Pomegranate Lamb

What a long week! I didn’t have a chance to really sit down and do much cooking so I thought I’d post something from a little while ago.

A couple of weeks ago I was cooking with my friend John and we made a few reductions, some orange and some cranberry etc; we put them over some stuffed chicken and it was amazing. John later asked what a pomegranate reduction would taste like and if it would work?

A week later we had a shoulder of lamb and 2 pomegranates… I also grabbed about .5L of premade pom juice just in case the real fruit didn’t work well.

The Menu:
Steak with prune and apple, wrapped in bacon with a sweet red wine peppercorn gravy.

Lamb shoulder cooked in pomegranate, rosemary and sea salt with a pomegranate reduction; served with whipped horseradish potatoes.

Bacon and apple salad with a sweet lemon dressing.

The Lamb:

2-3 stems of rosemary

A small handful of sea salt
A small handful of crushed black peppercorns
1 pomegranate worth of seeds.

First things first, oven on hot. Turn it down to 325F when the lamb goes in but for now we want it hot to seal in the flavours.

Give the lamb shoulder a little wash under the tap and make sure to wash away and bone fragments and generally look over the shoulder and trim off anything undesirable.
pour a little olive oil over the lamb and give it a quick rub so our spices and seeds will stick to it.

Cut up your rosemary nice and small and mix it with the salt and pepper so you have a nice rub; then, give your lamb a rub.

When it is nicely coated, put some foil over or put a lid on your baking pan and throw it in the oven.

For a lamb shoulder with the bone in  let it cook for about 20-30 (25 minutes) per pound.

Pomegranate reduction

Initially the goal was to have the pomegranate seeds burst and release their flavour while boiling in sugar water. I really doubted that the seeds would carry enough flavour and that one pomegranate would yield enough juice for us… so I bought a bottle just in case.

1 pomegranate worth of seeds (optional)

.5L of pomegranate juice

1 cup of white sugar.

Stir the liquid on a high heat until it starts to boil, then turn it down and let it simmer until it’s not as runny and drips off your spoon like syrup.
It should taste like sweet condensed pomegranate.

The sauce is a beautiful deep red so if you have white plate it will look spectacular; alternately you could just drizzle it over the lamb. If you stick the spoon in the sauce and let it drain off again you will find it will start to trickle off the spoon in a very fine stream.

Whipped Mash potatoes
Depending on your numbers, peel and cut up your usual amount of potato and add (to taste):
1-2tbsp of butter
1/4cup of cream (or sour cream or milk)
1tsp of salt
.5tsp of pepper
1tbsp minced horseradish
1tsp of minced garlic

Crush the potatoes with your masher and give ‘em a good once over. Add cream as needed to get the mixture nice and smooth, then grab your whisk and start whisking!

After a few minutes the potatoes should be light and fluffy with no large chunks of potato left. For a real treat (which we didn’t do) brush the top with butter and throw under the broiler while the lamb is resting to crisp up on the top.

Bacon wrapped steak

1 stewing steak (or other cut if you prefer)
1 package of bacon

A few slices of dried apple
2 dried prunes.

This app is dead easy and is a little tiresome because everything seems to be wrapped in bacon these days; but it’s a classic, and the gravy we will make will be sweet and contrast the salty bacon and meat perfectly.

Cut up the steak into pieces a bit bigger than your finger, remember the meat will shrink as you cook it.

You could season the meat further at this step if you want to but we have a lot of flavours already so let’s not do too much.
Cut the apple and prunes in slices, not too thin or the flavour will disappear, and as you wrap the bacon around the steak, put the apple and prune slices inside, around the steak, so they are nestled between the layers. You can cook them individually or, as I prefer, skewer them on a few kebabs so they hold together and are easy to turn in the oven.

About half an hour before you want to serve them, throw them in with the lamb.

Sweet red wine and peppercorn gravy

In a very small pot combine:
¼ Cup of beef

¾ Cup red wine
1tbsp Brown sugar
1tsp chopped garlic
1tbsp black+white peppercorns

A little flour or corn starch for thickening

Throw everything into the pan and put it on a medium heat until it starts to boil then turn it down and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Combine a little flour or corn starch with some water until you get a milky liquid then add a little to the gravy and stir for a minute, keep adding a little more until it thickens up to gravy quality.

Taste your sauce and add more sugar if you need, it should taste like a sweet beefy wine.

When the steak and bacon is done remove it from the oven; cut them in half and drizzle with the gravy. The peppercorn will be soft at this point and the flavour will have diffused so they shouldn’t burn anyone’s mouth off.

The bacon and apple salad is dead easy.

1 package of fancy salad mix

1 apple

3-4 slices of bacon.

Grab your cheese grater and pick the slicing side (or just grate on the normal side if you only have one size of grater)

*** Only cut up the apple right before you’re ready to serve to prevent it going brown***

You can also store your cut apple in a little water and lemon juice which will prevent it going brown but no point in making extra mess.

Fry up your bacon until it’s crispy and brown then break it into pieces.

Throw the salad in a bowl and add your dressing of choice.

We used:
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp of honey

Another great dressing for this salad is a warm balsamic, especially if you crumble a little warm goats cheese over the salad too!

There you go! Nothing too fancy, nothing too difficult, but the taste should be out of this world, and this meal should be filling enough that everyone will be rolling their way home.

I’ll do some desserts soon or maybe post the Trifle I made for a friend.

Enjoy! If you have any questions or request please ask. If you’d like to join one of our dinner parties just send me a message.

Coming soon: Home made pasta!

On a side note, I'd love to get this blog out to everyone on the planet so if you know anyone who might like it send a link!