We wanted to try something fun and new for Thanksgiving this year.  I adore everything cranberry and my husband is somewhat less enthusiastic.  When he mentioned hearing someone talk about a cranberry chutney recipe on MPR and he thought it sounded good, I thought it was something we had to try.  I couldn’t find a link to that recipe on their website, so I found a few others and made one of my own.  First sampling is pretty dang tasty and with chutneys, they usually get better with sitting and melding for a couple of days.  If you don’t know what a chutney is, my sister described it to her hubby as “kind of like a spicy fruit salsa”, which I think sums this up pretty well.  So here is my cranberry chutney if you want to make some in time for your turkey day.

Cranberry Chutney

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger

2 small chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 package fresh cranberries

2 small chopped Macintosh apples

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, diced

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c cider vinegar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp each cloves, allspice, cardamom

1/3 c chopped dried pineapple*

the zest from 1 orange and the juice squeezed from one half.

Over medium heat, saute the onion and ginger until the onion is soft. Add garlic and cook for a minute or so more.  Add all the rest of the ingredients and simmer until cranberries have popped, apple is soft and chutney has thickened (about 15 minutes).  Store in refrigerator.  Serve with turkey, brie, cream cheese, over cottage cheese (this is Andy’s favorite), on crackers, over pork (my brother-in-law’s favorite) etc etc.

* I know dried pineapple is an odd thing.  The recipe this was loosely based on called for golden raisins, which I was out of.  Another recipe called for dried apricots. I didn’t have them either.  I did have some unsulfured, no sugar, dried pineapple from Trader Joes and so I chopped that up and put it in.