Cranberry Sauce: 3 Ways

I never met a cranberry sauce that I didn't like. And I have it as a side dish on my plate on Thanksgiving day, not as a condiment. I seriously love the stuff and when I saw those familiar bags at the supermarket, back in October, I had to bring one home to make a fresh cranberry sauce. I enjoyed it slightly warm and it was so tart, that every bite puckered my lips. I love the tartness of cranberries. Don't worry these sauces are nicely sweet and not too tart. You can make all three recipes for the cranberry sauce lovers of the family or double or triple the recipe that calls your name. The rosemary is fun and a little unexpected and savory. The classic is pretty basic with a vanilla twist and the Sriracha is hot and spicy. Enjoy!



Rosemary & Frangelico Cranberry Sauce

• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon Frangelico liqueur
• 1/8 teaspoon finely minced fresh rosemary, plus a few leaves for garnish
• ground black pepper
• sea salt

Almost Classic Cranberry Sauce

• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• generous pinch of cinnamon
• freshly grated nutmeg
• sea salt

Sriracha Cranberry Sauce

• 1 cup cranberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
• a slice of jalapeno pepper plus one for garnish
• freshly grated 70% dark chocolate
• ground black pepper
• sea salt

The easiest way to do this is to use 3 small lidded pots. Have them set up on the stove and drop the ingredients into each one. Bring each pot to a boil on high heat, cover right away and lower the heat. Simmer each pot for 5-10 minutes on low to medium heat. (If using a heavy bottomed pot, like enameled cast iron it's closer to 10 minutes. If using a thinner pot, like stainless steel, it's closer to 5 minutes.) Keep an eye on them and stir occasionally. Serve warm or chilled. Because this takes up 3 burners, it's good to make ahead, if you would like to make these for Thanksgiving day.

*One 12 oz. bag of cranberry gives you 3 cups of cranberries. For the recipes that uses 1/4 cup of sugar, you can increase it to 1/3 cup if you like your sauce sweeter. Each recipe makes about 1/2 a cup of cranberry sauce. The sauces are nice not only with turkey but with pork and chicken also. Increase the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon and it would be nice served warm over vanilla ice cream for dessert.