A Recipe for Home Made Cranberry Sauce with Merlot

Home made cranberry sauce is something of a special treat to me. Not only is the finished product very tasty this Thanksgiving cranberry recipe makes the whole house smell marvelous when you are cooking it! I used to swear by the sugary little cans of gelatinous red stuff people call cranberry sauce. That was, until I learned how much tastier the real thing can be.

It's pretty much a culinary law that what you get out of a dish is what you put into it. In other words - it's garbage in, garbage out. If your ingredients are not fresh or your preparation is poor the end result will reflect this. The good news is that fresh, beautiful produce is readily available in today's grocery stores. As far as preparation goes, making delicious food such as this Thanksgiving cranberry merlot sauce can be easy if you just take your time and follow the directions.

Ingredients:

One cup merlot wine, it doesn't need to be the best available

Two cups fresh cranberries

Three and a half cups of granulated sugar

Three one quarter ounce packets of dry, unflavored gelatin

One quarter of a teaspoon of table salt

Directions:

Choose fresh, ripe cranberries. They will be bright and glossy, as well as firm and unwrinkled. Another test is whether or not they bounce - bouncing cranberries are fresh!

Pick off any stems or foreign materials and discard any berries that don't appear to be fresh. Then rinse the cranberries well by putting them in a colander and running water over them in the sink. Bring the merlot wine to a boil and add the cranberries and salt. Boil the cranberries in the merlot wine until they are softened. Remove from heat and allow the cranberry sauce mixture to cool enough to be handled. Then pour the hot cranberry and wine mixture into a blender. Use the liquefy setting until the mixture is smooth. Add the packets of unflavored gelatin and pulse to blend.

Return the mixture to the pan and heat on medium, bring the pot to a simmer, stirring frequently to dissolve the gelatin. Add the sugar, stirring as you pour it in. Stir until the ingredients are mixed in thoroughly and the sugar appears to be dissolved. Pour into molds or serving bowls and chill for 8 or more hours or until firm. This cranberry sauce recipe can be prepared several days in advance if kept well covered and refrigerated.

Unmold or slice to serve and garnish with fresh mint if desired.

If desired, all-natural grape juice can be substituted for the merlot wine.