One great recipe: Cranberry thighs

It sounds like something you'd call someone the week after Thanksgiving. But cranberry thighs were my solution last week when I needed a pre-holiday meal for a big group. I wanted something that felt like the season but didn't steal the thunder from Thanksgiving the next night.

Since I was feeding a crowd, I stretched the sauce over two big pans of 14 chicken thighs. If you need to cut it down to 8, you'll have some sauce left over. But you can stick it in the freezer and have a head-start for another night. With fresh cranberries making their brief appearance in stores through Christmas, this will be tasty and festive anytime.

Cranberry-Glazed Chicken Thighs

Figure on two chicken thigh per serving.

8 to 12 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries, rinsed and soft ones discarded
1 1/2 cups sugar
2/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Choose a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or roasting pan large enough to hold the thighs in a single layer with a little space between each one. Spray it with nonstick cooking spray.

Sprinkle chicken thighs with salt and pepper and arrange them in the prepared pan or dish. Place in the oven and roast for 25 minutes.

While chicken is roasting, combine the cranberries, sugar and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or until the berries start to pop. Remove from heat and stir in the ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and dry mustard.

Remove chicken thighs from the oven and spoon some of the sauce over each one. Return to oven and roast 20 minutes longer. Spoon a little more sauce over each and turn oven to broil. Broil about 5 minutes, until brown in spots, watching carefully to make sure they don't burn.