Cranberry sauce becomes so much more than a condiment when you take the time to make it from scratch. The problem with making it in the UK, is getting hold of fresh cranberries, which are usual only available for a week or two in December and cost a bomb to buy.
My Cranberry sauce recipe uses dried cranberries, which are available year round and are much cheaper than fresh.
This is the recipe I use year round in our pub, it's so tasty and requires no difficult to get hold of ingredients.
Cranberry Sauce Recipe (using dried cranberries)
Ingredients
150g dried cranberries (if unsweetened you will need to add 25g sugar)
One tsp mixed spice
75ml Orange juice
25ml port
One table spoon butter
The first step of this cranberry sauce recipe is soaking the dried cranberries in Orange juice. Do this for as long as possible. This stage dehydrate the fruit and makes it nice and plump.
Next melt the butter and mixed spice in the pan. Add the cranberries, and warm through. Once they are hot deglaze the pan with your port.
Turn the temperature right down, and allow the mix to thicken and get a bit sticky. If you bought unsweetened cranberries, now is the time to add your sugar.
Once finished your cranberry sauce will look kind of like a chutney, dried cranberries hold their shape really well.
Your sauce will last at least two weeks in the fridge, making it perfect for Christmas day and all the cold cuts that follow. This cranberry sauce also makes wickedly good brie toasties.
If you want to make a larger portion, this sauce will also freeze. Just scale up the ingredients.
