Cranberry Compote

"Compote" is fancy for "fruit sauce." Vocab lesson complete.

Not just for turkey carcasses, cranberry sauce is AMAZING. Pour it over mashed potatoes. Dunk your carrots in it. Shmear it over toast (that, ladies and gentlebugs, is the best). The thing is, many folks out there think cranberry sauce has always got to be jellied, can-shaped, and preserved until 2020...so not the case. The real deal is so f-ing fantastic that when you see your relatives shaking a can until a log of red-dyed gelatinous muck comes wiggling into the world like some freaky fruit child, you'll think "Wow. I'm so glad I'm eating this instead." Behold:

In a saucepan, combine:
8 ounces fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar (less if you like lip smackin' tartness)
1 cup water
dash of salt
dash of cinnamon
zest of 1 orange (optional)

Bring the mixture to boil and cook for 10 minutes, or until the berries start to pop open and your kitchen begins to smell like heaven. Then, in a small cup, stir together:
2 tbs cornstarch
4 tbs orange juice, if you have it (water works fine)

Add this to the cranberries and stir. Simmer for another 15 minutes or until it thickens, then pour everything into a pretty bowl and toss it in the fridge to cool (or, if you happen to be in the northwest right now, just set it out on the porch...but take it inside before it freezes, maybe 15 minutes).