Turkey dinner just isn’t right without some cranberry sauce. I was raised on the old Ocean Spray jellied cranberry sauce in a can. I always liked it as a kid, but I liked it when we went somewhere else and they had cranberry sauce with real cranberries in it. So when I started buying my own sauce, I upgraded to the Ocean Spray whole berry cranberry sauce. This was better! But as I’ve grown in my cooking with Colleen, we like to do as many things fresh as possible. And I was quite sure I could find a good recipe for fresh cranberries that would fit my fresh and tasty sauce needs.
With a bit of internet searching, I found a yummy looking recipe from Emeril that looked easy and includes port wine—which I always have on hand for some other recipes I like to do. We’ve done a lot of Emeril recipes, and he has rarely steered us wrong, and this one is definitely another keeper. And it turns out that Ocean Spray sells fresh cranberries, too, so there’s still a little bit of our old tradition mixed in there.
Pair with some combination of our smoked turkey, sourdough parmesan artichoke dressing, whiskey glazed carrots, or bourbon mashed sweet potatoes…
- 4 cups fresh cranberries
- 2 orange, juiced and zested
- ½ cup Port wine
- 1 cup sugar (plus more reserved, to taste
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tbsp corn starch
- In a small saucepan combine cranberries, orange juice and chopped zest, port wine, sugar and cinnamon
- Bring to a boil
- Reduce to simmer and cook until cranberries are tender, stirring occasionally
- Mix corn starch and 2 tbsp water in a glass and whisk into cranberry sauce
- Continue simmering and whisking until sauce thickens
- Taste the sauce–if it is too tart, add more sugar (I’ve always had to add more sugar)
- Chill–can be done the day before or the morning before and served or transported later
