A tale of two cranberries

I grew up eating jelly cranberry sauce, from the can.  Even now I love to see the ridges that are molded into the cranberry when it is plopped onto a plate, makes me nostalgic.  However, my personal dining tastes have evolved a bit and I like to experiment in the kitchen so have not been satisfied with the jelly for years, each year I tweak my recipes.  This year, I made two different sauces for Thanksgiving dinner.  The first is my spicy cranberry sauce:

• one bag of cranberries, sorted and rinsed
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 3 serrano chiles, sliced (remove the seeds if you want less heat)
• 1/2 cup cilantro, stems removed
• 1/2" ginger, grated

Add all the above into a medium sized sauce pan and bring to a boil, simmer until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens.  Chill overnight to allow the flavors to intensify.

The second is the sweet cranberry sauce:

• one bag of cranberries, sorted and rinsed
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 apple, peeled and cored
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg

Add all the above into a medium sized sauce pan and bring to a boil, simmer until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens. Chill overnight to allow the flavors to intensify.


Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by those you love, I will share a few more recipes from our day with you all this weekend!