Cranberry recipes needed, please

[Christine]

I bought eight 400g punnets of cranberries, reduced in Sainsburys to 10p a punnet!
I wanted to make chutney and similar goodies but can't find any recipes in my books - some of which are so old, cranberries probably hadn't been heard of in this country!

Any ideas? I don't want to waste a bargain by experimenting too wildly as they don't seem to have properties similar to anything else I've previously used and I can't count on adapting the recipes. They're all in the freezer for the moment but I had to make space by giving my mum a duck - so now they're very expensive cranberries but my parents get to eat the duck...

[zombiecazz]

When cooking red cabbage. Throw in some chopped apple, some cranberries, some cider and a spoon of sugar yum yum.

To make a a cranberry Relish I would use this Rowan relish and replace the rowan with cranberries. Then I'd possibly add some star anise for extra flavour, goes nice with cranberry.

[townie smallholder]

Here is a recipe for Cranberry Jam (courtesy of Nigella Lawson and her book Feast.. it has a very nice Cranberry Bakewell Tart Recipe in it too using the Cranberry Jam..

Here goes:

CRANBERRY JAM..

350g Cranberries
350g Caster Sugar

Put a film of water in the bottom of a large saucepan and add the cranberries and sugar.

Stir patiently over a low heat to dissolve the sugar; this will take a little while.

Turn up the heat and coil the pan rapidly until setting point is reached, approximately 7 minutes (alternatively it will have reached a jam like consistency)

Pour the jam into a sterilized 350ml jar and seal immediantely.

You have options here you can use the cranberry jam just as it is on warm buttery croissants or bread, toast and so on, or you can use it as an alternative filling for mince pies.

I dont think you need an excuse to make it - it looks so ludicrously festively red as it cooks, that that's impetus for me - but the cranberry bakewell tart really is the perfect seasonal pastry

[Chickpea]

I've heaved some into mincemeat, Christmas cakes, muffins. I make Cranberry sauce by throwing a packet of cranberries into a pan with the rind and juice of an orange, a few cloves and a cinnamon stick, a bit of fresh grated ginger quite a lot of caster sugar and a splash of watyer, then simmer it all up for a bit. Delia recommends a glug of port at the end and who am I to disagree? Chill it and serve it with hot or cold meats and best of all in cold turkey sandwiches.

I made HFWs redcurrant and chilli jam and found it to be a marvellous addition to cold meats. Cranberry and Chilli jam would surely be just as good.

The only thing to remember is that they are very tart. Not as bad as sloes but that's the kind of idea. So you need to add a lot of sugar to offset that, especially in things like muffins. Apart from that, bite the bullet and experiment. What's the worst that can happen?

[Christine]

Thanks for all those - I guess HFW is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (to whom apols if I've misspelt his name) and I'll look up that recipe as I love chilli!
I used dried cranberries in the mincemeat this year instead of cherries (no price reductions at the right time, but I'll be keeping some frozen for next year) as my sister hates cherries and that was very successful.

The rowan substitute and the DG's recipe are definitely worth a try, too.
Any more recipes - do let me know!

[Kev]

Theres a few here:
http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cranberries.htm
Sorry could not do it as a link you can clink on but if you copy a paste the address it will take you to the page. Hope they are helpfull.

[Kev]

Oh maybe i can do it as a click on link.

[Christine]

Thank you, Kev, for the link - which works perfectly. clever you! I tried googling but couldn't find anything much. You must be an expert at search criteria!