Pip, Pip, Hooray!

I was first introduced to the pomegranate in the Ray Stevens' song "Ahab the Arab" in which we find Fatima laying on a zebra skin and nibbling on raisins, grapes, apricots, a pomegranate, bowl of chitlins, two bananas, three candy bars and sipping on a coca cola. Shortly thereafter, my then best friend Suzanne introduced me to an actual pomegranate. I have very fond memories of sitting on the wood floor in her upstairs bedroom of her parent's lake cabin in Alabama, playing with our Polly Pockets and our Barbies and painstakingly pulling out each pomegranate pip, popping them in our mouths, sucking the juice out and then swallowing the seed whole. The pomegranate was this magical fruit, the likes of which I had never seen before, only made more mystical by the story of Persephone and how Hades kidnapped her and she ate four pomegranate pips while she was down there, and so she has to return for four months every year and Demeter makes it winter because she is so sad. My mother was good enough to purchase a pomegranate for me when I came home from that first weekend praising its glories, but it never became a staple of our household. And then we moved away from Atlanta and I was separated from my source, and thus began years of estrangement between the pomegranate and me.

This year the parents drove 14 hours to spend Christmas with the Boyfriend and me, and I took planning Christmas dinner very seriously. I wanted a couple of the holiday staples, but I also wanted to utilize winter produce, and my choices were brussels sprouts and pomegranates. Brussels sprouts I have cooked many a time in my adulthood, and I've even got my niece loving them, but picking up a pomegranate was like running into an old friend, and you have that conversation where you say fancy meeting them here, and how great the other person looks, and find out what each other has been up to and see if you still want to hang out together after all those years. Well pomegranate, you are definitely welcome to drop by my house anytime!

First up was Roast Duck with Pomegranate Glaze courtesy Whole Foods. I'm a big fan of duck, especially for the holidays. Normally I do a sherry glazed duck, but Mom can't do alcohol, so this was a perfect excuse for pomegranate use! It turned out pretty lip-smacking delicious, but I'd like to find a way to make the skin a little crispier and rend the fat more. And I had one 7 pound duckling as opposed to two little ducklings. Here is the Boyfriend doing his manly carving thing. I wish I had remembered to take a better picture of the duck, but after cooking for many an hour, and trying to get everything on the table at the right time, one tends to forget to photo-journal everything.

The other use of the pomegranate for Christmas was a really lovely romaine salad with a pomegranate vinaigrette. Take one head of romaine lettuce and chop it up with half a red onion throw in a tub of goat cheese. Mmm...goat cheese... And some pomegranate pips, of course. For the vinaigrette, reduce some pomegranate juice with some sugar, I think I used about half a cup and a tablespoon, respectively. Add some dollops of olive oil (I don't measure much, sorry) and the juice of half a lime, shake the dressing to blend, toss all together thoroughly and enjoy the best salad you will ever have!

At the moment, I am enjoying my most recently discovered use of the pomegranate pip, thanks to Wahooty - a glass of bubbly with several pips dropped in. Wahooty calls it a little alcoholic lava lamp, but I think it's more like an ever changing rorschach test. Very artsy. And VERY tasty, not to mention full of healthy anti-oxidants! Cheers, Blogoworld! (And a special thanks to Dave for helping me through the gauntlet of posting photos.)

So we'll take one more look back in time, and I'll leave you with Ray Stevens non-PC pomegranate. Enjoy!