Pomegranate and duck- a decadent combination
You know when you meet kindred spirits, how comfortable it is to hang out? Well over Easter weekend, I was lucky enough to meet some folk that have the same passion for food. After sampling RM's decadent and creamy flan (she's a genius), we spent the afternoon talking about recipes and favorite dishes. People walking past would exclaim "You're still talking about food?"
Anyway, after hearing that I had no good source for pomegrante paste, RM invited me to Turlock to shop at her local Assyrian market. Little did she know that a week later I would take her up on her offer. I was teaching a class at UC Merced, and I passed through Turlock on the way home. RM very graciously ditched work for a couple of hours to tour me around Turlock's finest Assyrian store, I reviewed Mary Ann's Bakery on yelp.
This place supplies all the other Assyrian groceries in the area with Lavash flat bread and pita bread in both white and wholewheat - hearty and tasty with just the right amount of chew and structure to hold hefty portions of filling.
Non-descript outside, inside the tiny mart stocks interesting and hard to find items on it's dark, cramped and crowded shelves. After a brief browse I found the following:
dried lemons for ghormeh sabzi
date paste
pomegranate paste (essential for fesanjun) & pomegrante molasses
fig molasses
Plus all the standard stuff
rice
rosewater
bulghur wheat
walnuts etc.
This week I'm cooking for the family and I thought I'd use some of my cool new supplies with a recipe I found online. It includes two of my favorite foods- duck AND pomegranate.
POMEGRANATE WALNUT STEW
(Khoresh-e fesenjan)
From Najmieh Batmanglij's New Food of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian Cooking and Ceremonies
"Traditionally this recipe is made with duck: The affinity between pomegranate and duck goes back to ancient times in Persia. Fourth-century Persian manuals describe the domestication of the male duck, fed on hemp seeds and the butter of olives. The finest meal possible was one of these ducks served in a pomegranate sauce. This recipe recreates that ancient dish."
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, butter, or ghee
2 small onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound skinless and boneless chicken or duck breast cut into thin strips
1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into thin strips
1/2 pound shelled walnuts, toasted
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pomegranate paste diluted in 2 1/2 cups water or 4 cups fresh pomegranate juice
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground saffron threads, dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water (optional) Batmanglij recommends buying saffron in thread form rather than powder, which is often adulterated with turmeric. Before they can be used in a recipe, the threads must be ground with a cube of sugar, using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, and then diluted in hot water. "The saffron water can then be stored and used as needed," says Batmanglij. "Never use the unground threads."
GARNISH
1 cup fresh pomegranate seeds
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1. In a medium pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and stir-fry 5 minutes, until translucent. Add the duck/chicken and fry for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. Add the butternut squash and stir-fry 2 minutes longer.
2. Toast the walnuts in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until they're golden brown — 5 to 10 minutes. Finely grind the toasted walnuts in a food processor. Add the salt, diluted pomegranate paste, sugar, cinnamon, and saffron water and mix well to create a smooth, creamy sauce. Transfer the sauce to the pot, cover and simmer for 40 minutes over very low heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent the nuts from burning.
3. Taste the sauce and adjust for seasoning and thickness. This khoresh should be sweet and sour, and the consistency of heavy cream. Add diluted pomegranate paste for sourness or sugar for sweetness. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with warm water.
4. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve.
5. Serve hot with saffron steamed rice. NUSH-E JAN!
Servings: 4
Saffron Rice
1 3⁄4 cup Basmati rice
Water
Salt
1⁄2 cup Butter; unsalted, melted
Saffron disolved in water
1. Rinse rice three times in lukewarm water. Cover rice with cold water and add 1l/2 tablespoons salt. Let soak 1 hour.
2. Put 2 quarts water in pot, add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to boil . Drain soaked rice and add to boiling water. Boil until nearly done, 5 to 10 minutes, stirring to keep grains from sticking together. Drain in colander and rinse with lukewarm water.
3. Put 1/3 of melted butter and 2 tablespoons water in bottom of pot. Sprinkle rice into pot, allowing it to form cone shape. Pour remaining melted butter and saffron evenly over rice. With handle of wooden spoon, punch 3 holes from top of rice cone to bottom of pot.
4. Put dish towel or paper towels over pot, then cover with pot lid. Set pot on medium heat 10 to 15 minutes, then reduce heat to low for 35 to 40 minutes. Can be kept in warm oven 1 hour.
5. Set pot in sink of cold water 1 minute to loosen crust on bottom. Remove pot lid. Turn large serving plate upside-down and cover pot with it. Holding pot and plate tightly together, turn both upside-down. Rice should come out on plate.
6. Divide crust among diners and serve rice with khoresh. Makes 4 to 6 servings.