Cranberry, Orange, Etc. Relish – This Year’s Iteration
I will be the first person to admit that I am not a planner. I also have the tendency to get an idea in my mind about something and if I can’t find exactly what I want in a recipe on line, I’ll blend two or three ideas in order to come up with my concept.
Two years ago I made a cranberry orange relish after researching recipes on line and the family really liked it. This year we had Christmas at my sister-in-law’s house and she requested a relish. I remembered vague details from two years ago and tried to duplicate it. My kind family had positive things to say about it, but this very tart version was not exactly what I had in mind.
I bought 2 bags of cranberries, a bag of navel oranges, peach preserves and a couple golden delicious apples. I had a bottle of Cointreau left in the freezer from the last time which was a good thing since I completely forgot orange juice. I poured in enough of that to just cover the bottom of my stockpot before opening the cranberries. The first bag of cranberries was fine with only a couple of soft ones. The second bag was a nightmare of rotted fruit and only a third of it was usable.
By this time, my helper had showed up to lend a hand and we picked through the sticky fruit together. After that, I had her grate just a little orange rind into the lightly simmering cranberries. My biggest complaint I had about the previous relish was that the orange flavor overwhelmed the other flavors.
My assistant diced in some oranges and the two apples while I stirred in some of the peach preserves.
I was raised in a household where many recipes were dumped together and I’m proud to have held onto the family tradition – otherwise that little rotten cranberry issue would have thrown a wrench in my plans.
Anyway, the finished product was very tart, but my oldest daughter has continued to eat this today so it wasn’t a total disaster. I’ll have to remember sugar (and orange juice) if I decide to make this next year.
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