Pomegranates - blood red jewels

"A pomegranate is a thing of beauty, before you have even breached the skin." Nikki Duffy, River Cottage A-Z

By some accident I have a pomegranate tree in my garden. I don't think I realised it was a pomegranate when I planted it. Maggie Beer says it was one of the few plants in her garden to survive a hot, dry summer, whilst they were away. Yotam Ottolenghi says they bear copious amounts of fruit. His parents have two trees and only use about 10% of the fruit. Mine is like that nursery rhyme - "I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear ...". It just hangs in there not getting any bigger, and looking pretty spindly. This year it bore two fruit which we managed to retrieve before the birds attacked it, and they will feature in my entrée for tomorrow's lunch.

It is a small lunch with just two good friends, but an opportunity to experiment. I have had a quick look to see if what I have is actually a fraudulent and possibly poisonous thing, but I don't think so. Yes you shouldn't eat the papery bits surrounding the seeds, but I wasn't going to. There don't seem to be fake pomegranate plants - just for decoration. Mind you, whether there will be any seeds inside is another question, though one of them is cracked and it does look like there are some seeds inside.

They are currently very fashionable - well it's the Middle-Eastern craze, for this is where they come from. From Iran across to India and Afghanistan. Mind you the Ancient Egyptians ate them and probably everyone else as well. They feature in Greek legend too - Persephone ate six seeds, even though she was told not to, and was thus condemned to spend six months of the year with Hades in the Underworld. It is also one of those foods that was taken to the Americas rather than being brought back from there. So the traffic was not all one way.

They are:

"regarded across the Middle East as a symbol of abundance and prosperity. Each pomegranate fruit is said to have an extra seed that comes directly from paradise" Yotam Ottolenghi

Indeed some regard the pomegranate as the fruit on the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

Although it is very trendy now it hasn't always been so, though I do remember them from my childhood. And then I opened Jane Grigson to this:

"In any practical way, it is an unrewarding fruit. I have often wondered why so many are put out for sale in this country around Christmas. Every small town greengrocery has them, even ones that are shy of avocados and peppers. ...[they] have never been part of our cookery, or of French cookery either."

And I think it was at Christmas that I remember them. Even Maggie Beer, who now loves them says she spat out the first one she ever tasted. Oh dear.

Jane Grigson was writing back in 1982 - my childhood was well before then. Nowadays apparently Yotam Ottolenghi and his ilk have made the pomegranate super fashionable. And I have to say it is fashionable here too. It is rare that they don't pop up somewhere in every edition of the foodie magazines. And you can buy them in your supermarket - for a price. So I should be pleased that I have my own supply of two a year in my garden. Not ashamed at how poorly it does.

They are a sweet and sour kind of thing, but most of all they are strikingly pretty. As Nikki Duffy says:

"These crimson gems beg to be sprinkled over foods that are pale or light in colour."

So I am using them in a salsa to serve with grilled pieces of fish from a recipe in my not long ago purchase of the book on Persian Cookery, Saffron Tales. I just hope it will taste as good as it looks. And oops I forgot to buy some more coriander. Tomorrow.

Here's the recipe for the salsa (the fish is just straight grilled and the salsa poured over it.

SPICY POMEGRANATE SALSA

1/2 small red onion

1/2 small red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

10g bunch of coriander, chopped

15g bunch parsley, chopped

10g bunch mint, finely chopped

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

Sea salt and black pepper.

Slice the red onion very finely into half-moon shapes. Place in a small bowl, mix in the chilli and lime juice and leave to marinate for 15 minutes, to remove some of the red onion's pungency. Add the fresh herbs, olive oil and pomegranate seeds to the onion, season and with salt and pepper and mix well.

You get the seed by slicing the fruit horizontally and then either digging them out with a teaspoon, or you can invert them over a bowl and whack them with a wooden spoon or a rolling pin. Theoretically the seeds fall out. Can't say I have had too much trouble getting them out with a spoon before.

The taste of pomegranate is unique.

"The seeds pop between the teeth with a pleasing, juicy crunch, their flavour sweet-sour, slightly tannic, appley and refreshing."

I just hope I won't be disappointed, as Greg Malouf seems to think we will:

"Despite their glossy beauty, few of the imported pomegranates available to us here warrant the effort in terms of flavour. They may certainly be used as an exotic addition to fancy flower arrangements and table decorations, but they are likely to be a big disappointment on the culinary front. If you also believe that life is too short to spend digging away at pomegranate seeds, you could consider pomegranate molasses." Greg Malouf - Arabesque

Mind you he wrote that in 1999 and since then they have become much more popular and are probably grown commercially here. Mine though are home-grown. But yes there is pomegranate molasses - a thick syrup made from the juice - and I have some of that too. For this also can be obtained in your local supermarket.

Yotam Ottolenghi though is a bit more optimistic - he thinks they are OK even when a bit dried up.

“You can’t go very wrong – even if they have aged and shrivelled a little, they are very good. And you can keep them for up to three weeks.” Yotam Ottolenghi

The Guardian website has ten recipe suggestions that more or less cover the range of options and the River Cottage book has a rather tempting recipe for a salad:

HALLOUMI AND ROASTED CARROT SALAD WITH POMEGRANATE

500g carrots

1 tbsp clear honey

1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil

225g halloumi cheese, cut into 5mm thick slices

1 pomegranate

1 tbsp chopped parsley

Sea salt and black pepper

For the dressing

1 1/2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

1 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp clear honey

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/Fan 180ºC.

Peel the carrots and slice them into batons, about 1 cm thick and 4-5 cm long. Put these into a large roasting tin, spoon over the honey and oil, season with salt and pepper and the toss together well. Roast for 20 minutes.

Add the sliced halloumi cheese and toss with the carrots. Return to the oven for a further 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the cheese are looking crisp and golden.

Meanwhile make the dressing: in a bowl, whisk together the pomegranate molasses, vinegar, mustard and honey. Gradually whisk in the oil until well incorporated. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Extract the seeds from the pomegranate. Spoon the carrots and halloumi on to a warm platter. Trickle over the dressing and finish with a generous scattering of parsley and pomegranate seeds.

Server warm, just as it comes - or make a more substantial spread of it by serving with a green salad, hummus and some warm flatbreads.