Recipe: Cranberry-tangerine relish

Total time: 20 minutes

Servings: Makes about 3 cups

Note: From Mary Ellen Rae, Times Test Kitchen recipe tester

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries

1 seedless tangerine

1/2 cup sugar or more to taste

1/2teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder (star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seed and pepper)

1. Rinse and drain the cranberries, discarding any bruised ones. Peel the tangerine and use a sharp paring knife to remove excess strings from the segments. Using the same knife, scrape the pith from the inside of half the peel and finely chop the peel. Measure out 1 tablespoon.

2. In a food processor, combine the cranberries, tangerine segments, the 1 tablespoon chopped peel, one-half cup sugar and the five-spice powder. Pulse 8 or 10 times to the desired coarse consistency. Taste and add more sugar if desired.

3. Spoon into a glass bowl, cover and chill for at least one hour or overnight. Stir before serving.

Each serving: 50 calories; 0 protein; 13 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 0 fat; 0 saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 1 mg. sodium.

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Variations Cranberry, vanilla bean and toasted almond relish:

Omit the five-spice powder. Substitute the scraped seeds from half of one vanilla bean for the tangerine, and use brown sugar instead of white. After processing, remove the mixture to a bowl and pulse a peeled, cored and quartered Honey Crisp or Fuji apple with one-half cup toasted slivered almonds 4 to 5 times and combine with the cranberry mixture.

Cranberry, jalapeño and red onion relish: Omit the tangerine, sugar and five-spice powder and add 1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño, one-fourth cup honey, 1 teaspoon minced lime peel and 1 tablespoon lime juice. Process; stir in one-fourth cup finely diced red onion and a pinch of salt.