News

Nan’s Kitchen: Healthy Pomegranate Recipes

Add this super star fruit to your daily diet and reap the health benefits!

BY Nan Yablong, Vera Bradley Foundation Volunteer

Fort Wayne, Indiana (June 2, 2008) —

About our featured chef: Nan Yablong has embraced the Vera Bradley Foundation as her special cause because she lost her mother to cancer 22 years ago. She has enthusiastically served on almost every committee in her eleven years as a Classic volunteer. As a graduate of LaRivage French Cooking School in Dartmouth, MA, with a passion for both cooking and baking, she was the perfect choice to help us develop healthy and delicious cancer-fighting recipes.

With the warm weather settling in, ‘tis the season to savor Pomegranate’s sweetness—in a side dish, entrée or dessert. Pomegranates are not only a delicious addition to your dinner table, they’re good for you, too. Our new recipes feature this super star fruit that’s brimming with cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Dinner starts with a simple salad, continues with a light seafood dish and fresh summer vegetables, and ends with refreshing smoothie for dessert. Enjoy!

Mixed Baby Green Salad with Caramelized Red Onion drizzled with a Pomegranate Champagne Vinaigrette (Serves 4)

Dressing:
½ cup pomegranate juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper

Salad:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps clarified butter
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
5 ounces mixed baby greens
3 stalks celery, chopped
½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
½ cup sweetened dried cranberries
¼ cup sliced almonds

1. Combine dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk. Refrigerate until ready to serve salad.
2. In a hot sauté pan add oil and butter. Bring to a sizzle. Add red onions and sautee slowly, allowing onions to caramelize completely. Remove from pan and set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. Divide salad greens evenly among four plates. Sprinkle with onions, celery, cheese, cranberries and almonds.
4. Toss with vinaigrette (or your favorite honey-mustard dressing).

Julienne of Fresh Summer Vegetables (Serves 4)

4 carrots
2 small zucchini squash
2 small summer squash
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsps clarified butter

1. Julienne vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
2. In a large stainless steel skillet, heat oil and butter and allow to sizzle. Add vegetables and sauté until al dente.

Sauté of Scallops with Grilled Grapefruit and Pomegranate Molasses Glaze (Serves 4)

Grapefruit:
¼ cup light brown sugar
1 large grapefruit, sliced into four ½-inch thick slices

Pomegranate Molasses Glaze:
1 ½ cups pomegranate juice
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsps Dijon mustard

Scallops:
1 pound sea scallops (about 16-20 scallops) Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps clarified butter

Grapefruit:

1. Preheat grill to 450 degrees. Divide brown sugar and spread over slices of grapefruit.
2. Place fruit on grill, sugar-side up. When sugar has melted and grill lines are present turn over slices over and allow to caramelize on top surface. Turn fruit about ninety degrees to create crosshatch grill marks.
3. Remove from grill and arrange slices individually on a patter. Set aside to cool.

Pomegranate Molasses Glaze:

1. In a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, bring pomegranate juice, sugar and mustard to a boil. Then turn heat down to a simmer.
2. Reduce to about ½ cup liquid and set aside.

Scallops:
Note: Prepare this dish right before serving.

1. Rinse scallops, drain and allow to dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat a large stainless steel skillet over a medium-high flame until it is very hot. Add oil and butter and allow to sizzle.
3. Add scallops. After about two minutes, turn scallops over and allow to cook through. (About two to four minutes depending on scallop size.) Scallops are done when they no longer appear translucent.
4. Remove scallops and arrange on one side of each plate. Place grapefruit slices on the other side. Drizzle with pomegranate molasses. Pile vegetables in the middle of each plate.

Iced Pomegranate and Banana Smoothie with Raspberry Swirl (Serves 4)

½ pint raspberries
2 tbsps lemon juice
1 cup pomegranate juice
2 small bananas
8 to10 ice cubes

1. Place raspberries and lemon juice in a food processor and process until smooth. Pour into a squirt bottle for dispensing.
2. Place pomegranate juice, bananas and ice cubes in a blender. Blend until smooth.
3. Pour juice and banana mixture into four glasses. Squirt a raspberry swirl around the sides of glass and on top. Serve immediately.

MORE ON THE WEB: Visit The Pomegranate Council to search for tasty recipes for appetizers, salads, soups and main dishes.