Cooking with Britt - Cranberry Sauce

I like to cook. More importantly, I like good food, prepared to my taste, and cheap. Which means cooking it myself is the best solution unless it's Papa John's pizza or Yia Yia ice cream. Usually I get a hankering for something (hankering is a surprisingly underused word in my opinion), and then try to find a recipe that seems about right. I hardly ever follow the recipe exactly - I consider them to be more "guidelines" than anything else - and, in my humble opinion, it usually turns out to be pretty darn good.

Sometimes it takes several efforts before I master it, as is the case with my homemade cranberry sauce recipe, which actually started life as a cranberry chutney. I make it every year, sometimes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and every year something changes. This year I was given the most solid of compliments yet: Sean, who adores the gelatinous, wobbly, can-shaped version of cranberry sauce, actually said that mine topped that. Now, some might not see that as a compliment because, really, who could do worse than the canned sauce, right? But to him, this was a James Beard award.

So, in the spirit of the holidays, and with the potential for this to become a regular feature, here is:

Britt's Cranberry Sauce
1/2 mild onion, diced (yellow or sweet onion will do)
3 tbsp. butter
4 cups fresh cranberries (or two small bags)
1 cup dried apricots
Two apples, peeled, cored and diced
Zest and juice of one orange
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup candied ginger, diced small (this is a KEY ingredient)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup candied or roasted pecans or walnuts, chopped (you can candy by spraying with Pam, tossing with some sugar, and baking in an oven until the sugar is melted up, about 10 minutes - or just roast without sugar if preferred - then chop)

Sautee the onions with the butter until clear, then toss everything else in the pot except for the nuts and simmer at medium-low stirring every few minutes. I like to pop the cranberries as they get hot - kind of like bubble wrap! After about 15 minutes everything will have cooked down and you shouldn't see any chunks of fruit any longer. Toss in the nuts just before serving!

This is an inexact recipe - the actual measurements aren't crucial, so don't worry about measuring cups and spoons, etc., just eyeball it and if you want more or less of anything, go for it. Seriously.

Most of the ingredients can be prepped a day or two ahead of time and then just thrown together, which makes it much easier. This recipe written out makes it look more difficult than it actually is, but take my word for it - easy-peasy.

I feel like I need a catch phrase to wrap up food posts.... How about "Yu-hum!" or "Straight to my hips and worth every ounce"? No, those aren't quite right. I'm open to suggestions - if I pick yours, I might show up at your door with food!