Well, I finally got around to making my own version
of pomegranate duck. I cut the duck up and marinated
it in pomegranate juice, onion, garlic, rosemary, and
bay leaf. I ended up letting it marinate all week
because I didn't get it done in time to cook it last
Monday. So I dumped it in the slow cooker pot and fished
out the duck pieces which I roasted in the oven to brown.
Then I dumped them back in the slow cooker and added more
pomegranate juice and cooked them on high for a couple
of hours. In the meantime I chilled the pan juices so
I could skim the congealed fat off the top (which is being
saved for cooking) and then dumped all the pan juices in
the slow cooker.
In the meantime I made my own madu-up version of Persian
sour cherry rice. I had bought a quart of freshly picked
sour cherries at my favorite farm market. I cleaned and
pitted them and then put them in a bowl with some sugar
and microwaved them for about 5 minutes. I saved some
out to freeze to use in making sour cherry ice cream later.
I put about a cup or so of the cherries and the sweetened
juice in my large casserole with 2 cups of rice, butter,
salt, and 3 1/2 cups of water and microwaved them. I was
flabbergasted at what it looked like when I took it out
of the microwave. The rice was *bright* pink and the
cherry flesh way still yellow. I don't understand why
the cherry flesh didn't take the color. Anyway I wasn't
expecting this at all. The last time I made it the "un-
authentic" way I used canned sour cherries (packed in water)
and the rice didn't turn pink at all and the cherries were
just scattered through the rice and were still whole and looked
the same as they came out of the can. The fresh ones I used
were whole when they went in but sort of disintegrated or
something. Very bizarre. However it tastes delicious.
I had some peas for my vegetable.
The duck tastes great but the pomegranate flavor is not
noticeable enough for me. I guess I'm going to try again
and maybe just marinate in part of the juice as I did this
time and then cook it but let it get fairly dry, not too
saucy, and then make a pomegranate sauce to pour over the
meat. Or I could just roast the duck whole and make a
pomegranate sauce for it. I think either way would be good.
And if I do it when fresh poms are available and if I have
any extra energy - ha! - I might get one and sprinkle fresh
seeds over everything. I've been using Pom which I think
is one of the great new products to come along because I
love pomegranates but they are such a pain to deal with.
Now I can easily have pomegranate everything. I made
pomegranate ice cream not long ago and it was wonderful.
Kate