As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’m always up for cooking something new for dinner. When it comes to Thanksgiving, though, I become a rigid and sentimental traditionalist. I want it all just like last year and the year before, and for me that means turkey with sage stuffing, mashed potatoes and pan gravy, and a few traditional sides, which include, of course, cranberry relish. (And, truth to tell, I’m almost indifferent to turkey –for me, the big bird is really just a vehicle for the stuffing and cranberries.)
Imagine my skepticism, then, when one Thursday morning a few years ago David went quietly to the kitchen and whipped up this newfangled cranberry dish. One spoonful, though, won me over. The dish’s base flavor of cranberries accented with orange is, of course, deliciously traditional. The clove and cinnamon in this recipe are also familiar, but this dish ups the ante with an exotic note cardamom, which, it turns out, goes wonderfully well with cranberries. The real departure from tradition, though, is the addition of jalapeño pepper, which adds a fresh, green flavor and some subtle heat to balance the sweetness of the berries. Roasting rather than stewing the dish is also a nice change. It produces mellower flavors and a chunkier texture and, better yet, gives you some delicious bits of caramelized cranberry and orange zest floating around in the relish. It was an immediate addition to the family Thanksgiving recipe cannon. In another ten years or so, I may be ready for another innovation.
Note: The recipe calls for a little port at the end. If you don’t have any on hand, you could leave it out and still make a delicious relish. Don’t leave out the generous dose of salt, though, even if it seems out of place: it’s essential to bring all of the flavors together.
Recipe
(Adapted from Roasted Cranberry Sauce from Saveur magazine, Issue 115.)
Ingedients
1 orange
1 pound fresh or thawed cranberries
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 green cardamom pods, crushed under the flat of your knife
4 whole cloves
2 sticks cinnamon
1 jalapeño pepper, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoon port
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 450F.
2. Using a vegetable peeler, peel off the orange zest, taking off as little of the white pith as possible. Cut the peeled zest into thin strips. Squeeze the orange, and strain and reserve the juice.
3. Put the cranberries, orange peel, sugar, olive oil, salt, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and jalapeño in a large bowl and toss to coat all well with the sugar.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment and then dump the contents of the bowl onto it.
Roast until the cranberries begin to burst and release their juices, about 10-15 minutes.
5. Scrape the hot, fragrant cranberry mixture into a bowl and stir in about 1 tablespoon of the reserved orange juice and the port. Let the mixture sit for at least an hour to allow the flavors to marry. Eat a few spoonfuls and then remove and discard the cardamom pods, cinnamon and cloves before presenting to your guests.
This relish is excellent with stuffing (and turkey), duck, roast pork and over vanilla ice cream late at night.
