Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Carla’s Pomegranate Chicken Recipe

3 lb. chicken, cut into pieces


Marinade:

2/3 c. soya sauce (I prefer Chinese)
2/3 c. pomegranate molasses
1/3 c. dry sherry
¼ c. canola or other light flavored oil
3-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Same amount of fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
Fresh ground pepper


Mix together marinade ingredients. Pour over chicken pieces and let sit (in the fridge) for 1-2 hours, turning half way through.

Start the chicken pieces, skin side down, in a grill pan over med-high heat for a few minutes. Watch it carefully, as the sugar in the marinade with burn quickly! Finish in a 325-350 degree oven (for about 15-25 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces).

6 comments:

ultraplush said...

Hey grabbed your blog address off of jigna's blog. Would love to make this. 2 questions: where do you get pomegranate molasses, and what exactly is a grill pan? Is that first step on the stove?

miss you!
m

Carla said...

Pomegranate molasses, for those who aren't familiar with them, is just pomegranate syrup. In answer to the question: you can usually buy it at middle eastern/mediterranean groceries, and some high-end groceries may also carry it. Or make it yourself (www.elise.com/recipes/archives/004170pomegranate_molasses.php). (Warning, I just grabbed this link off the web, I haven’t actually tried it.)

A grill pan is a pan with ridges that simulate marks from a real grill. It also cooks a little differently, because only a portion of the food’s ‘bottom’ is touching the pan’s surface. I usually start off on the stove-top and then transfer the food to another dish to finish it off in the over, rather than putting the whole grill-pan in the oven. Here’s the one I have. (www.calphalon.com/calphalon/consumer/products/productGroup.jhtml?catId=CLCat100409).

ultraplush said...

Yay! I have one of these, made of cast iron. Is that a problem? And could you put the grill-pan in the oven? (Not that 3 pounds of chicken parts would fit in mine....) What would you transfer it into? The only thing I have that's big enough would be a glass pyrex dish-- or a cazuela, which I've never used....

Carla said...

cast iron is great. I don't put mine in the oven just because the sugars
in the molasses and other marinades tend to burn in the grill pan (in the
valleys of the groves) and I prefer not to keep cooking the chicken with
the burnt bits. But many certainly can go in the oven. (It depends on what they're made of. Plastic handles obviously mean it shouldn't go in.) A glass pyrex dish should be perfect.

ultraplush said...

Omigod. I finally had a chance to try this while we were in Indiana and the results were fantastic! The first night we used it with chicken, following the recipe. Delicious! The second night we used what was left with pork and steak and grilled. UNBELIEVABLE! Especially the steak. Jan said he'd never seen me eat so much meat at one sitting. Thanks!!! I'll be sharing it with Craig et al when we head to Lake Superior next week. xoxoxo

Carla said...

I'll have to try it with the pork. Maybe skewers???