Red Currant Relish

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Currantly Christmas!

Smell the festive season!

To me, this relish captures the very essence of the festive season. The spices and the aromas of this relish will  make your whole house smell festive. Red currant relish is the perfect accompaniment to roasted turkey, it brings out the flavours of the turkey while tremendously enhancing them with its own. It adds crunch to the texture and smoothness from the burst red currants, also moistens the meat with the reduced spiced orange juice. It is truly Divine!

Red currant relish is a perfect accompaniment to poultry, even outside the festive season. It’s fruitiness and tang pair very well with chicken, duck and especially quails. On many occasions, I have roasted whole quails, then drained the relish to separate the juice from the flesh (the red currants and nuts). Tossed the roasted quails in the juice of the relish, and placed the flesh inside the cavity of the roasted quails and garnished with some of the relish flesh along with a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh parsley. It is a signature dish, that my friends very frequently request that I cook for them. Give it a try and see for yourself how well it is received.
Very simple to make here is how…

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Fresh Orange Juice
  • Rind of 1 orange
  • 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 3 cups fresh red currants
  • 1/2 cup raisins (optional)
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

In a heavy saucepan, place the orange juice, sugar and spices stir well, and place over medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, add the red currants and raisins and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook stirring frequently until the red currants are softened and the juice reduced and thickened.

Remove from heat, stir in the pecans. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours for all the flavours to steep together.

Serve alongside roasted turkey, chicken or any gamy meats… and be ready for the showers of compliments 🙂

For best results, serve along side my Apple Brined Turkey (recipe on this link).

This relish keeps well for 1 week in an airtight glass container. You can use it in heating up leftover pulled turkey to make turkey sandwiches the next day.

It is customary to serve sauces like cranberry sauce and cherry sauce… so I thought why not go with a different option this year?

How about you? What is your go to Christmas sauce? Do you have one that you must serve? Inspire me with a new sauce…

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and your families; 
with love from my kitchen to yours 🙂

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