Cranberry Port Sauce

This week in our kitchen it's about trying a couple new recipes, and we adapted one from the October issue of Fine Cooking Magazine (my ALL time favorite foodie read) that's worth writing about. The full recipe is for Roasted Cornish Game Hens with Cranberry-Port Sauce, however since I had just purchased a beautiful organic chicken, I decided to leverage just the sauce recipe to add some pizazz after roasting the fresh bird. It's simple to make, yet rich and complex; highly recommended for any poultry or pork.

For the sauce:
2 cups lower-salt chicken broth
1/3 cup ruby port
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. minced shallot
1 Tbs. all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the port and cranberries for the sauce in a small bowl, cover, and let sit overnight (I let the cranberries and port it for an hour and the sauce was fabulous, so I bet if you let it sit overnight the cranberries are even more saturated with yummy port).

Heat the broth in a small saucepan. Heat the 1 Tbs. butter in a separate medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallot is tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, whisking gently, until it forms a thick paste, about 30 seconds. Strain the port through a fine sieve into the saucepan, reserving the cranberries (don’t press down on the berries). Whisk for about 30 seconds. Slowly whisk in the broth until the sauce is smooth, adjusting the heat to maintain a steady simmer. Simmer, whisking occasionally, until reduced by about one-third, 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in the reserved cranberries. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Keep warm.

Just before serving, pour any accumulated juices from the hens, chicken or whatever you roasted, into the sauce. Serve the poultry or pork drizzled with the sauce.

Recipe adapted from: Fine Cooking 102, pp. 65
October 29, 2009
Photo: Fine Cooking, Scott Phillips