Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Port

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For the past 15 years we have celebrated Christmas in Switzerland. The snow, mountains and trees, indeed the whole atmosphere, is like stepping onto the set of a Christmas movie. For us, it is made even more special because we are able to bring our British traditions with us and I also bring the food! This generally involves a lot of preparation in advance in London; I get as much as possible cooked or prepared and in the freezer, ready to transport in freezer boxes. This way, not only do we have all our comforting flavours of the festive season, it means a lot of the hard work is done and I can just enjoy the holidays.

Despite the fact we are unable to go this year, I am still preparing in advance. Yesterday, I made the Cranberry Sauce and it is already in the freezer, ready for the big day!

Loaded with fresh cranberries, orange segments, clementine juice and port, this delicious sauce is sweet, but not overly so, and is a fabulous accompaniment to turkey and all its trimmings. Totally evocative of Christmas, it is also fabulous served with baked Brie and makes further appearances on subsequent turkey meals such as our Boxing Day Tarte Tatin with sausagemeat stuffing, chipolatas, bacon and bread sauce as well as on a Turkey and Brussel Sprout Risotto with Brie. I also use it in my soft and fluffy Cranberry and Orange Christmas Muffins. It takes only 5 minutes to prepare, 10 -15 minutes to cook and this heavenly versatile sauce is all done and tastes sooo much better than anything you can buy in the shops!

How to make Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Port:

Collect all your ingredients together:

• fresh cranberries
• clementine or orange juice
• port
• zest and segments from an orange
• light muscovado or soft brown sugar
• fine salt

What to do:

1. Put the cranberries in a food processor and pulse to break down the berries. If you prefer whole cranberries, either pulse just half of the cranberries or none at all.
2. Transfer to a saucepan and add the sugar, port and clementine juice.
3. Using a fine grater, remove the zest from the orange and add to the saucepan.
4. Remove the skin and pith from the end of the orange using a sharp knife. Sit the orange on a flat end and remove the rest of the skin and peel.
5. Turn the orange over to ensure all has been removed.
6. Cut out the segments, leaving the skin behind. I tend to do this over the saucepan to collect any juice.
7. Add the segments and squeeze the leftover pith to extract all the remaining juice from the orange.
8. Stir to mix and cook on a moderate heat for 10 – 15 minutes until broken down and slightly thickened. Stir from time to time whilst cooking.
9. All done – serve warm or at room temperature.

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If you want to freeze your Cranberry Sauce with Orange and Port:

1. I freeze in silicone muffin moulds.
2. Pop out when frozen.
3. Store in labelled freezer bags.
4. Defrost in the bag overnight or decant, when frozen, into a bowl to defrost or into a pan if you wish to warm it up.
5. If you forget to defrost, tip into a saucepan with a little water and slowly re-heat over a low heat.

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