You spend days or even weeks planning Thanksgiving dinner and then you spend hours cooking an amazing turkey, perfect stuffing, fluffy mashed potatoes, delicious casseroles and pies pies pies! But what about the cranberry sauce? Most of us just make one simple decision – whole berry or jellied. We decant the can and call it done. This year why not kick it up a few notches and try this amazing intensely flavorful cranberry sauce!
Ingredients:
2 TBLSP Pine Nuts
2 TBLSP Hulled Raw Pepitas (Pumpkin Seeds)
3/4 cup + 2 TBLSP Elderberry Cordial
1-1/3 cups Fresh Cranberries
4 tsp diced Jalapeno Pepper
1/2-1 tsp ground dried Chipotle Pepper*
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
2 TBLSP chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes packed in Oil
2 TBLSP olive oil or oil from dried tomatoes
1 1/2 packed tsp orange zest
Raw Pepitas for garnish
Preparation
Preheat oven to 300°. Toast pine nuts for 8 minutes and the pumpkin seeds for 6, or until very lightly toasted.
Set aside to cool.
In a medium saucepan, combine 3/4 cup Elderberry Cordial and washed and picked-over cranberries. Heat pot over medium-high. Meanwhile, measure into the cran-elderberry mixture jalapeno pepper, ground chipotle (you can add more if you like it smoky and hot), sea salt and cinnamon. Reduce heat and simmer over medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened. Stir in 2 more tablespoons of Elderberry Cordial and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Coarsely chop oil marinated sun-dried tomatoes. Place nuts into the work bowl of a food processor or a mini-processor and pulse 8 times until roughly chopped. Add cran-elderberry mixture, sundried tomatoes, olive oil and orange zest. Pulse another 8-12 times until well combined the texture remains interesting.
Taste and adjust seasoning as you like. Garnish with pepitas.
YIELD: 1 full cup
Delicious served with poultry, salmon, winter squash or as a condiment on a chicken or turkey sandwich.
*If you can’t find already ground chipotle peppers, buy dried ones and grind them in a spice/coffee grinder or a high-powered blender such as a vita-mix. Or, you may substitute canned chipotle peppers to taste.