Need ideas for lots of pomegranates

[Valerie226]

Ok, the price was too good... I bought a box of pomegranates at costco. they are delicious, I love them. I scatter a handful on our green salad every night along with some avocado. Delicious. However, I have a lot of pomegranates. the only recipe I can remember using pomegranates was a CL guacamole dip that was very good.

Does anyone have any ideas on other ways to use them?

[PixieDust]

I really like pomegranates. You could make pomegranate juice or pomegranate glaze perhaps? :D

[madpots]

I used to have a pomegranate tree and made the best jelly. Its very easy. Now I have to buy the juice, but it is not the pretty red that you get from the fresh ones. Its not easy to juice them!

[hAndyman]

MMM-mmm - pomegranate jelly, sound good.

Every year now I make these "Pomegranate Ginger Muffins" (http://pomwonderful.com/recipes/pom-ginger-muffins/) when the pomegranates arrive in the market even though they're not the best muffins, but they are unique and quite flavourful and we do like them. The recipe now posted only calls for 1/2 cup of arils where the original called for the arils of a whole pomegranate - I still use a whole pomegranate (minus whatever arils I toss into my open mouth to enjoy fresh. I have been known to occasionally leave out the orange to allow the pom + ginger to shine.

[oct2189]

POM (http://pomwonderful.com/) has lots of recipes on their website that look delicious!

[Valerie226]

Muffins sound interesting. I would think they'd be wonderful in desserts but I don't remember ever seeing anything like that. I like the juice but juice is too caloric to have very often... eating the whole fruit slows me down to reasonable consumption. I'd think they'd be wonderful with chicken but I haven't found anything . I'll check the Pom website too. Thanks..

[wallycat]

I've bought frozen kernels, so why not seed them all and freeze in serving sizes.

I add mine to yogurt.

[Sheila in MD]

I saw this today on Better Homes and Gardens and thought it looked interesting! I wonder if you could can it instead of just keeping in the fridge..

Sheila in MD


Pomegranate-Pepper Preserves

Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes


Ingredients
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1-1/2 cups pomegranate seeds (from 1 large pomegranate)
1-1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 medium tart cooking apple, cored, and chopped
1/2 to 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
Directions
In a saucepan heat pomegranate juice to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes or until reduced to 1/4 cup. Add remaining ingredients; return to boiling. Reduce heat. Boil gently, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid portion is consistency of honey (mixture will thicken as it cools). Remove pan from heat; cool completely. Transfer preserves to a covered container; refrigerate up to 1 month. Makes 1-1/2 cups (12, 2-tablespoon servings).

Nutrition Facts
Calories 98, Total Fat (g) 0, Saturated Fat (g) 0, Monounsaturated Fat (g) 0, Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 0, Sodium (mg) 1, Carbohydrate (g) 25, Total Sugar (g) 25, Fiber (g) 0, Protein (g) 0, Vitamin A (DV%) 0, Vitamin C (DV%) 4, Calcium (DV%) 0, Iron (DV%) 1, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

[menat]

This is a wonderfully flavourful Persian dish. Although brown in color and not terribly pleasing to the eye, the taste is pure delight! Many versions of the recipe if one was to google.

Khoresht Fesenjan (Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce)

Serves 6

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 pounds chicken legs, cut up
1 white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 pound walnuts, toasted and finely ground in a food processor
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups pomegranate juice
1/2 teaspoon cardamom (optional)
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place chicken and onions in skillet, and cook 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mix in pureed walnuts, salt, pomegranate juice, and cardamom. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. (If the sauce becomes too thick, stir in 1/4 cup warm water.) Mix in sugar, adjust seasoning, and simmer 30 minutes more.

[Kathy B]

The Eating Well (http://www.eatingwell.com/healthy_cooking/healthy_food_guide/pomegranates)website just posted 10 recipes for Pomengranates.

[blazedog]

Boring but I eat them plain -- more or less seed by seed. It's a great diet food since it takes forever to finish off a pomegranate.

It's a little messy so I have a few raggedy t-shirts I reserve for it.

[Gumbeaux]

Boring but I eat them plain -- more or less seed by seed. It's a great diet food since it takes forever to finish off a pomegranate.

It's a little messy so I have a few raggedy t-shirts I reserve for it.

This is what I do.

To eliminate cleanup work and most of the messiness, I put on an old shirt and sit in a chair on the lawn in the back yard and spit seeds in the grass. :o

[Valerie226]

Am I the only one who eats them, seeds and all??? I love the combination of the tart- sweet juice and the nutty seed.

I assumed that if I froze them the texture would be lost. I've eaten two already, 6 to go. I'll look at the EW site too. the chicken sounds great but I don't have juice and I expect it would be a challenge to juice a pomegranate.

[Kathy B]

Am I the only one who eats them, seeds and all???

We scrape them all into a bowl and eat them with a spoon....seeds and all. DH adds salt to his. They will keep in the bowl for a few days covered with plastic wrap and stored in the frig.

[blazedog]

I get the pomegranate juice from Costco and I use a small amount in club soda -- it's divine. I probably only wind up drinking a small glass of juice per day so the calorie count is okay plus my water goes down more easily. It's such a distinctive flavor that it doesn't take that much to infuse the club soda.

I am not a super fan of sweet drinks so the tartness is super refreshing.

Costco has chocolate covered pomegranates which I've supplied but wisely elected not to buy -- those are fantastic. :p

[tbb113]

Here is an old CL recipe for a pound cake that is very good

Pomegranate Pound Cake



3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 teaspoons grated lime rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup pomegranate seeds (about 1 large)
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350�.
Beat sugar and butter at medium-high speed of a mixer until well-blended (about 7 minutes). Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine buttermilk, rind, vanilla, and baking soda. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in pomegranate seeds.

Spoon batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350� for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

CALORIES 223(29% from fat); FAT 7.2g (sat 4g,mono 2.1g,poly 0.5g); PROTEIN 4.7g; CHOLESTEROL 52mg; CALCIUM 30mg; SODIUM 184mg; FIBER 0.7g; IRON 1.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 34.5g
Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 1999

[Valerie226]

I get the pomegranate juice from Costco and I use a small amount in club soda -- it's divine. I probably only wind up drinking a small glass of juice per day so the calorie count is okay plus my water goes down more easily. It's such a distinctive flavor that it doesn't take that much to infuse the club soda.

I am not a super fan of sweet drinks so the tartness is super refreshing.

Costco has chocolate covered pomegranates which I've supplied but wisely elected not to buy -- those are fantastic. :p

I've been loking for a low cal alternative for DH's lunch that doesn't contain artificial sweetener, a migraine trigger for him. I've been doing a squeeze of lime. pomegranate juice might be a good alternative.

I should definitely NOT know that chocolate coated pomegranates exist so I'll act like I didn't read that...

A pound cake with pomegranates might be fun. I might try that for company during the holidays.

[vabelle35]

I eat them as is all the time since we were kids. It wasn't until recently that I started seeing them in recipes.

This is one I make a lot. I don't do Nigella a lot because her stuff is wierd, but I do love this recipe.


Warm Shredded Lamb Salad with Mint and Pomegranate

Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson, 2007

Prep Time: 20 min Inactive Prep Time: hr min Cook Time: 5 hr 0 min Level: Easy Serves: 6 to 8 servings
http://img.foodnetwork.com/FOOD/2007/04/26/ne0112_lamb_med.jpg

Ingredients


1 lamb shoulder (approximately 5 1/2 pounds)
4 shallots, halved but not peeled
6 cloves garlic
1 carrot, peeled and halved
Maldon or other sea salt
2 1/4 cups boiling water
Small handful freshly chopped mint
1 pomegranate
Directions



Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

On the stovetop, brown the lamp, fat-side down, in a large roasting pan. Remove when nicely browned across its middle (you won't get much more than this) and set aside while you fry the shallots, garlic and carrot briefly. Just tip them into the pan - you won't need to add any more fat - and cook them, sprinkled with the salt, gently for a couple of minutes. Pour the water over and then replace the lamb, this time fat side up. Let the liquid in the pan come to a boil, then tent with foil and put in the preheated oven.
Now just leave it there while you sleep. I find that if I put the lamb in before I go to bed, it's perfect by lunchtime the next day. But the point is, at this temperature, nothing's going to go wrong with the lamb if you cook it for a little less or a little more.

If you want to cook the lamb the day you're going to eat it, heat the oven to 325 degrees F and give it 5 hours or so. The point is to find a way of cooking that suits you: you know what sort of pottering relaxes you and what makes you feel constrained; how much time you've got, and how you want to use it. Don't let the food, the kitchen or the imagined expectations of other people bully you.

With the homily over, about 1 hour before you want to eat, remove the lamb from the pan to a large plate or carving board - not that it needs carving; the deal here is that it's unfashionably overcooked, falling to tender shreds a the touch of a fork. This is the best way to deal with shoulder of lamb: it's cheaper than leg, and the flavor it deeper, better, truer, but even good carvers, which I most definitely am not, can get unstuck trying to slice it.

To finish the lamb salad, simply pull it into pieces with a couple of forks on a large plate. Sprinkle with more sea salt and some freshly chopped mint, then cut the pomegranate in 1/2 and dot with the seeds from 1 of the halves. This is easily done; there's a simple trick, which means you never have to think of winkling out the jeweled pips with a safety pin ever again. Simply hold the pomegranate 1/2 above the plate, take a wooden spoon and start bashing the curved skin side with it. Nothing will happen for a few seconds, but have faith. In a short while the glassy red, juicy beads will start raining down.

Take the other 1/2 and squeeze the preposterously pink juices over the warm shredded meat. Take to the table and serve.

What I do with the leftovers is warm a pita bread in the microwave, and then spread it with a greedy dollop of hummus, then take the chill off the refrigerated lamb in the microwave and stuff the already gooey pita with it.

Add freshly chopped mint, black pepper and whatever else you like; raw, finely chopped red onion goes dangerously well.

[Valerie226]

I've come on an easy and obvious use for pomegranates. I still have about 6, there were more in the box than I realized.
I like fruit on my breakfast cereal. as I ate the last of the raspberries I looked at the bowl of pomegranate arils and wondered how they'd be. they are excellent on cereal. My usual cereal is grape nuts or a low fat granola and it works on both of them nicely. I 'll try some of the above suggestions but haven't yet, more time next week.