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.

Battle POM!

During summer vacation, Christey and I have been pairing with the two oldest boys, Andy and Colin, for an Iron Chef type cooking game. One way to make cooking (and new foods in general) interesting for pre-teens is to make it a fun time.

The cooking day is usually Saturday or Sunday. On the Wednesday before, the boys pick out of a hat: an ingredient, which of us they will partner with, and either appetizer or dinner. We decided on a random assortment of kid-friendly ingredients like brown sugar, bacon, applesauce, and peanuts, and of course, POM pomegranate juice was one of the ingredients in the hat. Over the July 4th weekend, the pomegranate juice was plucked out of the hat and it was time for Battle POM!

POM Pomegranate Barbecue Ribs

To some, May means the Kentucky Derby. To others, the start of the summer growing season. To many backyard chefs, May is the start of barbecue.

Barbecue used to be a very regional thing. One area might mean pork while another means beef. Some barbecue chefs prefer to smoke, some to grill, and some to braise. There are passionate arguments about dry (a spice rub) vs. wet (cooking with the sauce), and even the ingredients in a sauce, whether the meat is cooked in it or not.

I like to barbecue, and I don’t like to get drawn in to one technique over another. No matter the method, barbecue is just good food. For this month’s POM blogger entry, I’ve made a tasty POM pomegranate juice barbecue sauce for pork baby back ribs. The sweet spice of the sauce is a nice balance to the salty, tender rib meat.

Recipe:

Sauce (enough for a couple racks, will refrigerate for two weeks):

1 cup POM 100% pomegranate juice
3 oz tomato paste (half a small can)
1 1/2 tbsp molasses
1/2 tbsp dry mustard
1/2 tbsp cumin powder
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp honey
1/2 cherry or jalapeno pepper, minced (optional — for heat)
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Ribs

1 rack pork baby back ribs
1/2 tbsp kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
1/2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp onion powder
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper, ground coarsely

For step-by-step photos and technique, visit fotocuisine.com winner of the 2008 POM Wonderful blogger recipe contest.

POMtification by The Big Red Kitchen

Robin, over at The Big Red Kitchen came up with some new POM drink ideas.

The Witty-POM

POM Float

POM Cubed

How do you mix your POM?

The (POM) Cocktail Lab @ Astor Center

Check out some of these great drinks put together by Jonathan Pogash and his mixology class...

Heather #5

1 1/2 oz. Double Cross Vodka
1 oz. POM blueberry juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
2 oz. Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial

Champagne

Directions:  Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir briefly.  Strain into champagne flute.

Garnish: 3 floating blueberries

Pomegranate Punch

1 1/2 oz. G’Vine Floraison Gin
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1 1/2 oz POM wonderful pomegranate juice
1 strawberry, sliced

Directions:  Muddle the strawberry in the simple syrup.  Add remaining ingredients and shake well.  Strain into cocktail glass.

Garnish: strawberry slice

Cornish Game Hen with POM Pomegranate Glaze

March is the turning point between spring and winter, and for this month’s POM blog entry, I wanted to say goodbye to winter by roasting rock cornish game hens, with an Asian-inspired pomegranate juice glaze.

A game hen actually isn’t a game hen, it’s merely a young chicken — sort of the equivalent of lamb and veal. I find the taste to be more distinctive than a full-grown chicken, but it’s not a gamey taste, just a little more flavorful.

POM Pomegranate Mousse with White Chocolate Mousse Layers

2009 POM Wonderful Featured Blogger - Peter Krause

POM Pomegranate Mousse with White Chocolate Mousse Layer
Pomegranates have a wide and varied history in mythology. Since pomegranates may be one of the first cultivated fruits, this shouldn’t be too surprising. Ancient Greeks believed that Aphrodite (the original Greek incarnation of the Roman goddess Venus) planted the first pomegranate, on Cyprus. The rest is history…or at least mythology.

February, of course, is the month of Saint Valentine’s Day — a different cultural viewpoint on the ever evolving courtship of the human race. For Valentine’s Day this year, I thought it would be fun to mix two favorites in the field of love: pomegranates and chocolate.

I made a layered double-mousse, one with white chocolate, and one with pure POM pomegranate juice. When blended, the recipe creates a nice white and pink contrast, in honor of the holiday.

The ingredient list for this is pretty simple…I’d almost say elegant. Mousse is one of my favorite desserts, precisely because it can be so simple, and yet rich and flavorful. Egg whites, whipped cream, and flavor base. Chill, and it’s magic.

RECIPE:

Mousse Basics

3 egg whites, whipped to stiff peaks
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks 

White Chocolate Mixture

4 oz sweetened real white chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

POM Pomegranate Mixture

1 cup POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice
1 envelope unflavored gelatin

For techniques and methods, and a step-by-step pictorial, please visit FotoCuisine

POMObama - the new presidential cocktail by POM

Ingredients:

3/4 ounce Plymouth gin or vodka

1/2 ounce St Germaine Elderflower liqueur

1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice

1 ounce POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice.

3/4 ounce triple syrup*

Champagne

Directions:

Assemble the first five ingredients in a mixing glass and shake well with ice. Strain into a flute and top with champagne

*Triple syrup is a combination of simple syrup, honey syrup and agave syrup. All these syrups are made by dissolving the sweet ingredient into an equal amount of water.  To make 1 pint of triple syrup, mix 5 ounces of each syrup together.

Mocktail Mojitos at Marshall High School

Andrea from Marshall High sent us this pic of their mocktail party, Mojito Mocktails all around!

Here's our mocktail recipe page: POM Mocktails.
What kind of Mocktail do you enjoy?

Esther Blum Gets Gorgeous with POM!

Fall is here, and it’s my favorite time of year. The air gets crisper, you get to dress in layers, and your hair stays frizz-free and under control (or so you hope). But there’s another reason why I treasure the fall: pomegranates. Dark, sweet, tart, and let’s face it—sensual. Which is why I’m so excited about my next venture: my partnership with POM.

I just love it when the stars align and I can work with companies that I really feel in sync with. For years I have been promoting the benefits of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice to my patients, so I was thrilled to the gills to have the opportunity to be their spokesperson for their satellite media tour. A match made in heaven!