CRANBERRY AND APPLE SAUCE

Just in time for Thanksgiving – perfect Cranberry and Apple Sauce! Forget about canned Cranberry Sauce. It might me cheap, but I strongly encourage you to cook with fresh ingredients, and once you do, you’ll never be able to go back to canned, full of preservatives food. Train your taste buds to love good food. Speaking of taste buds… mine, Eastern European ones, couldn’t get used to the idea of complimenting meats with sweet sauces. Now I can totally understand how this Cranberry Sauce can bring turkey meat to life. This Cranberry and Apple Sauce can be done up to a week in advance before your holiday dinner. Make an extra batch and have your family enjoy it on a toast, we sure did. The kids loved it!

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh cranberries
2 apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
1 orange (juice and zest)
1 cup sugar
1 star anise (optional)
salt, pepper
1 tablespoon red wine

Over medium heat, place sugar and star anise in a pan. Star anise is optional here, but it sure adds to a wonderful flavor. Allow sugar to melt and form a caramel.

Add cranberries. Let cranberries blister, about 2 minutes. At this point our house smelled heavenly, as the caramel and cranberries were “marrying” each other. And as soon as the aromas kicked in, my kids were on a stand by ready to sample. I knew it right then that this recipe is here to stay.

Add apples, a touch of salt and pepper, which helps to balance acidity of the apples, and
mix well.

Deglaze the pan with red wine. Add juice and zest of one orange. Cook 5-10 minutes until the sauce thickens.

The sauce will thicken more as it cools down.

Enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s Christmas video.