My Favorite Cranberry Orange Pecan Compote

Cooking is really what you love in your flavor wheel house. There is no right or wrong way to make a cranberry compote as far as flavor profiles. Occasionally I have read that people will add some jalapeño even for a change. The techniques will get you where you need to for the finished food but flavors?  That is really up to your tastebuds.

For more cranberry compote recipes click here. 

My Favorite Cranberry Orange Pecan Compote

peel orange with vegetable peeler for strips
but just the colorful part

My Favorite Cranberry Orange Pecan Compote

6 servings +

Ingredients

1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar, white or light brown
3 - 1" wide strips of orange peel                                          

 





     

shelled pecans

14 oz fresh whole cranberries
2/3 cup chopped toasted pecans










Preparation

Into a saucepan bring orange juice and sugar to a boil.   Add the cranberries, orange peel, and simmer till the berries start popping and liquid thickens.  When ready to cool, thoroughly stir in the toasted pecans to spread evenly.  Leave the peel in or remove if you wish. The liquid will thicken more while cooling. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you need to serve. Serving suggestion: top with some grated orange rind and sprinkled chopped toasted pecans. This will be colorful and let the guests know exactly what's in the compote.

4 Ways to Make Cranberry Lovin' Compotes

Come October I'm ready to see the leaves turning their glorious splendor.  I'm fortunate to live overlooking the New Jersey Palisades which turn brilliant across the Hudson River and often the contrast of the warm yellows, oranges, and reds against the grayish but still sunny skies is incredible! But no doubt about it, my favorite season is autumn because of the foods, warm fires and sitting with friends enjoying each other's company which is some of the best things in life!  I always look forward to the change of seasons even though I'm sad to see summer leave so soon but I will miss those luscious fully vine ripened tomatoes sadly!

I have a long time love affair with cranberries, pumpkin, and the winter squashes.  Here are just a few of my many recipes for that help with my addiction to cranberry compotes.   Don't just think of them as a side to pork, turkey, chicken or even duck, but rather a tasty addition to some plain or vanilla yogurt or in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Be creative with these cranberry compote recipes!

You'll see that I love to save good glass containers to use over and over and may recognize these jars from a particular French jelly company.  Wash and sterilize them.  My favorite labels I order are Ball Labels from Amazon.  I love these labels because they remove easily and I even often cover the computer cameras with them when I'm not using video chat since they are so easy to use and remove cleanly.

Any of these recipes can be made with absolutely fresh cranberries or frozen whole cranberries.  No need to defrost when using the frozen.  I stock up in October to make sure I always have plenty of whole berries in the freezer.  Wrap them tightly in foil and a zip lock for longer term storage.  They will keep for 1 year in the freezer.

 My Favorite Cranberry Orange Pecan Compote

The Very Berry Basic Whole Berry Cranberry Compote

6 servings +

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
14 oz fresh whole cranberries

Preparation

Into a saucepan bring water and sugar to a boil. Add the cranberries and simmer till the berries start popping and liquid thickens. The liquid will thicken even more while cooling. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you need to serve.

Beautiful plump raw right from freezer cranberries

The Uncanny Smooth  Style Jellied Cranberry Jelly 

6 servings +

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
14 oz fresh whole cranberries

Preparation

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a saucepan . Add the cranberries and simmer till the berries start popping and the liquid thickens.  Before allowing to cool down, strain the sauce using a wire strainer set over a bowl. Work carefully because those hot sugary syrups really can give quite a nasty burn. Once most of the liquid is strained out, then use a sturdy spoon to mash down the berries and get the remaining juices.  Don't forget to scrape the outside of the strainer to get all the fine pulp into the liquid in the bowl. The liquid will thicken more while cooling. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you need to serve.

Shelled Pecans

                    

Fresh Oranges, peel with vegetable peeler but just the colorful part

My Favorite Cranberry Orange Pecan Compote

6 servings +

Ingredients

1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar, white or light brown
3 - 1" wide strips of orange peel
14 oz fresh whole cranberries
2/3 cup chopped toasted pecans

Preparation

Into a saucepan bring orange juice and sugar to a boil.   Add the cranberries, orange peel, and simmer till the berries start popping and liquid thickens.  When ready to cool, thoroughly stir in the toasted pecans to spread evenly.  Leave the peel in or remove if you wish. The liquid will thicken more while cooling. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until you need to serve. Serving suggestion: top with some grated orange rind and sprinkled chopped toasted pecans. This will be colorful and let the guests know exactly what's in the compote.

Granny Smith Apples

Apple Lovin' Cranberry Compote

6 servings

Ingredients

1 cup apple juice or cider
1 cup sugar
1 medium to large granny smith apple
14 oz fresh whole cranberries
1 cinnamon stick

Preparation

Peel and chop the apple into roughly chopped chunks. These chunks will break down during cooking but smaller chop works best. It is fine to have some pieces larger so they show in the finished product.

Into a saucepan bring the juice or cider, cinnamon stick and sugar to a boil.  Add the cranberries, apples to pot and stir.  Simmer until the berries start popping and liquid thickens.  The apples will soften even more as the compote cools and the liquid will firm up while cooling completely. Remember to remove the cinnamon stick before serving.  Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator until serving.  This works very well with pork, chicken, turkey or duck.

             Apple Lovin' Cranberry Compote to gift

Dessert in a hurry....Baked Cranberry Orange Rice Pudding

Love to exercise my creative side especially in the kitchen!  How often have you been bored making the same old thing even though you have favorite recipes?   Always great to have a change of pace in life whether it's wearing something new, trying a new restaurant, or even traveling. 

Often I just head to the kitchen and see what's there and experiment.  Not everything turns out as perfect as it sounded in your head!  Inspiration for this recipe was a large container of white rice from the local Chinese restaurant that was leftover.   I could have turned this into a quick fried rice but had a sweet tooth that needed satisfying!   

What's on hand and what can I create?

Rice....dried cranberries and that led me to think cranberry orange relish flavor profile!  Always have the staple of milk, eggs, vanilla, natural extracts and usually fruit too. Find it quite handy to keep the Cinnamon and Sugar blend on hand also which is a great addition to oatmeal, hot coffee, tea, dusting on toast or a warm buttered muffin.  Yum!!  Keeping a nicely stocked with basics pantry allows you to "create" things in a hurry and on the fly.   Kind of the home version of Chopped with ingredients you know!

This is a super easy dessert to throw together quickly any night of the week.  Perfect to make ahead too for the next day. 

Ciao for now!!

JPKC

Baked Cranberry Orange Rice Pudding

2 cups cooked rice

2 cups milk

2 eggs

1T butter

½ tsp orange extract

1 tsp orange zest

1/4 tsp almond extract (or real vanilla extract)

½ cup sugar
 pinch of salt (if the rice was not cooked with salt)

 1/8 tsp nutmeg

 ½ - ¾ cup dried cranberries (or raisins)

 Cinnamon sugar blend (see below)*   

**Note:  If you want this really rich try using part half and half or cream for part of the milk.                                   

                                                      

Preparation:

Butter baking dish or casserole 2-1/2 quart will work unless you're making a larger batch.  Add cooked rice to casserole.   I use my fingers to break the grains up so they're loose. Do that only if the rice is cold and coming out of the refrigerator. Then once grains are loose, mix in the cranberries or other dried fruit.   If your rice is still warm cool it to room temperature first so the eggs won't seize and scramble.  The dried fruit can be mixed into hot fresh cooked rice without a problem.

In a bowl, beat eggs, add to milk, extracts, zest and sugar; stir to blend.     

Pour into buttered baking dish on top of the rice and fruit mix. 

Ready for oven...notice the way all the rice is covered with the liquid.

Bake 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes until set.  Take a sharp knife go straight down into the middle, if it comes out clean, the pudding is done. 

While hot, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix so that it melts onto top

Remove from oven, give a light sprinkle of *cinnamon sugar blend. Cool, serve with or without vanilla whipped cream.

Serve in a nice glass, desert dish or stem ware

*Cinnamon Sugar Blend

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Blend well.  Great to keep on hand.  Store in an airtight container.