Christmas Port & Cranberry Sauce

Christmas Port & Cranberry Sauce

Come Christmas Day, this makes a perfect accompaniment for your turkey and gravy. Also, if you follow this recipe to the letter you will end up with about 3 litres of the stuff, enough to fill 10 large jars (or 15 small ones) so you can give them out as presents for foody friends ahead of the big day. If you are only making for your self then divide all the quantities by 6 (and only use 2 oranges).

Ingredients:

A Whole 1 litre bottle of Port (I know!!)

10 Oranges (you'll need the zest from 6 and the juice from all of them)

6 Star Anise

210g Golden Castor Sugar

1 and a half 340g jars of Redcurrant Jelly

30ml of Brandy

1.5kg of Fresh Cranberries

300g Dry Sweet Cranberries

Edible gold glitter (for sparkle)

Some pretty jars and labels

The Cooking:

Grate the zest of 6 oranges (quite time consuming unless you have a device". Then in a massive pot throw in the fresh cranberries, orange juice and zest, star anise, port and redcurrant jelly and bring to the boil. Keep it at a simmer, giving it a stir every now and then, until the fruit has all burst and the sauce has started to thicken slightly (about an hour).

Turn the heat down, add the brandy and the dried cranberries. Heat through for another 10 minutes then let it all cool. Using a slotted spoon, trawl through the mixture to retrieve and disgard the star anise.

Once cooled the mixture will thicken a lot. Add it to your jars and to give it a bit Christmas sparkle, sprinkle on the top of each one a little bit of edible gold glitter (the one I used was from Waitrose and is called "Bronze Crunch"). One or two tea spoons will be enough for all your jars as you don't want the crunch to dominate. Its just a little decoration.

Keep them in the fridge. They'll keep for a couple of weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving a dollop on your plate of Christmas dinner.

Look at that colour. Its a warming pot full of Christmas!