Monday 9 December 2013

Cranberry relish

I am a very visual person. I have to concentrate to understand puns, because when I hear a word, I see it written, so playing around with meanings and homophones passes me by.

So believe me when I say that, although this relish tastes really good, the absolutely best bit about it is the way it sounds when you cook it.

We did our appropriation-of-traditions thing and had ourselves a little Thanksgiving dinner. It was just the two of us and because it isn't really our holiday I felt quite relaxed about paring things back, and making just the elements of the meal that I think sound the most appealing. It's freeing to eat things because they sound nice and not because tradition dictates it.

I'd bought some fresh cranberries and frozen them, without much notion of what I would do with them, but then I decided that a sauce or relish really was in order. I read a lot of recipes and was disappointed by nearly all of them - they were just cranberries and sugar, and I didn't want to put jam on my meat. Martha Stewart's cranberry and ginger sounded much more my cup of tea, although it was far too big a batch. I altered the proportions a bit to suit our tastes, and it made one medium-sized ramekin of sauce, which will see us through Christmas as well.
Cranberry, chilli and ginger relish

75g caster sugar
75g fresh or frozen cranberries
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1tbs water
1tbs grated ginger
2tbs red wine vinegar

Combine the sugar, cranberries, chilli, water and ginger in a small saucepan and bring gently to the boil, swirling to dissolve the sugar. Boil for about 10 minutes, enjoying the sound of the cranberries popping and sighing and the slightly higher-pitched bursting of the sugary bubbles around them. Stir in the vinegar and bottle in a sterile glass jar.
We had it with a buttery turkey breast joint, green beans and soy-caramel glazed sweet potatoes. Earlier on in the day I'd thought about making mashed potatoes and gravy as well, but decided that this was plenty of food - but mash would have been welcome if any unexpected guests had dropped by. For dessert we had pumpkin babas, so while our meal was pared back, it certainly wasn't austere.



10 comments:

Cuisine de Provence said...

This looks so beautiful (and I bet tastes even better) so now where do I find fresh cranberries around here?

Joanne said...

Cranberries prepared in this spicy sweet savory way are so good!

Alicia Foodycat said...

CdP - British supermarkets have started stocking them but I have NO idea where in Provence you would get them!

Joanne - they really are. I'm looking forward to a brie and cranberry quesadilla at some point!

grace said...

amazing plate of food, and your relish is something to relish, for sure! :)

Barbara said...

Love the twist on cranberry sauce...saving the recipe.
Got your cooking mojo back? :)

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I've been meaning to try making my own relish one day (year) and your description of how it SOUNDS while cooking has given me an extra nudge!

Mary Bergfeld said...

What a nice variation on standard relish. This sounds delicious. Have a wonderful holiday. Blessings...Mary

Shu Han said...

Ah! Nothing like a good homemade cranberry relish! I'm pretty boring when it comes to this, always just cranberries, sugar, and a zest and squeeze of lemon. Green chillies is INSPIRED YOOO.

leaf (the indolent cook) said...

I wish we could find fresh, or even frozen cranberries easily in Australia. This looks delicious!

Faux Fuchsia said...

looks wonderful! can't wait to see your christmas feast xxxx

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