Roasted Cranberry Sauce with Herbed Candied Walnuts

 

Look, there's cranberry sauce, and then there's "holy shit, this is the best f'ing cranberry sauce I've ever had, don't look at me like that, what, everyone uses a shovel to eat cranberry sauce."

I'll be honest, the only reason I wanted to try this cranberry sauce is because 1) I was in charge or cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving and 2) my herb garden is still cranking out rosemary, sage and thyme like no ones business and I really wanted to say that I had used ingredients from my own garden all the way into Thanksgiving.

I saw the recipe in the November issue of Bon Apetit magazine and thought I'd give it a whirl. What I can say now, with certainty is this recipe will be a staple at every Thanksgiving that I have my hand in going forward. Sorry I didn't post it before the actual Thanksgivign holiday so you could have tried it too, but that's the breaks, save it for next year.

 

Roasted Cranberry Sauce with Herbed Candied Walnuts  

Bon Apetit Magazine

Recipe by Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan

November 2010 

Cranberries

• 1 pound fresh cranberries or frozen, thawed
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons walnut oil
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh sage
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup dry red wine mixed with 2 tablespoons water

Herbed Candied Walnuts

• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons dry red wine
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh sage

• THE TECHNIQUE: ROASTED

  If you can roast other fruit, why not cranberries? High-heat cooking intensifies flavors, no matter what you put in the oven. And in the end, you get soft and caramelized berries.

Preparation

Cranberries

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix first 7 ingredients on heavy rimmed baking sheet. Roast until edges begin to bubble, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven; maintain oven temperature. Bring wine mixture to boil in small saucepan. Stir into cranberry mixture. Roast until juices bubble and cranberries shrivel, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Transfer to medium bowl; cover and chill until cold, about 2 hours. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Keep chilled.

Herbed Candied Walnuts

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Stir sugar and wine in small saucepan over medium heat until syrupy, about 3 minutes. Stir in walnuts and herbs. Transfer mixture to sheet, spreading out and separating nuts. Roast until nuts are brown, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool. Break up any clumps of nuts. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature. Add nuts to cranberry mixture. 
  
  

 Rating = So Damn Good