Apple-Cranberry Compote

Yesterday I posted about the Pork Tenderloin in an Apple Maple Brine and today I'm sharing with you a wonderful side dish that complimented the pork quite nicely. This dish had so many flavors with the ginger and orange mixed in with the cranberry and apples. Overall, it had the bitter flavor from the cranberry mixture and the sweetness from the apples. I could see this being served as a holiday side dish since it reminded me of an amped up cranberry sauce. I almost left the pecans out, but decided not to upset the pecan lovers in our family and I'm glad I did include them; they added the right amount of texture and also helped with the overall flavor. The original recipe called for six apples, which I found to be too many. I ended up using only three, mainly because I didn't have room to add more to the dish, but feel free to use as many as you can, up to six.

Apple-Cranberry Compote

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12 oz can whole cranberry-orange sauce or whole-berry cranberry sauce

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 to 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

Vegetable cooking spray

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Garnish: orange rind strips

Bring cranberry-orange sauce, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Arrange apple slices in a round baking dish coated with cooking spray, pout cranberry mixture over apples.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until apples are tender. Sprinkle evenly with chopped pecans. Bake 5 more minutes. Garnish with strips of orange rind.

Source adapted from: www.myrecipes.com