Easy Cranberries for the Holidays

Cranberries are AWESOME!! You don't even have to eat them, just enjoy the sparkle in the candle light or watch them glistening next to that brownish colored turkey and dressing. They liven up your plate, palate, and dinner table. Don't get caught with those canned ridges and tube shape. It gives away the simple fact that you weren't able to manage the easy task of cooking cranberries from scatch. Come on, folks: Be Brave! Be Bold!! Let's venture to our local market and/or cranberry patch and "harvest" a fresh package (or three.) Meander with me over to the kitchen stove and let's create a memorable and beautiful side dish for the holidays.

The first thing to know is that cranberries freeze well. So while you shop for those Thanksgiving berries, go ahead and pick up enough for Christmas, Chanukkah, Kwaanza, or even just a special Sunday night dinner. You don't even have to rinse them, just pop them in the freezer bag and remember them when the time comes. Also, cranberry relish is a great prepare ahead dish. It sits fine, covered in your refrigerator, for THREE weeks. You can freeze the prepared relish for 6 months or more, and just bring it out to defrost while you're working on the rest of the big culinary repast!

Cranberries are exciting. Maine is known for their offerings, but just up the road from my house is the Centennial Cranberry Farm, located in Paradise, Michigan. The fruit is harvested and available for purchase in October and November. Cranberries grow in bogs and obviously do well in the Northern Tier areas. In fact, my area farm actually sold out of their local fresh berries back on October 26th!! The bulk of their products are shipped out to wholesalers, filling early seasonal orders, so plenty are available on the shelves at your local grocer. But the farm's website is filled with interesting photos and information and recipes. Be sure to give them a look-see at www.centennialcranberry.com

So, you have your cranberries in hand, and you've frozen the extra packages for future use. Now is the time to get cooking! Let's start with the easiest recipe, found on most packages in one form or another. Can you boil water? Well, we're halfway there! Seriously, folks...just get yourself a nice sturdy pan, add two (2) cups of water or apple juice, 3/4-1 cup of sugar, and FOUR (4) cups of cranberries. Take about 3/4 tsp of fresh orange or lemon zest (the skin of the fruit, using a grater or zester if you have one) and add that. Bring the contents of your pot to boil at medium-high heat, and then simmer at a lower temperature, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until your sauce has thickened. It doesn't need to be super-thick, as the sauce sets up when it cools. And that's it, that's your basic cranberry sauce! Feel free to add pears to this basic recipe. Pears always go well with your cranberries.

Of course you get much fancier than Simple Cranberry Relish! Just two days ago, I saw our local DAV (Disabled American Veterans) chapter president setting up for a bake sale in the lobby of our local grocer. Once I packed away my groceries into the truck, I walked back to pick up some baked goods. Lo and behold! What were the first two things she unpacked from her boxes and bags? Two cranberry pies...one with nuts and the other without. Well, I got the first one, and it was absolutely awesome! No pastry crust to content with, and the pie itself was delightful. We were all fighting over it back home. Here's the recipe:

1 cup white flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 eggs
1 tsp almond extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 inch pie plate. Combine the flour, sugar and salt. Next, stir in the cranberries and walnuts.

2. Melt your butter, beat your eggs and add both (along with that almond extract) to the cranberry mixture. If you used frozen berries, that's fine, but remember that the mixture will be pretty thick.

3. Spread the batter onto the prepared pie tin and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. You should be able to insert a wooden toothpick and have it come out clean, showing your batter has cooked sufficiently. My friend uses an extra half cup or so of cranberries, and feel free to experiment. This is a good recipe for new cooks...pretty easy to follow, and fairly forgiving so long as you don't over cook (or undercook) your batter.

This pie is great with whipped cream or ice cream.

So, now you're on your way to being remembered as the Cranberry King (or Princess)! I'd like to close with one other common, easy to prepare recipe, using UNCOOKED berries. This is the latest thing, good for fiber and nutrients and the organic crowd. Not too long ago, cooking the cranberries was standard. Nowadays, people are working with fresher, less processed ingredients. Give it a whirl...this dish is tasty and refreshing!

Use a food processor or chopper to combine 2 cups cranberries, 1 can crushed pineapple, 2 Granny Smith Apples (peeled, cores removed, and quartered,) and 2 cups drained Mandarin Oranges. Blend into small chunks and taste. Add sugar if needed. Usually, the added fruits are enough to sweeten the tart cranberries. Savor and Enjoy!

Check out the internet, there's more cranberry recipes floating out there in Cyberspace. Please feel free to comment with your own family favorite, and I hope I've convinced a few of you to try your hand at fresh cranberries this season.

Happy Thannksgiving, one and all! Enjoy your Holidays and All the Best (Cooking) in the Coming New Year!