New and Improved

Last night I was able to make dinner for my husband and his boss.  I'd never met the man before so I wanted to pull out some tried and true recipes as well as try my hand at one or two new ones (that could easily be replaced last minute if they were a total utter screw up).  It turns out whether I had made microwave pizza or last nights menu our guest would have been gracious about it and was really great company.  He has certainly broken my stereotype of the curmudgeonly boss.  In fact, I'd love for all of us to do it again sometime.  That said, the food turned out great, and had I had to impress I think the menu would have done it.  


Menu:
Pomegranate Chicken
Roasted Garlic String Beans with Mango
Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Green Onions
and for dessert, Blueberry-Peach Cobbler


Pomegranate Chicken
I've talked about this dish from Kosher by Design enough, I think its about time I give you the recipe.  I love it because its easy but impressive and most importantly, tasty.


6 chicken breasts, with skin (can also use whole chicken, cut in 1/8ths, with skin)  NOTE: I use 6 thighs or 4 thighs and 4 legs with skin
3 cups pomegranate juice
2 cups pomegranate syrup
8 garlic gloves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, extra for garnish
1/8 cup freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons margarine


Place the chicken in a zip-lock bag or a shallow plastic container that has a cover. Completely cover with the pomegranate juice, syrup, garlic, mint and pepper.  Marinade at least overnight or up to 2 nights, shaking occasionally. 


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove chicken from marinade, placing marinade into a pot.  Set aside.


In a separate pan, heat margarine over high heat.  Add the chicken, skin side down, taking care not to splatter the hot margarine.  Sear the chicken about 4-6 minutes or until the skin is nice and crisp.  As long as your heat is right, the skin may seam like its sticking a little but it will release once its perfectly seared. 


Place the pot of marinade over a medium flame and boil it about 30 minutes or until it reduces by half and is syrupy.  Make sure it doesn't burn.  Skim continuously to remove the chicken impurities that will rise to the surface.


Remove the chicken to a baking pan. Bake chicken, skin side up, for 40 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve with sauce dribbled over it.


Yield: 6 servings (or less, depending on your guests)


While I'm at it, here's the green beans recipe from Kosher by Design as well:

Roasted Garlic String Beans with Mango

2lbs green beans, trimmed

5-6 scallions, halved and ends trimmed

7-8 garlic cloves

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar (I recommend using the good stuff)

3 tablespoons water

1/2 cup olive oil

1 packet roasted garlic dry salad dressing mix

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons honey

1-2 fresh mango, peeled and diced; or 1/3 pound dried mango, soaked in warm water for 5 minutes then cut into very small pieces

2 handfuls sunflower seeds

2 handfulls chopped walnuts

In a large pot of salted water, cook green beans about 6 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain; run beans under cold water and drain again.  

In the container of a food processor fitted with a metal blade process the scallions, garlic, balsamic vinegar, water, oil, dressing packet, mustard and honey.  Pulse until emulsified and smooth. May be done in advance. Can keep in refrigerator 4-5 days.  Remove from refrigerator at least 1/2 hour before using and shake very well. 

Pour the dressing over the green beans.  Right before serving add the mango, sunflower seeds and walnuts.  Mix Well.  

Yield: 12 servings

The Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Green Onions was absolutely delicious, definitely a must make again.  


Finally, the dessert, Blueberry-Peach Cobbler turned out better than I thought it would. Dear me its difficult to peel peaches. I was given a trick from the MIL to boil them for a minute or two then douse them in a cold water bath but I don't think I boiled them for long enough because they just didn't want to peel.  Otherwise everything was delicious.  The recipe was from Cooking Light magazine, but you find the recipe here.