Pomegranate seeds: the versatile fruit

As much as I love fall flavors, it was pretty hard to get into the holiday mood with temperatures conducive to sunbathing back in Arizona. At least now that I'm back in Northern California, it's nonstop rain and fog (the grass is always greener, people)... Luckily buying fall and winter produce gave me a nudge in the festive direction, making me wish it were drizzly and foggy outside (in Arizona). Not like I'm one to complain about 80º temperatures or anything...

Whole Foods had pomegranates essentially for buy one get one free a few weeks back, so I bought my first two, ever. I didn't know how to cut one, let alone what I could do with the seeds. [Enter PBFingers, that did the trick]

From putting the seeds in yogurt to salads, I needed some other ideas to keep stretching out the pom seeds. So my two fall pomegranate meals spanned the spectrum from breakfast to dinner: Maple Pumpkin Berry Spiced Oats and Quinoa-Stuffed Butternut Squash.

Maple Pumpkin Berry Spiced Oats: This is probably my favorite preparation of oatmeal thus far!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c quick cook oats
• 1 c water
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 T chia seeds
• several dashes of pumpkin pie spice
• handful pumpkin granola
• handful pomegranate seeds
• handful Craisins
• 1/2 T almond butter
• splash of nonfat milk

While it doesn't look like much, eating the spicy warm bowl of oatmeal made me feel that if I closed my eyes, it would be fall and chilly outside. So basically the best of both worlds, winter flavors with summer temperatures! And now for a similar type of feel at dinner.

Quinoa-Stuffed Butternut Squash:

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 c quinoa
• 1 c water
• 1 T butter
• 1/2 c onions or scallions
• 1/3 c chopped walnuts
• 1/2 c pomegranate seeds and Craisins
• 2 T grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper for seasoning

Preheat oven to 350°. While waiting, half the squash and remove pulp, seeds. Oil a cookie sheet and lay halves flat side down onto the sheet. Bake for 45 minutes, or until tender.

While the squash is baking, melt the butter in a pot and sautée onions. Add water, bring to a boil and then dump in the quinoa. Bring back to a boil, cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 12 minutes. Once the quinoa has absorbed all of the water, remove from heat, fluff and then put the lid back and let sit for 15 minutes.

After the squash finishes baking, take a knife and score the insides, scooping out all of the squash and leaving just the shell. Set aside and chop the walnuts. Then mix into the quinoa. You could stop here (how I prepared J.D.'s squash) or you could add in pomegranate seeds and Craisins for an extra crunch.

Season the mixture with salt and pepper then divide evenly to fill the squash shells. Top with grated Parmesan cheese and return to the oven for 20 more minutes at 350°. Serves two, but realistically there is enough quinoa for four servings.

This quinoa side is what sparked my idea for the "stuffing" I made on Thanksgiving. Now, on to Christmas!

Tomates farcies: A little taste of Southern France

I had some of the best meals of my life in France. From visiting my family, to studying abroad and then later, teaching English, my parents, sister and I have been to the Southern region of Provence close to 10 times (and it still isn't enough if you ask me)!

Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards

One of the 100 fountains in the city of Orange in Provence

Me in Cannes, when my dad came to visit!

(If you want the story behind these photos, check out the recap from my oooold blog)

As I set to enjoy my leftovers again, I'm reminded of two nights ago. For some reason, the idea of tomates farcies (stuffed tomatoes) remain trapped in my mind. I don't think I've even eaten them for several years, but was determined to try and make my own. This is a very regional cuisine, specific to the South of France, much like socca (chick pea crêpes), salade niçoise and ratatouille.

Traditionally, tomates farcies are stuffed with beef and other flavors. But I wanted to make my own twist on the dish, since it was a side to roasted pork.

TOMATES FARCIES:

• 6 tomatoes (I made the mistake of using small ones; the larger the better!)
• 1 t herbes de Provence (generally a mixture of savory, fennel, basil and thyme)
• 2 T chopped parsley
• 2 t salt
• 1 t pepper
• 2 T minced garlic
• 1/2 onion (chopped)
• 1/2 c panko (in place of ground beef)
• 3 T olive oil
• 1/3 c shredded parmesan cheese

To cook: Hollow out the tomatoes, setting aside the inside pulp. Caramelize that onion in the olive oil until golden brown then adding garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and herbes de Provence. Add panko bread crumbs until golden brown. Stuff the hollowed out tomatoes with the bread and herb mixture. Line a shallow baking dish with foil, place the stuffed tomatoes inside and cook at 400° for about 28 minutes. Remove tomatoes, top them with cheese and return to the oven for two more minutes.

Enjoy! :)

They were just as good as I remembered, although a little lighter than the last time due to the lack of meat. We ended up having waaay too much stuffing left over, so you could probably cut it in half, or use gigantic tomatoes. Maybe more than six!

As I mentioned earlier, the tomates went with a gigantic piece of pork that will probably give us three more meals and garlicy butternut squash (recipe is linked). That's probably the first time I've had savory butternut squash and I think I like it much better than maple butternut squash (eh, probably not!) ;)

I think it's safe to say that fall is here (maybe not in Phoenix, it's still 103° outside). Come back next time for another recipe involving panko bread crumbs and fried chicken!