Monday, October 11, 2010

chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds :: photo recipe


When I was a little girl growing up in the mountains, autumn fruit consisted solely of apples, oranges and pears. When pomegranates were in season and available – usually once a year or so – my adventurous mom always came home from the market with one or two. I honestly think that, in some small way, eating pomegranates helped awaken my palette. Methodically quartering the fruit and savoring the ruby-like seeds one by one seemed so much more exotic to me than mindlessly munching on yet another Macintosh.  It also helped me realize there was an entire world out there, waiting to be discovered.

Pomegranates are a sign of good luck and abundance, so it makes perfect sense to bump up the hedonism quotient by pairing these little gems with best-quality, slightly bitter dark chocolate. This parallels their tartness, and also teases out the seeds' sweet and delicate essence.



First and foremost, wear an apron or old clothes, because both pomegranates and chocolate stain! Cut a pomegranate into quarters. Submerge it in a large, stainless-steel bowl and coax the seeds away from the skin. The good seeds will sink to the bottom. The bad seeds will float to the top. 



Skim away any refuse that you can, then drain the seeds well. 




Drain the seeds on some paper towels for a few hours, changing towels halfway. Gently blot the little rubies with another paper towel before dipping to make sure they are completely dry.



Melt about 1 cup of best-quality dark chocolate buttons at 50% power.  [I used Valrhona  72% Dark Chocolate. Please use the best chocolate you can find. It makes a huge difference.] Nuke at 2-minutes intervals until smooth. You can also melt the chocolate on the stove over double boiler.



Stir well with a fork or whisk to ensure that the mixture is completely smooth and creamy. It should glisten and have a slightly runny texture.



This is the fun part. Toss about 5-8 seeds into the melted chocolate. Using a fork, gently bathe them in chocolate. Let as much excess chocolate as possible fall between the fork tines, then drop the coated seeds, one or two at a time, onto some parchment or wax paper to cool. Depending on how fast you work, you may need to gently re-heat the chocolate in the microwave for 30 or so seconds.



The cooling, chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds: my homage to Jackson Pollack. Make sure they cool overnight or at least for 5 or 6 hours.



Serve these little treats in a pretty contrasting bowl. Enjoy them within a few days.

19 comments:

Jes said...

Oh yum, those look fantastic! I'd love them tossed on top of any dessert :)

The Sweetest Vegan said...

Hey, I just had a pomegranate. In fact, half of it is in the refrigerator. I never would have thought of this though.

Jackie said...

Love pomegranates so thanks for the recipe as I never thought over coating them with chocolate :)

MeloMeals said...

Those look and sound great. I never would have thought to cover pomegranate seeds in chocolate.

Paisley said...

yumm

Millie said...

I am planning to spotlight and feature throughout the month of November cookies that vegans can enjoy for the Holidays.

I would like for all the vegan bloggers on my blogroll to participate.

I would like to include you as one of my blog guests for that month.

Every 4 days I will highlight one of my vegan bloggers from my blogroll with their photo and their best holiday cookie recipe, which will highlight their blog and the written information they send me about themselves and their recipe for those 4 days.

After the 4 days I will highlight another blogger friend. Once I have highlighted you, you then need to post it on your blog sending your blogger friends towards my blog to see your guest post.

Make sure your recipe is not complicated.

If you are interested to join me fir the month of November with your best vegan or raw cookie recipe, please email me all the information I have requested by October 20th.

Your entry must be in writing and sent to me via email. I need you to send me a photo of yourself and a photo of your family. In your summary tell me a little bit about yourself, where you live, your marital status, your career and of course your recipe complete with the recipe & a photograph of your cookies. Please let me know whether you are participating or not...I truly appreciate your response.

scoobynana2@hotmail.com

Thank you.

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

Yes! This sounds awesome! Pomegranate and chocolate is a fantastic combo.

T said...

Ah, gorgeous! Pomengranates are my rarely-consumed favorites.

singerinkitchen said...

Yes please!!! SO easy too. Thanks for a nice recipe!

tweal said...

This sounds really good, I think I will pick up a few pomegranates and try this!

purplegrape. said...

awsome idea!! they look delicious!

Anonymous said...

I just signed up to your blogs rss feed. Will you post more on this subject?

Kelly Peloza said...

Oh, those look wonderful!
I just picked up a couple pomegranates from the grocery store and now I'm definitely going to make these with one of them.

KitteeBee said...

wowzy dynise! these look so great. can you imagine getting a bag of these as a gift? so amazing. i came from seitan beats your meat! kelly did a great job following your toot.

xo
kittee

Virginie said...

Quick, easy and tasty: I like that!

Create Fabulous said...

holy goodness...can't wait to try this!

i posted a link to your step-by-step of this recipe on my blog (about my obsession with pomegranates) - what a great idea - thank you!!!

www.createfabulous.com

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for this recipe! I am going to make it today. :)

kuhn rikon pressure cooker said...

I would never have thought about covering pomegranateseeds with chocolate! It looks delicious but a little bit complicated. Or not??

nessa said...

nice !!! miam merci pour la recette !!!