This cranberry orange compote is everything I like about homemade cranberry sauce and the opposite of everything I dislike about canned cranberry jelly. It’s chunky so that you can actually recognize the star ingredient. It maintains the bright sourness of the cranberries and bitterness of the orange rind. It’s subtly sweet without being cloying. You can punch it up or not with a cinnamon stick or two or some finely minced ginger. And it only takes 20 minutes to cook up in a single pot. It’s the simplest dish you can make for the Thanksgiving table and it just begs to be made in advance, even a week or more before the big day. In the world of make your own versus store bought, this is one of the items that tops my list.
I’m not even going to tell you about the aroma in my kitchen. You’ll just have to make this to see for yourself.
Yield: about 3 cups
What You Need:
1 dry quart (approximately 16 ounces) fresh cranberries
1 navel orange
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
¼ cup apple cider
1-2 sticks cinnamon
½ teaspoon fresh ginger, finely minced
1. Rinse the cranberries and discard any that are mushy, browned or dried up. Enlist little hands to help with this if you like.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, peel the orange rind from the orange. Set aside. Peel or cut away the white pith from the orange and discard.
3. Separate the orange sections and dice small (about ¼ inch cubes). Finely mince the orange rind.
4. Combine the cranberries, diced orange, minced orange rind, sugar, apple cider, cinnamon sticks, and ginger in a medium pot. Stir.
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until all cranberries have popped and liquid has reduced.
6. Serve immediately or allow to cool. Transfers to glass jars and store in fridge up to 2 weeks.
Freeze in glass jars or transfer to freezer safe bags and freeze up to 6 months. Defrost in fridge or in a bowl of hot water.
In addition to a turkey side dish, spread this compote on sandwiches, use as a topping to Sweet Potato Waffles and other baked goods, or as a pie or crumb bar filling.