Scale

Ingredients

1 cup 250ml hard cider or fruity red wine
1 cup 170g diced dried figs (hard stems removed)
12 ounces 340g fresh or frozen cranberries
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
Zest from 2 big oranges
Juice from one big orange
2 tablespoons of raw honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

In a non-reactive saucepan, heat the hard cider (or red wine) and diced figs together until the cider is hot. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand 30 minutes, to soften the figs.
Drain the figs then add the cider (or wine) back to the saucepan along with the cranberries, grated ginger, orange zest, juice and cinnamon and cook, covered, over medium heat until the cranberries have burst and are softened, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from heat, and while still hot, stir the figs and the honey into the cranberries.
The sauce can be made up to one week ahead and refrigerated. Let come to room temperature and garnish with parsley, if you like, before serving.

Notes

You can use any hard cider you enjoy best. I used the Sam Smith organic semi-dry cider and that worked very well. If you don’t have hard cider or would prefer to use wine, use any fruity red wine that you like best. And remember in cooking with alcohol, use the good stuff, a wine or a cider you would drink.
I used a blend of mission and calimyrna figs, roughly chopped. Make sure you get unsulphured, organic dried figs, sulphur is an additive you don’t need. Again, I use very little additional sweetener in this because the figs are quite high in sugar, as is the alcohol and the orange juice. If you do want it sweeter, wait till the sauce sits for a while and then taste. I think you’ll find this one a nice counterpoint to the other food on your plate.