You always know Christmas is coming when the greengrocers start displaying packs of fresh cranberries, but it’s a great pity they only tend to get used at this time of year.
Of course they are nice when they are fresh, but these sharp and acidic berries also keep beautifully in the freezer and I always buy several packs and stash them away to use later on.
In fact, two of my recipes today were made with berries from last year. I usually like to use them up by the end of the year and buy again when the new season’s supplies come in, but I checked the sell-by date on a pack in the supermarket freezer last week which was September 2015, so mine still had a long way to go.
Native to North America, cranberries were used for centuries by the American Indians for both food and medicine, and were it not for the Indians’ help with such foods as corn, pumpkin and cranberries, the first European settlers would have probably starved, which is why those particular foods are an important part of the American Thanksgiving table.
Cranberries contain high levels of vitamin C which helped to prevent scurvy in sailors, in much the same way as limes did for English sailors. As an anonymous writer once said, cranberries “were excellent against the scurvy and for allaying the fervour of hoof diseases”.
He didn’t say whether animal or human hooves, but I think that’s enough trivia for one day, so I’ll get on with the recipes!
I’ll start with chicken breasts stuffed with sausage meat and dried cranberries, wrapped in Parma ham and served with a cranberry gravy, which elicited several nods of approval from my other half. Together with some Brussels sprouts and roast potatoes, they would make up an individual Christmas dinner on a plate, and as they can be prepared hours in advance and left covered in the fridge until you’re ready to cook, they make a good choice for a seasonal dinner party.
Next up is a big beautiful pie. It’s full of apples, pears and cranberries and covered with pastry stars, so if your family are not big fans of Christmas pudding, it makes a delicious dessert for the Big Day, served with whipped cream or lashings of hot brandy-laced custard.
Then there are two more desserts. The first is a fairly unusual cranberry and mandarin meringue pie.
It’s made like lemon meringue with eggs and cornflour, but uses a purée of cranberries and the rind and juice of mandarins instead of lemons.
The recipe is for a large pie serving six, but for the picture I halved the recipe and made a smaller one, otherwise, as there are just the two of us, we’d be eating cranberry desserts well into the new year!
I made the cranberry and ginger trifles in individual sundae glasses, but you can of course make it in one big glass dish.
You should find crystallised ginger in the Good Earth section of larger supermarkets, but if you can’t see it, leave it out and add the grated rind of a large orange and a splash of orange juice instead.
So buy a few extra packs and tuck them away in your freezer to make some cool and tasty desserts in the summer months when Christmas is but a distant memory.
Chicken with cranberry and sausage stuffing
(Serves 6)
100g pack dried cranberries
100ml cranberry juice
Olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
6 small pork sausages, skins removed
4 tbsp fresh white breadcrumbs
8 sage leaves, chopped, or 1tsp dried sage
Salt and pepper
6 large chicken breast halves
6 slices Parma ham
Flour
200ml chicken stock
Put the cranberries and juice into a bowl and let them soak for at least an hour.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a small pan and fry the onion until it starts to soften. Crumble the sausage meat into a bowl and add the onion, breadcrumbs and sage. Drain the cranberries, reserve the juice and one tablespoon of the berries, then add the rest of the fruit to the sausage mixture. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
Preheat the oven to 190˚C. Trim the fillets from the underside of the chicken breasts and save them for another use. Slit the breasts horizontally down one side and open them out like a book. Put them between two sheets of cling film and pound gently with a rolling pin until they are a uniform thickness.
Divide the stuffing between the breasts, spreading it down the middle, flip the ends up over the stuffing, then roll the chicken up, and wrap in slices of Parma ham. Put the rolls into a roasting tin, brush them with a little oil and cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, cover and keep warm.
Sprinkle enough flour into the pan to absorb the fat and cook gently for two minutes, then blend in the chicken stock and reserved cranberry juice, bring to the boil and simmer for two more minutes. Stir in the reserved cranberries, taste and season as necessary. Slice the chicken breasts into rounds, serve on warm plates, spoon over a little of the sauce and serve the rest separately.
Starry cranberry, pear and apple pie
(Serves 6)
3 Granny Smith apples
2 large firm but ripe pears
345g bag fresh or frozen cranberries
120g sugar
350g plain flour
175g butter
2 egg yolks and 1 egg white
2 level tbsp cornflour
½ tsp cinnamon
Sugar for dredging
Peel, core and slice the apples and pears and put them into a pan, together with the cranberries. Add half the sugar and two tablespoons of water and bring the fruit to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the apples and pears are soft and the cranberries have collapsed, then leave the fruit to cool.
Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter. Add the two yolks and three tablespoons of iced water and mix to a dough, adding more water as necessary. Turn the dough out on to a floured surface and knead lightly.
Divide the dough in half and use one half to line a 23-cm pie dish, then wrap the remaining half in cling film and chill both in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put a baking sheet in to heat.
Mix the rest of the sugar, the cornflour and cinnamon, stir it into the fruit mixture and then turn it all into the pie dish.
Roll out the remaining pastry and, using a star-shaped cutter, stamp out lots of stars and top the pie with them, overlapping them so that the pie is covered, gathering up and re-rolling the pastry as necessary to make more stars. Whisk the egg white until frothy, then brush it lightly all over the pie. Dredge with sugar, stand the pie on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes until crisp and golden brown. This is delicious served with cream or brandy-laced custard.
Cranberry and mandarin meringue pie
(Serves 6)
345g bag fresh or frozen cranberries
120g sugar, plus 4 tbsp extra
4 mandarin oranges
4 eggs, separated
3 tbsp cornflour
23-cm pre-baked sweet shortcrust pastry case
150g caster sugar
Put the cranberries, 120g of sugar and two tablespoons of water into a pan and cook gently until the cranberries burst and completely collapse, then rub them through a sieve and return them to the pan. Add the grated rind of two of the mandarins and the squeezed juice of all four.
Beat the egg yolks, cornflour and the four tablespoons of sugar and add them to the cranberries. Bring to the boil, stirring, until the mixture thickens, then lower the heat and simmer for two minutes. Stand the pastry case on a baking sheet and pour in the cranberry custard.
Whisk the egg whites in a clean bowl until soft peaks form, then gradually add the caster sugar, whisking all the time until the meringue is stiff and glossy. Pile it on to the tart, swirling it over and sealing it right on to the edges of pastry. Bake for about 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown, then allow to cool before serving.
Cranberry and ginger trifle
(Serves 6)
345g bag fresh or frozen cranberries
120g sugar plus 2 tbsp extra
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp cornflour
300ml milk
400ml cream
2 tbsp finely chopped crystallised ginger
150ml sweet sherry, sweet wine or cranberry juice
18 sponge finger biscuits
2 tbsp dried cranberries, soaked in 1 tbsp of sherry or cranberry juice
Roughly chopped crystallised ginger to decorate.
Put the cranberries, 120g of the sugar and 100ml of water into a pan and bring them to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries have burst and collapsed, then let them cool.
Whisk the egg yolks, the extra two tablespoons of sugar and the cornflour together. Heat the milk and 150ml of the cream until hot but not boiling, pour it on to the egg mixture and whisk well. Return it all to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring constantly.
Lower the heat and simmer for two minutes, then pour the custard into a bowl and let it cool. Whip another 150ml of cream until stiff and fold it into the custard together with the chopped crystallised ginger.
Put the sherry, wine or cranberry juice into a shallow bowl. Break the sponge fingers into three pieces. Quickly dip half of the pieces into the sherry, just enough to moisten them, and divide them between six sundae glasses or glass dishes. Divide half the cranberries and then half the custard between the glasses, then repeat with the rest of the sponge fingers, dipping them first in the sherry, then cranberries and finally the custard.
Whisk the remaining cream and either spread or pipe or swirl it over the trifles and decorate with the soaked, dried cranberries, some roughly chopped crystallised ginger and mint leaves. Chill until ready to serve.