I had some time to waste the other day after work and since it was a beautiful day, I decided to walk down to the Kerrytown Market and pick up something for dinner. I was thinking, some chicken to grill would be great. We’d been eating a lot of pork and beef and I was getting kind of bored and it was just the perfect kind of day to break out the new grill again. I knew we had some lovely, giant summer squash given to us by a couple of friends so all I really needed to complete the meal was an entree and some fresh sliced bread that I could dip in herbs and olive oil. Yum. The boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the case at Sparrow’s looked fantastic and I knew just what to do with it. I still had a few bottles of pomegranate juice from the last case the lovely people at Pom Wonderful sent me (and here you thought I used it all up in those pom-chocolate-mint mojitos), and I had plenty of cream thanks to our weekly Calder’s dairy delivery. (Yes, that’s right–dairy delivery. I have a milk man. I’ll dish more on that in another post later.) And for some reason, I really wanted to put the two together.
I also had this fantastic cheese I picked up at Whole Foods. You can probably find it in other places, but I found it there a few weeks ago and we are completely hooked on it. Like, ridiculously hooked on it. It’s fantastic in everything–melted on burgers, shredded and stirred into scrambled eggs, eaten by itself…delicious. It’s a jack cheese from Great Midwest that’s studded with leeks and morels. Yes. Leeks and morels. I know. You’re drooling right now as you read this. Go out and pick some up. You can thank me for it later. Read the rest of this entry »
So like I mentioned in the last post, Pom Wonderful sent me another free batch of their pomegranate juice to see what I could do with it. I love when this happens. I like having to be creative with something. Especially something free. And plus, you know, I figure that pomegranate juice is so healthy for you that it totally trumps all the egg and cream that’s in this french toast recipe, plus the breakfast meats (with an ‘s’) that I served it with.
Ok, maybe not. Maybe it won’t instantly unclog your arteries but it is full of antioxidants and hey, every little bit helps.
Oh, also it’s really tasty. And let’s be honest here. That’s the most important thing. What did Lennon used to say? “All you need is love deliciousness.” I’m pretty sure that’s what he said. It sounds right.
So anyway…I came up with this on kind of a whim this past Sunday. I come up with most things on a whim. And a prayer….Who could it be? Believe it or not, it’s just meeeeeee…..
Sorry. Had a “Greatest American Hero” moment there for a second. Where was I?
Oh, right, right, french toast. With pomegranate.
Josh is a big fan of french toast. I’m really more of pancake gal myself, but Josh, he loves him the pain perdu. He makes a mean french toast casserole. The only downside is that french toast casseroles take some planning and work. And you know me–I like to do things on a whim. And a prayer. Who could it be? Sorry, I’ll stop now. Anyway, I like to do things on a whi–er, more spontaneously, and with few ingredients. I honestly was just preparing a basic french toast batter and I thought, hmm, maybe I could just throw in some of that pomegranate juice and add a little flavor without any real work. Turns out, yes I can. Read the rest of this entry »
That's why the rum's gone
Josh and I took the plunge this past Saturday. No, we didn’t get married. Well, we did but that was three years ago. No, no, this event was almost as important. We bought a new grill. It was definitely time. Our friend Brian helped us drag it home from the store, down the side of I-94…sorry about that traffic backup near Belleville, but we lost one of the wheels and I had to run after and retrieve it.
Just kidding. We put it in Brian’s truck. And drove it back. And we didn’t even take 94.
Anyway, as a thank you to Brian and a celebration of our newest member of the family (what? I take my grilling very seriously), we had Brian and a couple other friends over for burgers and things. Josh decided he wanted more mojito slushies at this particular event and I obliged. Two things made these mojitos even more awesome than the original version. The first was the substitution of pomegranate juice for the lime. My dear friends at Pom Wonderful sent me a free case of pomegranate juice. I love when this happens. Last time, I made pomegranate barbecue sauce, molasses and pomegranate-braised beef. This time, I’m making these mojito slushies and…well, a few other things that will be posted later. Read the rest of this entry »
I got a notice that POM Wonderful was having a recipe contest and I thought, “Self, we’ve never entered a recipe contest before. We should give it a shot.” Self said, “We’ll never win.” And I replied, “Way to be defeatist, Self. The point is that it’s an excuse to be creative.” Self: “Since when do we need an excuse?” Me: “Since you started screwing with my chi.” Self: “Oh okay.” So we shook on it. Mentally.
So now that Self and I were in agreement (which happens much less often than you might imagine), I started thinking about various winter meals we could make with pomegranate. I considered roasting a chicken basted with a pomegranate compound butter. Iactually did that one, too. It wasn’t bad. But it didn’t make me go, “Mmmmmmmmmmmm” with my head tilted back and my mouth wide open slouched in a chair like Homer Simpson. I also thought about stuffing a pork tenderloin with spinach and goat cheese and cooking it in a pomegranate glaze. Haven’t done that yet…but probably will, because thinking about it now has me drooling a little bit, I’ll admit it. Read the rest of this entry »
So awhile ago I got another email from the POM Wonderful people asking if I’d like to try out their new line of POMx iced coffees. Um, of course I would. Not because I drink coffee. Because I don’t. Which is odd because I’m pretty sure my office is about this (–) close to digging an underground tunnel straight to Starbucks for those every-three-hour coffee urges. So I mostly took the offer for them, because they love coffee, and they’d love to try this stuff and most importantly, to see what I could make out of it.
In a brief bit of exposition (insert Morgan Freeman voiceover here), POMx iced coffee doesn’t actually taste like pomegranates (which kind of made me a little sad…I mean, how interesting would pomegranate coffee be? People drink pumpkin coffee. I suppose if you’re really interested, you can try making some pomegranate syrup and adding it to your morning latte), but does contain the very powerful antioxidants that come from pomegranates. So you get your caffeine boost and antioxidants to boost. If modern medicine journalism and my incredible powers of premonition* are correct, if you drink enough of this stuff, you will live forever. Or at least until that super volcano under Montana blows. Read the rest of this entry »
This is going to be a short post.
I just had to share it with you.
First, a layer of French vanilla ice cream.
Then some pomegranate glaze (leftover from cheesecake!).
Then more ice cream.
Then a heaping spoonful of chocolate sauce (I use melted chocolate plus a bit of milk).
More ice cream.
Then pomegranate and chocolate together.
Sprinkle with nuts.
Stare at it.
Eat it.
Yay.
So I continued my Adventures in Pomegranates tonight, using up more of the juice shipment I got from Pom Wonderful.
As you might recall, the last time we saw our intrepid heroine (uh, me), she had just conquered pomegranate molasses and used said molasses in creating homemade pomegranate barbecue sauce. Now join us for the next installment of this thrilling storyline as our heroine strives to harness the power of the pomegranate for good, or for awesome.
Speaking of awesome, cheesecake. Cheesecake. Yeah.
I wanted to create a dessert with the pomegranate juice and while the idea of converting my current strawberry tiramisu recipe into a pomegranate one was bandied about, I instead decided to make a pomegranate glaze. And the perfect conveyance for that glaze? Cheesecake. Delicious, delicious citrus cheesecake.
Now, granted, it didn’t come out quite the way I intended much at all, the cake part anyway, but that was mostly due to my own tiredness and inattention. Having made the cheesecake before though, I can indeed vouch that the flavors are fantastic. The citrus and vanilla really come through, and that pairs well with the sweetness of the pomegranate. A bit of unsweetened whipped cream could pull it all together nicely. Read the rest of this entry »
I got a delicious shipment in the mail this past week: a case of Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice, from the Pom people themselves. My challenge? Use the eight little bottles of liquid pomegranate to come up with something interesting and delicious.
I found this fascinating, as did my friends, many of whom love pomegranate. Myself, I’d never really experimented with it. I once purchased a pomegranate to try out, messily cutting it open and excavating the seeds (arils), which I found delicious but then never bought another one. Still, the fruit somewhat intrigued me, as do most fruits from south Asia. Plus, they just look so funky. I’m a sucker for those swanky design spreads where hip decorators have created oh-so-chic-but-simple accents with giant hurricane vases full of fresh pomegranates. Sure I could never do that because my dog would probably think, “Wow! Balls!” but that’s not the point.
What is the point?
Barbecue. Barbecue is always the point.
At least, it was one of the first things that came to mind when I thought, “Gee, what can I do with 64 ounces of pomegranate juice? Barbecue!” That particular eureka was followed up with “Cheesecake!” which was a suggestion from a friend during dinner out the other night. Then another idea: add it to your granola bar recipe. Mix it with Greek yogurt and marinate chicken. And oh…imagine the drinks.
Well, the cheesecake, granola bar and chicken kabob recipes will be coming later. Today we’ll just stick with simple additions you can add to many meals. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a tale of three adventures. Capers, really. Even shenanigans. Foodie shenanigans. No, that makes it sound more cheeky than it really was. Capers. Definitely a caper. This is a tale of three gastronomical capers.
Caper 1
On Friday, group of friends and I traversed across the vast swaths of town to the far east, to a small place of our acquaintance, a mystical, ethereal place known only as Thai Thai. We were a world-weary band of travelers, three young ones and seven others who just act young. We descended on the tiny, tiny island of taste and took over about half the place. We were treated with kindness and brought several succulent dishes of varying heat. Josh and I partook of the spring rolls, being ravenous as we were, and considering that we had traveled to such lands before, consider ourselves connoisseurs of that delicacy. Then Josh sated his rumbly tumbly with a spicy dish called “Moo Pad Prig Khee Noo,” made of pork and fresh chili peppers and garlic. Read the rest of this entry »
