POM Wonderful

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.

Pace Webb, a Los Angeles Chef and Lifestyle Expert hosts an Underground Supperclub...serving POM cocktails!

POM is collaborating with Pace Webb, a Los Angeles Chef and Lifestyle Expert, in an Underground Supperclub! The Taste of Pace Underground Supperclub will be in Beverly Hills on Saturday, May 23rd at 6:30pm. Pace will be featuring a variety of delicious SoCal produce-inspired dishes and bringing guest chefs Agustin Rodriguez from Ammo and Sugar Lab and Angel Orozco of Cafecito Organico for a coffee and dessert pairing. POM Cocktails will be served to start the evening! For more info and to purchase tickets: Taste of Pace

POM Pomegranate Lamb Shank

POM Pomegranate Lamb Shank

Lamb is one of those traditional ingredients of spring. These days, world-wide distribution and modern farming methods allow lamb to be available year round, but for many years, lamb was only available in the springtime.

Lamb is a great meat to use with pomegranate juice — it’s often paired with sweet condiments like mint jelly, and the complex pomegranate flavors go well with the earthiness of the meat. For this month’s POM blogger entry, I wanted to use a part of lamb that isn’t as familiar as chops. Lamb shank is economical, and is very tasty. This type of cooking can typically use a fruity red wine with the stock, and pomegranate juice made a really good and healthy substitution. Served pulled over linguine with vegetables and fresh herbs, this meal delivers a lot of flavor but is very easy to cook.

Ingredients — serves 4:
1 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
1 cup chicken stock (use low-sodium if canned)
2-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 lamb shanks (just over 1 pound each)
2 celery stalks
2 medium carrots
4 garlic cloves
1 large shallot
1 cherry pepper (optional, gives some zing)
Several sprigs of fresh herbs (I used thyme and oregano. Rosemary and marjoram would work well, too)
6 oz fresh mushrooms
1/2 to 1 pound linguine, cooked

For more pictures, including a step-by-step, visit Fotocuisine:

Pomegranate takes the Iron (Cup)cake!

POM Wonderful is a hit at January’s Pomegranate Iron Cupcake Challenge!

The Pomegranate was January’s ingredient for contestants in the Iron Cupcake Challenge, sponsored by Kingdom Cake. Iron Cupcake is a Bay Area-based group comprised of local bakers and foodies who are given a new ingredient each month that they must incorporate into their cupcake creations. POM Wonderful provided our 100% pomegranate juice for guests at the tasting event where the top three winners were chosen.

Go here for images from the Iron Cupcake folks or to see the winning recipe by Alissa Lee ...

2008 POM Fresh Blog Recipe Contest Winner!

CONGRATULATIONS - PETER KRAUSE!

Winner of our 2008 POM Blog Recipe Contest!

Peter made an incredibly detailed and elegant Seared Duck Breast with Pomegranate Juice Reduction to take the prize.  We look forward to Peter's next 11 posts in 2009. 

See Peter's original submission & directions: here

Recipe/List of ingredients:

Sauce:
1 cup POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice
1 cup chicken stock (I make my own, use low sodium if canned)
1 tbsp champagne vinegar (or any white wine vinegar)
1 tbsp brown sugar
8-10 black peppercorns, whole
1 packed tsp zest of lemon
1 medium shallot, sliced
1 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
1 tsp flour with leftover duck fat (to make a roux)

Seared duck breasts
2 duck breasts, skin and fat scored
1 tsp olive oil
salt to taste
handful of pomegranate arils for garnish

Matchstick potatoes
1 Idaho potato, sliced into matchstick-thick spears
Duck fat from sautéed breasts
Peanut oil to top off
salt to taste

continue to see the 8 Finalists.