New York sweet cranberry mustard

A delicious relish to serve with the Thanksgiving leftovers or to bookmark for Christmas from Diana Henry's Salt, Sugar, Smoke. It keeps for up to 2 weeks in the fridge.

"This is inspired by a mustard served at New York’s Home restaurant, a fabulously comforting place. I have made it slightly sweeter. It’s perfect at Christmas when you’re making all those turkey and ham sarnies and want cranberries with a kick."

Fills 1 x 225g (8oz) jar

100g (3½oz) dried cranberries

150ml (5fl oz) apple or orange juice

200g (7oz) fresh cranberries

3 tbsp granulated sugar

4 tbsp runny honey

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp grain mustard

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 Put the dried cranberries in a pan and add enough apple or orange juice to cover. Bring to a boil then remove from the heat and leave to plump up for 30 minutes.

2 Put 200ml (7fl oz) of water and the fresh cranberries in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries have popped (about five minutes), then add the sugar and honey and stir until dissolved.

3 Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and sauté the onion until soft and golden. Add the vinegar and mustard and cook gently for another five minutes. Mix this with both types of cranberries and any remaining soaking liquid from the dried cranberries, and season to taste.

4 Whizz in a food processor using the pulse button (if you want it really smooth you can then press the mixture through a nylon sieve, but I leave it chunky). Pot in a sterilized jar, cover with a waxed paper disc, then seal with a vinegar-proof lid. Cool, and keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

How to use

This is obviously a good thing to have around at Christmas, and it’s good with cold ham too. Russians eat cranberries with red meat, so don’t rule it out with cold rare roast beef. Its USP is that it is both hot and sweet.

Wine tip: You're obviously not going to match your wine specifically to a relish but its sweet-sharp character will affect any pairing you're contemplating. I'd suggest a good quality Beaujolais or other bright, fruity red. A medium dry cider would be good too.

Salt, Sugar, Smoke by Diana Henry is published by Mitchell Beazley at £20. I'm also a big fan of her new book Simple.

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