No-Fail Cranberry Sauce

In June, several of my beloved cookbooks met their demise. I have not recovered from the loss. Every time my darling husband says it could have been worse and we didn't lose much I get a stinging sensation in my chest. While he's accurate on both counts, those cookbooks are a loss I feel over and over again. They were my diaries. Every recipe I tried I wrote the date next to the recipe with notes in the margin about successes, challenges and improvements for the next time. Often I noted which wine we drank with it.



One of the cookbooks that died was titled, I believe, Barefoot Contessa Parties! This week I miss that book, a lot. It contained the best cranberry sauce recipe I'd ever produced. I'd forgotten about this loss until I went to look for it this morning in an attempt to be ahead of the curve for the Thanksgiving meal. It was missing from the shelf. There's no time to order it, and yet I must have sauce for Thursday. What's a girl to do but create her own?!



I have some biases that color my recipe. First, I don't think the sauce should be overly sweet. It should be a nice balance of sweet and tart and even a little bitter to balance the other flavors on the table from turkey to sweet potatoes to stuffing. Second, it should taste fresh, really fresh. Freshness is achieved with citrus.


Third, it should have texture. I can eat smooth sauce when I am in the nursing home.


Fourth, the recipe should double or even triple easily, and this one does. Here's what a double recipe looks like before it is simmered. You'll want to cook this in a 4 quart or 5 quart stock pan.


Molly's No-Fail Cranberry Sauce
Serves 4

1 twelve ounce bag fresh cranberries (if desperate, frozen is fine).
1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar (sweetness is personal, add more if you like a sweet sauce)
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 cup water

Combine all ingredients in a 2 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil and then immediately turn down the heat to low so that it softly simmers. If you don't do this step, the sauce will boil over in fairly short order. And no, that has never happened to me. Ever. Seriously. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Time depends on thickness desired. Simmer it longer for a thicker sauce. Also, remember it will thicken as it cools. Once cooled, it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.

If you want to take the sauce to the next level, add:

• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or 1/2 tablespoon ground ginger
• pinch of nutmeg
• right before serving, stir in 1/2 cup toasted pecans
• 1/2 cup diced Granny Smith or Fuji apple

Happy Thanksgiving!