For the cranberry sauce, I prefer homemade. As a child my Thanksgiving dinners bounced between having homemade cranberry sauce (smooth & strained) and Ocean Spray straight from the can. This depended on which home we were celebrating at. For years I have made the smooth kind, simmering the berries in orange juice and then straining them.
The 'real thing' has bits of real cranberries, a bit of bite from ginger and tang from orange zest. The canned 'sauce' is really more of a jelly made from cranberries and corn syrup. Of course it is utterly convenient.
This year, I upped the ante and made Maple Walnut Cranberry Relish. It's a keeper! The zest of one orange and it's fresh squeezed juice. Pure maple syrup, roasted walnuts and a bit of ginger and cinnamon.
1 bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained
the zest of one orange
the justice of one orange with water added to equal one cup
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp of ginger
1/8 tsp of cinnamon
1 Tbl chopped orange zest
a pinch of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (preferably roasted)
DIRECTIONS
- Place cranberries into a large saucepan and stir in orange juice/water, maple syrup, sugar, ginger, orange zest, cinnamon, and salt.
- Bring sauce to a simmer. Berries will begin to pop. Cook at a simmer until berries are cooked through and soft, about 10 minutes.
- Remove saucepan from heat and let cranberry sauce cool for about 5 minutes.
- Stir walnuts into cranberry sauce. Let cool to room temperature and transfer to a serving bowl; sauce will thicken as it cools. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, pushing wrap to touch sauce and refrigerate until needed.
Sauce can be made several days ahead.
It's a good ice cream topper.
Nostalgia aside, I will forever make this version. If you have a family of both canned and homemade fans... serve both. It is a day for love, kindness, gratitude and family after all.