Pistachio Chicken with Pomegranate

I'm always looking for different things to do with chicken and as I had half a pomegranate I took to the internet to search for recipes. I came across this one on All Recipes for pistachio chicken with pomegranate sauce which was perfect as I already had a bag of pistachios in the cupboard. It was really tasty, seemed quite unusual and indulgent but was actually really quick to make!

To serve 4, you need:
4 chicken breasts
the original recipe said to use 6 eggs but this is only to coat the chicken so 2 is probably enough
50ml milk
90g plain flour
130g finely chopped pistachios

For the sauce:
2 tbsp. minced shallots
120ml dry white wine
120ml chicken stock
120ml double cream
50g butter
1.5 tbsp. pomegranate juice - I didn't have any at the time so used pomegranate molasses, but I recommend POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice.

Preheat oven to 180C.

 

Beat the eggs with the milk and pour into a shallow bowl. Put the flour into another bowl and the chopped nuts into a third. Dip each chicken breast in flour then egg and then in the chopped nuts. I found it easiest to chop the nuts in a food processor.

Bake the chicken in the oven for 30 minutes.

Ten minutes before it is ready, fry the shallots and add the cream, wine, stock and pomegranate juice.

 Simmer for a few minutes and pour over the chicken to serve.

Sweet Potato Soup with Pomegranate and Sumac

Sumac is a spice I have only started using recently, and since I bought a packet I’ve kept a look out for any recipes that used it. When I was planning to have a vegan friend over for lunch (which didn’t actually happen in the end) I was looking for an easy recipe I could make in advance and heat up for lunch and came across this Sainsbury’s recipe for sweet potato, pomegranate and sumac soup.

As I’d bought the pomegranate already before the lunch was cancelled, I decided to go ahead and make it anyway and was glad I did! The soup did me a couple of days worth of lunches and was really filling and tasty.

To serve 2, you need:
half an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped, or a pinch of dried chilli flakes or Very Lazy chopped chilli to taste
1/2 tsp sumac
1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
200g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
150g tomatoes, chopped - the recipe said to use vine tomatoes but I used tinned as I wanted to make this using store cupboard ingredients
400ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp. pomegranate molasses (available in big supermarkets)
to garnish:
pinch of sumac
pomegranate seeds
thin slice of lime

Fry the onion, garlic, chilli and sumac in the coconut oil and 1 tbsp. water until the onion has softened.

Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sweet potato is soft.

 Add the pomegranate molasses and blend until smooth in a food processor or blender.

I returned the soup to the pan and added a little more water as it was too thick

Finally, garnish with pomegranate seeds and a slice of lime.

This was a really tasty, filling soup and has the added advantage of being both vegetarian and vegan.

I'm sharing this with Extra Veg, the blog challenge hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy this month and also Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

I'm also sending it to No Croutons Required, the soup and salad challenge hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.

Lamb Chop with Pomegranate Sauce

I was a little daunted when I came to look for a recipe from Abu Dhabi for the next round of Formula 1 Foods, but luckily happened across the website of Time Out Abu Dhabi which had a recipe feature. I really liked the idea of the sticky date cake with caramel sauce, but it sounded a bit too similar to the Christmas pudding I recently made, and didn’t think I could get hold of hammour (a type of fish I’d never heard of) and while there are almost certainly places in London that stock camel milk (since you can get pretty much anything here) I didn’t want to go on an Apprentice-style mission to track it down.

  

Instead, my eye was caught by a recipe for grilled lamb chops with pomegranate sauce, which sounded very nice – plus I had lamb in the freezer and a bottle of pomegranate syrup in the cupboard!

 

  

If you don’t have pomegranate syrup or molasses – though I’m pretty sure I bought it from Sainsburys rather than a specialist shop – the recipe does give instructions for how to make your own. But I skipped that stage and mixed the pomegranate syrup with the ketchup, honey, garlic and sugar – I left out the onion as such but used onion powder instead for a smoother sauce.

 

I brought the ingredients for the sauce to the boil, grilled the lamb and served the sauce over the top. It was delicious – if I did this again I think I’d finish the dish with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.

 

 

I’m sharing this with Formula 1 Foods, the blog challenge I host based around the Grand Prix locations, as the next race is taking place in Abu Dhabi.

 

Jareth's Temptation - Peaches, Cream, Meringue and Pomegranate Dessert

Not to be confused with Jansson's Temptation, which is something different entirely - this dessert is inspired by my favourite 80s movie.

Labyrinth came out when I was seven years old and a friend of mine had it on VHS - my family didn't even have a video recorder at that time. I absolutely loved the film, mainly for the songs - the animated characters were on the whole a bit irritating for my liking (anyone else find Hoggle really annoying?) but the idea of the quest to find the baby brother was the sort of thing I couldn't get enough of.

Best of all though were the two leads, Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie. I don't think I even knew who David Bowie was at that point but he was mesmerising (and looking back now, very overtly sexual though I was blissfully ignorant of that sort of thing at the time!).

Connelly was only 16 when she played the role and she was breathtakingly beautiful in her ball gown in the scene where Hoggle has given Sarah (Connelly) a peach, enchanted by Jareth (Bowie) so she will lose her memories and will forget she is looking for her brother. That's probably my favourite scene in the movie.

I decided to make a dessert inspired by that scene, so peaches had to be the main ingredient. I also wanted something that would conjure up the white ballgown that Sarah wore, hence whipped cream and meringue. Finally, I decided the sharpness of pomegranate would cut through in the way that Jareth's intentions behind giving Sarah the peach are malicious - and pomegranate seeds are a symbol of fertility which adds the sexual overtones. All that in a dessert!

The recipe is very simple as I bought a shop-bought meringue due to lack of time. Slice up a fresh peach and drizzle over some honey; grill or roast them until softened and slightly browned. Pile on top of the meringue, top with whipped cream and drizzle with pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds as well if desired.

I'm sharing this with Alphabakes, the blog challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter she has chosen this month is J. I hope she doesn't mind this entry - I've given it the name of Jareth's Temptation though none of the ingredients actually begin with J! I've been away on holiday and for work for most of this month so this is the best I could do....

 

Fennel, chicken, pomegranate and mint salad

This a gorgeous salad that I had for dinner one hot sunny evening; the recipe came from a free newspaper I picked up from Waitrose and it is also available at Waitrose online.

The ingredients are not particularly cheap but I already had half a bulb of fennel left in the fridge from another recipe, and half a pack of pomegranate seeds from something else. I often buy cooked chicken to make easy lunches for work and I'm growing mint on my windowsill.

The recipe instructs you to marinade and then cook the chicken but as I used the pre-cooked slices I just had to throw the other ingredients together, which was great as it was too hot to cook. Slice the fennel thinly and layer on a plate with a bed of watercress on the bottom, then the fennel, chicken, pomegranate and mint. To make the sauce mix crème fraiche, oil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, and a little water so it is thin enough to pour over the salad.

I'm really not a salad person but I thoroughly enjoyed this - it tasted as good as it looks!

Persian Roast Chicken with Walnut Pomegranate Sauce

Nigella says that roast chicken is the "basic unit of cooking" and when we had friends over for Sunday lunch recently, my first thoughts went to roast chicken. But I wanted something a bit more interesting than that, so I chose a recipe book I don't use very often - the Kitchenaid Recipe Collection - and had a look at the poultry section. There was a recipe for Person  chicken with walnut pomegranate sauce that looked delicious and really colourful so this is what I decided to make.

I changed the recipe a bit as the instructions were for a jointed chicken (using pieces like legs and thighs) and I wanted to do a whole chicken - one of the people I was cooking for doesn't eat meat on the bone so I thought being able to slice breast meat would be best. I also added oil to the paste mixture as it seemed too dry otherwise, and put the paste under the skin of the chicken as I don't like to eat the skin so it would be wasted by putting it on top. I used less onion and sugar in the sauce as well.

 

You need:
1 whole chicken
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp saffron threads, lightly crushed
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper

for the sauce:
1 onion, thinly sliced
Fry Light
2 cups pomegranate juice
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
50g pomegranate seeds

roast potatoes and vegetables to serve (though this would also go well with couscous or rice).


In a bowl mix the cumin, lemon juice and zest, turmeric, saffron, cinnamon, salt, pepper and oil until you have a thick paste. Spread under the skin of the chicken.

Cook the chicken according to pack instructions based on weight.

About 20 minutes before the chicken is ready to eat make the sauce. Place the onions with a few sprays of Fry Light in a small pan and heat until the onion has softened. Add the pomegranate juice, sugar, cumin and saffron. Bring to the boil and simmer until syrupy. Remove from the heat, stir in the walnuts, salt and pepper and pomegranate seeds.

The roast chicken was delicious as always and the spice rub was a nice change and the sauce went very well with it - though next time I might go back to bread sauce as I absolutely love bread sauce!

Russian Shashlik Kebabs

You may already have noticed that my birthday party had a Russian theme this year... I made a vodka and lime cake shaped like a Russian doll, some chocolate vegan cupcakes decorated with Russian doll wafers, and some sugar cookies (which also happened to be vegan) which I decorated to look like Russian dolls.

I also wanted to make some savoury food as we were going out in the evening to the local greyhound stadium (I thought we'd do something a bit different!). It needed to be something that wouldn't take too long to prepare, since I had to do all the baking as well, and also be easy to make vegetarian and meat options - oh, and ideally be finger-food as I barely had enough room for everyone to sit down! I also wanted to tie the food into the Russian theme of the party so had a look online and found all sorts of  'interesting' Russian foods I could cook... then was very pleased to discover this recipe for Shashlik kebabs, which are apparently Russian.

It's a simple recipe that essentially involves marinading chunks of lamb in a mixture of onion, garlic, shallots, parsley, cayenne pepper and pomegranate juice. I'm not entirely sure to what extent this is Russian, or why, but it sounded nice and fit my requirements, so I decided to make it, and thread the lamb chunks onto skewers with mini potatoes and vegetables as well.

I decided to make some garlic mushrooms by marinading mini button mushrooms in a mixture of garlic puree and melted butter, though I used dairy-free margarine so these were suitable for vegans.

I then followed the recipe and mixed onion, garlic, parsley and pomegranate juice

Marinading cubes of lamb in the mixture

I threaded the lamb onto kebabs along with mini onions, red, green and orange peppers, the garlic mushrooms and mini baby new potatoes which I had pre-roasted. Rather than grill the kebabs I oven-cooked them as it meant I didn't have to worry so much about keeping an eye on them. They were pretty tasty and it was good to be able to combine different items for meat eaters, vegans, and people who are just generally a bit fussy!

Chocolate and Pomegranate Mousse

I only found this recipe as I wanted to use up half a leftover pomegranate, but it's probably the nicest chocolate mousse I've ever made!

The recipe comes from the Good Food Channel and serves 8, but I was only making this for two people so I divided all the ingredients by four. I also left out the recommended Grand Marnier or Cointreau as I didn't have any, though I think it would be a nice addition to the recipe. So for two people you need:

50g white chocolate
50g dark chocolate
2 eggs, separated
2 tbsp Grand Marnier or Cointreau, if using
50ml double cream
15g caster sugar
half a pomegranate

Melt both types of chocolate - it's easier with such a small quantity like this to do it in the microwave.
      

Whisk the egg whites until stiff. If using a liqueur, mix it with the egg yolks in a separate bowl or cup.

Whisk the cream and sugar together until thick.

Divide the cream and sugar mixture into two, so you are mixing half of it with half of the whisked egg whites.

Add half the egg yolks and the white chocolate and mix.

Repeat the same steps with the chocolate to make a chocolate mousse

Pour the chocolate mousse into a serving glass.

Sprinkle pomegranate seeds over the top

Top with the white chocolate mousse and leave to set in the fridge for about an hour - though I foudn the chocolate mousse had already started to set when I poured it into the glass!

You can just see a flash of red from the pomegranates in the middle. This is absolutely delicious - the two types of chocolate mousse are both light and decadent and the pomegranate seeds in the middle give it a wonderful zing and crunch. I would definitely make this again, and I would use the same recipe just to make a plain chocolate mousse.

I am sending this to the One Ingredient Challenge where the ingredient this month is pomegranate, hosted by Laura of How to Cook Good Food.

Pomegranates are in season at the moment so I am also sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren of Fabulicious Food.

Lamb with pomegranate and mint

When I saw that the One Ingredient Challenge's ingredient this month was the pomegranate, I decided I had to enter, as I've never actually eaten pomegranate, let alone cooked with it! I think I was always slightly put off by the fact that the part you eat is the seeds, whereas with most other fruits I leave the seeds, but I love the way they look and I know you can use pomegranate in both sweet and savoury recipes - so I decided to make one of each.

I knew pomegranate paired well with lamb (I remember for instance a Nigella recipe of a shredded lamb salad with pomegranate) so I bought a couple of lamb chops and browsed online until I found a few recipes which I could adapt.

I started off mixing a couple of tablespoons of oil with some ground cumin, chilli flakes and salt

Spread over the lamb chops and leave to marinate (I only left them about half an hour but if you're organised enough to prepare this in advance I think it would work well marinaded overnight).

Cook the lamb in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Then cut the pomegranate in half. Doesn't it look Christmassy?

I simply squeezed the juice and seeds over the lamb and topped with fresh mint

Dinner!

I am sending this to the One Ingredient Challenge where the ingredient this month is pomegranate, hosted by Laura of How to Cook Good Food.

Pomegranates are in season at the moment so I am also sending this to Simple and In Season, hosted by Ren of Fabulicious Food.