Jewels of the kitchen

I think it's Nigella Lawson who calls pomegranate seeds 'jewels'. And she's so right, they're just so precious and gorgeous, I have had a wow of a time with them this week .

Emma came over for dinner on Thursday night and I thought I'd try something different. Googled a few ideas but most of them involved slow cooking and long marinading times - I wanted fast, fresh and simple (no, even Donna Hay didn't come through with the goods!)

So I found a recipe from the Sydney Morning Herald that I kind of adapted to fit into my schedule and used ingredients from the pantry.

Once again, my food photography has let me down, but it tasted so much better than it looked!

Pomegranate chicken with couscous

Ingredients
Serves 4

 

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (Kate's note - heaped tspn jar garlic)
1 tsp cumin seeds, toasted (1 tspn ground from the jar)
1 tsp sweet paprika (I only had smoked in the pantry)
1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes, or to taste
1/4 cup mint
1/4 cup chopped coriander
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup pomegranate juice (about 1 large ripe pomegranate)
1/4 cup olive oil
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
4 chicken marylands
Seeds of one pomegranate
Lemon wedges and couscous to serve

 

Method

1. Combine garlic, cumin, paprika, chilli flakes and herbs in a food processor and process until smooth. Add lemon and pomegranate juice, olive oil, sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste, and process until smooth.
   (For this step, I just put all the herbs, spices, garlic, oil, juice etc in a jug and blitzed with the bamix. Worked a treat!)
2. Pour marinade over chicken and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight.
   (I only had half an hour but longer would probably be better - fine on a tight deadline though if you're out of time)
3. Preheat oven to 200C.
4. Roast chicken, skin side down, covered, for 30 minutes then turn chicken and roast uncovered for a further 20 minutes or until cooked.
   (I just used a roasting pan and wrapped it up in alfoil)
5. Rest in a warm place for 5 minutes.
6. Serve with lemon wedges and couscous

And for the couscous, I just cooked up some couscous (one cup couscous to one cup boiling water) and then added some fresh mint, craisins and lightly toasted slivered almonds with a splash of red wine vinegar. It was good! Perfect accompaniment (in fact, Emma liked it better than the chicken!)