POM Pomegranate Steak in a Parmesan Crisp

After cooking with POM pomegranate juice for eight months now, one of the things I’ve found is that it’s an excellent ingredient substitute for red wine, especially the lighter varietals. It can give a similar wine-like sensation, yet the fruitiness provides a freshness and brightness that’s hard to capture in an aged red.

One of the tricks with cooking with red wine, especially reducing it, is handling the astringency. Pomegranate juice shares this, and it’s something to watch for. According to food scientist Harry McGee, tannins in food love to bond to proteins (thus their name — tannins will “tan” animal hides by bonding with perishable skin proteins). If there aren’t enough proteins in direct contact with the tannins, they will bind with the proteins in saliva, causing that sticky sensation after a glass of heavy red wine. The trick for a cook is to provide some protein in the meal to lessen the astringency, so the meal has a bit of the feel, without gumming up the mouth. This can be as simple as adding some mustard when making a vinaigrette. It also explains the long history of cooking red wine and beef together.

For August’s POM blogger recipe, I made a POM pomegranate juice and balsamic vinegar marinade with beef, reduced the marinade into a sauce, seared the beef with some blanched green beans, and served it all in a Parmesan crisp “bowl”. A single bowl can be made as an appetizer, or several as a meal.

Recipe: POM Pomegranate Steak in a Parmesan Crisp
1 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
1 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
10 oz tender beef, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 pound green beans
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan Reggiano

For more pictures and a step-by-step, visit fotocuisine.com

Peter Krause at FotoCuisine was the winner of our 2008 POM Wonderful Blogger Recipe Contest.