POM Taste Test

POM Wonderful most definitely lives up to their name! They sent me two new products that have yet to be released to give a try, POM Kiwi (green cap) and POM Nectarine (salmon-hued cap).

First off, I'd like to say how I love the little ice packets that are in the box. I've saved every one and find they are the perfect size to place in a larger zip lock back and use for icing.

Back on topic, I divvied the juice amongst a few of my fellow fans (that's what I'm calling them) and the general consensus was that both flavors tasted delicious, though the kiwi was rather on the tart side with notes of the tropics. The smoothest by far was the nectarine flavor, rounding out with an almost mellow honey essence, but it didn't leave your tongue with a parched feeling. If I bought one of these in the future, I'd opt for the nectarine, though I did like the taste of the kiwi, I would just have to make sure I drank a lot of water that day.

Thanks again, POM!

FOR-EH-VER. FOR-EH-VER.

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Other posts featuring POM Wonderful ~

Chicken Cutlets with Pomegranate Pan Sauce
Pomegranate-Ginger Syrup
Caramelized Pears with POM Juice-Aniseed Syrup
Lemon Bars with POM Syrup

chicken cutlets with pomegranate pan sauce

Chicken breasts have a tendency to be dry, and I have a tendency to avoid them. I mean, who can't resist a mouthful of sawdust!

With chicken cutlets you avoid this problem by pounding the chicken breasts to about a 1/4-1/2 inch. How does this prevent them from drying out whilst cooking? Pan-searing over a fairly high heat allows the outside to cook quickly, as well as crispifying the flour coating, while keeping the inside slightly unfinished. By placing the cutlets on a baking sheet in an oven heated to 200°, I've found that the heat slowly cooks the entire thing. I used to tent the sheet with a piece of foil, but found that by doing so the coating on the chicken lost its crispness and became soggy.

To cook the cutlets, place in a pan on medium-high with both olive oil and butter. Once heated, you sear the cutlets on either side for about 3 minutes before removing to a baking sheet.

Finally, I've used my last bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice in this sauce. Actually, my brother requested a pomegranate pasta sauce, and either I lacked the creative juices to actually figure one out or I'm just lazy, I ended up with a version of chicken picatta. He thanked me for partially fulfilling his request.

The sauce features the POM juice, minced garlic, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt and pepper, capers, and fresh parsley. Very flavorful, and everyone had nothing about good things to say to my face. No, really, the family enjoyed it. If anything can be said against this meal was that it didn't really have any vegetables, but that's not a big deal since it's just one meal.

While this may seem complicated, it's actually a super easy meal that anyone can learn. It's also one of those meals that seems impressive, yet it's a snap to prepare. You can prep the chicken the day before and take it out 15 minutes prior to cooking to speed things up, and the sauce doesn't take very long to cook, either. Anyone can learn how to do this, so give it a go1

Don't forget to enter the free coffee giveaway

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chicken cutlets with pomegranate pan sauce
Recipe by me, adapted from different recipes

ingredients ~
6 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Olive oil
Butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 8 oz. bottle of POM 100% Pomegranate Juice
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
Spaghetti to serve with chicken

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 200°. Between two sheets of plastic wrap, pound a chicken breast to about 1/2 an inch thick; repeat with each piece. Put cutlets, still between the plastic wrap, onto a plate. Mix flour, 1 teaspoon salt, a few shakes of pepper, and 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper in a shallow dish.


2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and a tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Meanwhile, as you remove the top sheet of plastic wrap from a cutlet, sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper and put seasoned-side down in the flour mixture; sprinkle the side facing up with a bit more salt and pepper. Dredge the cutlet thoroughly, but shake off any excess flour.


3. After you bread a cutlet, place in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes on either side, two at a time. Transfer to a baking sheet and stick the sheet in the oven to keep warm. Add a drizzle more olive oil and a small pat of butter to skillet and, once the oil sizzles, continue cooking until all cutlets are in the oven.


4. Turn the heat down to medium and add a tablespoon olive oil and butter. Once melted, add garlic and saute for 1 minute; keep moving to prevent browning. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, then whisk in lemon juice, capers, and spicy brown mustard. Pour in POM juice and scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan. Turn heat up to medium-high, bring to a boil, and cook down for about 10 minutes, lowering the heat if the sauce bubbles too ferociously.


5. Check for seasonings. Whisk in two tablespoons butter until emulsified with sauce; whisk in a few tablespoons of the fresh parsley.


6. Place a chicken cutlet on a plate either on or next to spaghetti, drizzle with the pan sauce, and top with parsley.

POM and Pellegrino

Back to POM, I saw a recipe for a simple ginger syrup in an issue of Everyday Food. I thought I remembered seeing one for just ginger syrup, but this included the peel and core of a pineapple. No worries, I simply omitted the pineapple and sliced a lime, substituting an 8 oz. bottle of POM 100% pomegranate juice for one cup of the water. I think I squeezed in the juice of half a lime after it finished cooking down, too.

You're essentially making a flavored simple syrup except that the water to sugar ratio is about 4:1 instead of 1:1, and instead of heating just until the sugar dissolves you boil away for 20-30 minutes or until it's reduced to one cup. And of course this allows the aromatics to infuse into the liquid.

I mix the concentrate with sparkling mineral water to create a pseudo-soda beverage. I don't have the exact ratio since I add the syrup to taste.

Whilst the aroma of fresh ginger was a bit intense when cooking, once mixed with the sparkling water it just had a nice light after bite that wasn't intense at all, but present somethemore. Pellegrino is nice and all, but this drinked needed a sparkling mineral water with more punch. It'd probably work with tonic water as well, but that's already sweetened, and I don't really prefer the taste of seltzer. My mom had a brand that was Mexican I really liked, but I forgot the name. I'm not sure if I could taste the lime at all, though perhaps it added something.

I'm never sick, but I think I have some sinus cold or something that I probably picked up from the race. You know, the handling of cups at water station, the giant tub of ice water you have to dip your hand into to grab a bottle of Powerade. Yeah. At least it wasn't the swine flu.

Anyway, I love ginger drinks when I'm sick. I get these honey-ginger tea packets from the Asian store that I love, but can only tolerate in intervals. Also, those are for hot beverages, whilst this made a cold, soothing drink. I might try this again with honey in place of sugar to see what happens.

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ginger POM juice syrup
Adapted from an Everyday Foods recipe

ingredients ~
1 3-inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
1 cup sugar
8 oz. POM 100% pomegranate juice
3 cups water
1 lime, sliced thinly
1/2 a lime
Sparkling mineral water

directions ~

1. Place ginger slices in a medium saucepan with the sugar, POM juice, water, and lime slices. Boil until reduced to 1 cup, 25-30 minutes. Strain, discarding solids; chill.


2. Mix to taste with mineral water and sip away.

in the kitchen with POM ~ caramelized pears with a POM juice-aniseed syrup

The wonderful world of POM Wonderful sent me a selection of flavors from their new line of beverages, Pom Tea. I will post more about it in detail later, but a quick overview: Featuring the antioxidant-rich 100% POM juice, you get even more of a flavor punch with the addition of black, green, or white tea and additional fruit juices. They also sent a pen, which I think is pretty dang neat (I love pens and pencils!), plus a coupon for a free bottle of POM Tea. Score! Can't wait to get in the kitchen with those.

Since I'm horrible, I still have a few bottles from the last case of POM Juice I was given. One was used up to make the syrup sauce for the caramelized pears.

Whilst the original recipe only asked for water, I decided to sub it out with the POM juice. I also wanted to enhance the flavor by the way of a spice and eventually settled on aniseed and orange rind. My thinking lead me to believe that the tartness from the juice would pair well with the licorice tones of aniseed both would be brightened by the orange rind.

I've made this recipe before, and I always make the same mistake of crowding the skillet when I go to caramelize the pears. This time I did this process in two batches, though the skillet was still crowded and should have gone repeated the process thrice. Because it's the charm. After you caramelize the pear, the lot goes back in the skillet with the POM, aniseed, and orange rind, covered and allowed to sort of poach until tender. Again, the heat is more evenly distributed when the skillet isn't crowded.

Once you remove the fruit when desired level of tenderness is achieved, you raise the heat and let the syrup bubble if it needs to be reduced to a thicker consistency. I added the rest of the POM juice and a tablespoon or two of additional sugar.

Fruit desserts like this are easy, can be made ahead of time and are light, especially when served after a heavy meal. The flavor is concentrated so you really don't need very much. I served the pairs with brown sugar-sweetened yogurt cheese to give it a little contrast and a bit of extra depth.

Did the syrup taste as good as I expected? Yes. Just enough aniseed was added to lend it's flavor without being the overpowering taste, the orange rind brightened the dish, and the tartness was still there, albeit tempered by the sweetness. If you don't want the aniseeds, you could add anise extract at the end of the syrup cook-down process, starting with 1/4 teaspoon.

A little running update: I will be running a 15k (about 9 miles) tomorrow, Labor Day, so wish me luck! This is my first race over 6 miles and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. Race report to follow.

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caramelized pears with a POM juice-aniseed syrup
Adapted from caramelized pears from Martha Stewart

ingredients ~
4 red Bartlett pears (I believe I used about 10 mini pears, for a total of 20 halves)
1/3 cup granulated sugar (I didn't end up using all of the 1/3 cup)
1 8 oz bottle of POM Juice
1 teaspoon slightly crushed aniseed
Grated rind of 1 orange


directions ~

1. Halve pears lengthwise; remove cores. (A melon baller removes cores easily, but a small spoon works, too.) Place sugar on a plate.


2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Press cut side of each halved pear in sugar. Pressing the cut sides of pears in sugar before cooking helps them caramelize. Place cut side down in skillet (fit will be snug). Cook until beginning to brown, 7 to 8 minutes. (Cook in batches if skillet isn't large enough.)


3. Add 1/2 cup POM Juice, aniseed, and grated orange rind. Cover; simmer until pears are tender, 5 to 10 minutes (depending on ripeness), adding more water if sugar begins to burn.


4. Remove pears to a plate or bowl. Add remaining 1/2 cup POM Juice and two tablespoons of sugar. Turn up heat to medium-high and allow sauce to reduce until a syrupy consistency is reached. Serve sauce over pears. Serve with 1 cup yogurt cheese sweetened with 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar, divided amongst each plate, or sour cream or creme fraiche.