Chicken Braised in Pomegranate + Blogger Party + a Giveaway!

by Stephanie

Pomegranate is, by far, my favorite Rosh Hashana siman. For this main course, we substitute pomegranate juice for the fresh stuff and counter the tart flavor with honey to symbolize a sweet new year.chicken braised in pomegranate {the kosher foodies}

Happy new year, everyone! When Miriam emailed us to invite us to a Rosh Hashanah blogger’s party, I knew we had to attend. This year, we tested a delicious chicken recipe with pomegranate. Yum. 

Welcome to the first ever Jewish Holiday Blog Party, hosted by Jessie of Taste and Miriam of Overtime Cook, and sponsored by Kitchen Aid! As you may know, Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year is coming up, and Jewish bloggers from all over the world are celebrating with all kinds of twists on traditional Rosh Hashanah foods.
To kick off the celebration, Levana Kirschenbaum is giving away a copy of her fabulous new book, The Whole Foods Kosher Kitchen to three lucky winners. To enter, leave a comment with your email address on this post. Limit one entry per reader per blog so click over to the other participating blogs below for your chance at additional entries! Giveaway ends 5 am eastern time on September 11th, 2012.
Prize is sponsored by Levana and available to readers from all blogs participating in the Rosh Hashanah Blog Party. Prize can only be shipped within the US. 
This is the first of hopefully many exciting Holiday Blog Parties, so if you would like to join in the fun, please email holidayblogparties@gmail.com.
Stop by and check out some of these amazing Rosh Hashanah themed recipes on the following blogs:

Challah and Bread:

Marlene of The Jewish Hostess made Apple Challah
Amanda of The Challah Blog made Pomegranate Challah
Shelly of The Kosher Home made Apple, Honey and Pomegranate Challah!
Sides, Salads and Starters: 
Sarah of Food, Words, Photos made Tzimmes (Rosh Hashanah Carrots)
Tali of More Quiche, Please made Roasted Beets and Butternut Squash
Roberta and Lois of Kosher Eye made Simanim Salad
Chanie of Busy In Brooklyn made Pomegranate Coleslaw
Rivki of Life in the Married Lane made Super Salad
Hannah of Cooking Manager made Beets Marinated with Ginger and Garlic
Sina of The Kosher Spoon made Pomegranate, Almond and Raisin Couscous
Shulie of Food Wanderings made Rosh Hashanah Salad
Hindy of Confident Cook-Hesitant Baker made Warm Roasted Beets with Farro
Sarah of Kosher Street made Sweet Potato Apple Tzimmes
Main Dishes:
Jessie of Taste made Smoked Salmon
Samantha of The Little Ferraro Kitchen made Chicken with Dates
Michele of Kosher Treif Cooking made Coconut Chicken Strips with two dipping sauces
Melinda of Kitchen Tested made Key Lime Glazed Duck
Stephanie and Jessica of The Kosher Foodies made Chicken Braised in Pomegranate
Liz of The Lemon Bowl made Beef Brisket
Estee of Anyone Interested? made Easy Breazy 5 Minute Brisket
Desserts and Drinks:
Miriam of Overtime Cook made Mini Apples and Honey Tarts
Laura of Pragmatic Attic made Fresh Ginger Honey Cake
Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen made Honey Caramel Apple Galette
Danielle of Hugs and Cookies xoxo made The World’s Best Rugelach
Amy of What Jew Wanna Eat made an Apple and Honey Cocktail
Nick of The Baking Process made Apple and Date Honey Squares
Lisa of The Monday Morning Cooking Club made Honey Chiffon Cake and Traditional Honey Cake
Leah of Cook Kosher made Pomegranate Ice Cream
Nossi of The Kosher Gastronome made Non-dairy Key Lime Cheesecake Bar with Key Lime Caramel

Last year, the wonderful folks at Pom Wonderful sent us some of our favorite stuff in the world! We tested a bunch of recipes with this stuff; sweets, like ice cream, and savory, like this chicken. The juice really works both ways.

Also, did you notice last year that the pomegranates available at the markets were sub-par? I hope this year is better! They were tiny and brown and dried-out looking, nothing like the juicy red fruits they’re supposed to be.

I’ve tried all of the varieties, and my favorite is the blueberry pomegranate juice. Actually, maybe that’s tied with the 100% pomegranate. Mango’s not so bad either. Okay, fine. They’re all delicious.

You’ve probably heard enough about my  love of pomegranate… Chag sameach!

Rosh Hashana foods, previously:
Lubyeh
Leek Ejjeh

Chicken Braised in Pomegranate
serves four as a main course; multiply accordingly.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 8 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1.25 lbs.)
  • 2 cup pomegranate juice
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon all spice
  • olive oil, salt and pepper

Directions:

  1. drizzle a little bit of olive oil in a dutch oven and sear chicken pieces on both sides. remove chicken and add onions and shallots. cook for 10 minutes, add garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
  2. preheat oven to 350
  3. put the chicken pieces and their juices back into the pot with the pomegranate juice, honey and spices. mix well, turn chicken skin-side down and bring to a boil.
  4. cover and simmer for 30 minutes
  5. turn chicken over, recover and bake in the oven for another 30 minutes. uncover, raise the heat to 425 and let the skin crisp up.
  6. serve over rice.


I can’t find our photos of this recipe!!

If you try it, email me your photos [stephanie at thekosherfoodies dot com], and I’ll post them (and credit you, of course!)

Reader Christopher Shymansky kindly e-mailed me the beautiful photo of the chicken you see above. Thank you!