This is the perfect recipe for winter when cranberries are in season and to make for a family weekend meal to impress everyone. It is really easy to make and will definitely taste good.
Cranberries are good for you
Did you know there are a lot of benefits to cranberries?
The small, round fruit known as the cranberry has a taste so tart that it is rarely found unsweetened in any product. But, as researchers are constantly discovering, this tiny berry whose acidic taste is unpalatable in its unadulterated form, is a powerhouse of health.
We already know that cranberries can help to prevent urinary infections. But there is more: the antioxidant properties of this small red berry could be beneficial for the health of the heart!
Antioxidants vs. free radicals
Antioxidants are found mainly in fruits and vegetables, red wine, tea, and dark chocolate. Nutritionists and scientists tell us that antioxidants could help prevent cancer, which is why it is important to eat a lot of antioxidants. But what are antioxidants, and what do they do? Antioxidants are molecules that act as a system of defence for your body. They attack free radicals, which are very unstable molecules. These molecules are trying to react with other molecules, damaging at the same time healthy cells and tissues.
Free radicals are, in a sense, waste that is produced when cells are functioning and extracting energy from food. Antioxidants link themselves to free radicals to prevent them from combining with oxygen, a process thought to be largely responsible for premature ageing. So eating food that contains antioxidants may keep you young longer.
A lot of benefits for a small fruit
The cranberry, one of the most antioxidant fruits, could reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis, an obstruction of arteries by cholesterol. Atherosclerosis occurs when too much LDL cholesterol, often called “bad cholesterol,” accumulates in artery walls, resulting from excessive oxidation by free radicals. Antioxidants will prevent this oxidation, which could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
A study was done on 30 men who were overweight at the time of the study. Half of them drank light cranberry juice for three months, and the other half drank a placebo. The doctor observed that a portion of 250 ml of cranberry juice significantly increased the level of HDL cholesterol, often called “good cholesterol.”
Even if the latest study reveals the potential of cranberry to increase the level of HDL cholesterol and to decrease the level of LDL cholesterol, further studies are needed to determine whether antioxidants can really prevent cardiovascular diseases. That would be another reason to drink more cranberry juice!
Roast Pork in cranberry orange sauce
Ingredients
- 850 g pork trimmed of fat cut into 1cm thick slices
- 1 cup cranberries fresh or dried
- one large orange (zest and juice only) keep zest and juice seperately
- 0.5 cup chicken stock
- 0.5 cup beef stock
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 2 cups cranberry juice sugar free unsweetened
- 0.5 cup drippings from slow cooker drained
- 2 tbsp cornflour
Instructions
- Trim the as much of the fat as you can from the meat. Remove the bones if you are using chops.
- Zest the orange and mince the zest. Reserve half of the zest for the sauce you will make later.
- Juice the orange and add it to the combined stock along with half of the orange zest, and the all of the dry spices. Mix these materials well.
- In your favorite slow-cooker, layer the fresh or dried cranberries with the pork slices. Pour in the stock mixture, and cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.
- Remove the pork to a platter and keep it warm. If all the juices boiled off, add a cup of water to what is left after removing the meat and stir all the goodness back into solution. Strain at least 1/2 cup of the juices in the slow-cooker into a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, and the reserved half of the orange zest to the juices in your saucepan. Stir until the butter is melted before proceeding.
- In a small bowl, combine the cranberry juice, and the cornstarch. Stir well to get the cornstarch completely suspended and add this liquid to what is in the saucepan.
- Bring the sauce to a boil for 2 minutes while stirring. You should boil the sauce until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Boiling longer will make a thicker sauce. Keep stirring or you will burn the sauce.
- Serve the pork warm with the thickened sauce over a bed of cauliflower rice, or regular rice if you used sugared cranberry juice.
