
1 small jalapeño stemmed, seeded and finely chopped*
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of olive oil
½ teaspoon of vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom seeds
4 whole cloves
2 Ceylon cinnamon sticks (or any you have on hand)
2 tablespoons of brandy*
Heat oven to 450º. Zest one orange (or peel it — orange part only and cut into small strips). Juice the orange and reserve 1 tablespoon of it. Place cardamom, cloves, cinnamon sticks in a square of cheesecloth and tie into a knot.
Peel and dice your shallots, finely. Combine them with zest, cranberries, jalapeño, olive oil, vanilla, sugar and salt and spices. Stir and place on a parchment lined jelly roll pan (this keeps the juices from running). Roast approximately 15 minutes. Cranberries should begin to swell and then release juices.
Put cranberries in a bowl and add orange juice and brandy. Let it sit for an hour and cool. Remove the cheesecloth with spices. I make this ahead and put into a Weck canning jar then refrigerate. *You can omit, jalapeños, shallots, and brandy.
