Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and cranberries are de rigueur, aren’t they? I thought I’d offer a little appetizer recipe that makes use of not only cranberries, but also the other prerequisite – turkey.

1 cup fresh ground turkey (dark meat), finely crumbled
½ cup red onion minced
1 tsp fruity olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 ½ cups fresh cranberries
½ cup roasted corn nibblets (I use the ever popular frozen Trader Joe’s brand)
2 tbs dry white wine
Juice of 1 medium ORANGE
Zest of one medium ORANGE
2 tbs honey
1 pinch ground clove
1 pinch crushed sage
Salt & pepper to taste
1 prepared pie crust sheet
1 beaten egg for wash

Cook the turkey separately and drain well.

In a sauce pan, soften the red onion in the olive oil and butter

Add the cranberries, corn, wine, ORANGE juice, ORANGE zest, and honey and continue cooking as if you were planning to make jam.
When most of the cranberries are reduced to a mush and the corn is coated with a red glaze, add cooked turkey, ground clove and crushed sage.
Continue cooking only long enough to blend flavors and heat the turkey through.
Remove from heat and set aside.

Cut the pie crust into 12, 3 ½ inch rounds. Brush each round with egg wash.

Place a heaping teaspoon in the center of each round and form into a gondola shape, pinching the ends together. Then roll the ends to form a scroll shape. Make dents in the sides to create a ‘free form’ cup. Flatten bottom enough to keep cups from tipping over.

Bake on parchment at 400 degrees until crust browns. Serve warm. Because they promise many of the flavors of the meal to come, these are a great pre-Thanksgiving Dinner pass-around.

Home run.