Recipe 47: Orange Cranberry Sauce

This recipe may become more than just a good recipe. It has potential to become one of my favorite memories of working through this cookbook. There have been recipes James and I both said: Wow! That's great! to, and recipes we've hated. (Others have told me Broccoli Rabe is very bitter as well). But James was adamant that he was not going to like this recipe. He does not like whole berry cranberry sauces. I, too, prefer the jellied cranberry sauce and generally will not attempt to taste a whole-berry cranberry sauce. I even considered jellying this recipe, but I make it as close to exact as I can the first time. I did consider and even suggest to James that we would like the whole berry one more because it was homemade and fresh. He didn't think so, he'd had those before. He would try it, but he probably wouldn't like it.

So, one evening when James and Briannag were visiting, I got out the cranberries and put them in the pan. I added the orange zest and juice(fresh squeezed by my hands). I added the port and tasted it--it was far too sweet. Then I added the sugar, cinnamon and cardamom. Only a 1/2 tsp of each spice is required. These can be very powerful spices. I stuck to this limit. Then I brought the mixture to a boil, stirring it often. Once it come to a boil, I reduced the heat to simmer for 10 minutes, maybe a little longer. James was commenting that it made my house smell wonderful. He still didn't think he would like it.

While I was simmering the cranberries, I toasted the pecans I had. I pulled them out of the oven after about 5 minutes, and tasted them. I thought maybe I had slightly overcooked the pecans but they were what I had and they didn't taste like charcoal, so I added them to the cranberry mix. I let the sauce cool down until it no longer burned the roof of my mouth as I tasted it. This took will power. Once it was cool enough to serve, I served up some for me, and brought it in for James to taste test. I was soon informed that I would need a second bowl as that was very good cranberry sauce.

And the second best part, I didn't need a sous-chef;-).

I will be making these later this week to can and present as "Enjoy me now" Christmas gifts. The recipe states "The sauce can be made up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve." I haven't tried freezing this recipe and I'm not sure I will. I'm not sure it will last long enough to, or that a big enough batch will be made at one time to require freezing. But it is a great prepare ahead of time dish for a party. I will definitely make this recipe again. I expect James will request this recipe again.