Sauce For Duck And Ham : Black Cherry, Port & Redcurrant Jel

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can of pitted black cherries in syrup, drained (see note below)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup cherry syrup (from the drained can of cherries)
• 2 teaspoons chicken stock powder or 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup port wine (i used kwv rich tawny port)
• 1/2 cup red currant jelly (a 155g bottle of staffords redcurrant jelly)
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated
• 2 -3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed (to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch ground cloves
• 2 teaspoons cornflour
• 2 tablespoons water

Recipe

• 1 (some cans of cherries have a lighter, less sweet syrup, some have a thicker, sweeter syrup than others, so please taste sauce as instructions below indicate, and adjust).
• 2 drain the cherries in a sieve over a bowl, and keep at hand.
• 3 in a pot, measure off the water and stock powder or use 1/4 cup chicken broth.
• 4 add all the ingredients, from the 1/4 cup water down to the pinch of ground cloves -- but do not add the cornflour and water.
• 5 use 2 - 3 tablespoons lemon juice to start, but keep extra juice in case you need to add more to the sauce when you taste it.
• 6 stir the sauce over medium heat until the redcurrant jelly dissolves, then boil quite vigorously until about 1 cup liquid is left. as you start out with about 1 3/4 cup, this does not take long.
• 7 if in doubt about the amount as it boils down, pull off heat, cool slightly, and pour into a pyrex or heat-resistant measuring cup. i simply tilt the pot, and take a guess.
• 8 pour sauce back into pot.
• 9 mix the cornflour with the water, add to the sauce, and bring to a simmer while stirring. let the sauce thicken, and remove from heat. do not boil longer than a minute, as the cornflour might split.
• 10 taste for seasoning: you will almost certainly want to add more lemon juice. i did not add salt, but a pinch will probably improve the taste.
• 11 add about 3/4 cup of the cherries in the sieve.
• 12 number of servings will depend a lot on how the sauce is used on the meats.