I always try to figure out a new way to make plain old cranberry sauce interesting this time of year. Maybe it's seeing the towering wall of gelled cranberry-in-a-can at the store is what always motivates me to try something completely different. Making cranberry from scratch is super-easy and only takes about an hour at most. Since whole (huge!) pomegranates seem to be popping up everywhere for cheap right now, I think this sauce will be a good addition to this year's Thanksgiving table.
I'm going to experiment today with cranberry-clementine and triple-ginger cranberry-apple. Basically, you can make up any combination of juice, zest, sugar, spice, and cranberries -- it's sure to be better than whatever is hiding out in those cans.
Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce
2 pints cranberries (organic ones taste sweeter)
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 whole pomegranate
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 tbsp. honey
Meyer lemon zest
pinch of salt
dash of clove powder
Rinse cranberries and pour them into a tall-ish saucepan. Pour in pom juice. Turn heat on medium-low. Cut the whole pomegranate and remove the seeds; you can run them through a food processor and strain out the seeds. Pour that into the pan along with the sugar, honey, lemon zest, salt, and clove. Cook for about 30-40 minutes until the cranberries pop and the sauce thickens.
