a festive salad

pomegranates and walnuts – two delicious ingredients which, i think, make eating salad a good idea despite the chilly weather.

i’m sure i’ve done something like this before. or, if this exact combination is new to me, perhaps it’s just that the various ingredients are old favourites, which i regularly turn to.

the leaves are dressed simple with walnut oil and lemon juice. i topped these with pieces of parma ham, lightly toasted walnuts and fresh goats curd before sprinkling with pomegranate seeds and a drizzle of 12yo balsamic vinegar.

it took 5 minutes to make and a similar amount of time to eat but is a great way to start a meal which is going to place more onerous demands on you and your stomach. something to bear in mind as we approach the festive season, perhaps?

spiced meatballs with feta and pomegranate couscous

 there are some dishes which you eat every last scrap of, scrape the bowl for leftovers while silently wishing that you hadn’t had to share the dish (in this case with 8 friends!) and mentally flick through your diary to work out when you can cook it again. this spiced meatballs with feta and pomegranate couscous was one such dish.

the meatballs were flavoured with toasted cumin and coriander plus coriander stems (i’m really enjoying using the stems in different ways to the leaves and the flavour subtleties which result), lemon, garlic and harissa. they were roasted on top of a gently spiced tomato sauce (similar flavours to the meatballs) and topped with a layer of crumbled feta which was scattered with mint and parsley before serving.

the couscous was scented with lemon, parsley, mint and chilli. i then added the seeds of a pomegranate and everything came together wonderfully – the complex layers of flavours in the meatballs and sauce, melting cheese contrasting with the light, zingy couscous. i served this with a green salad which had a simple lemon, olive oil and garlic dressing.

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champagne with pomegranate

i’m a big fan of adding additional flavours to sparkling wine – rhubarb schnapps and cherry liqueur have been recent favourites. i also really like the combination of grated stem ginger and fresh lime juice.

and, for 2009, i have a new favourite. several of our festive bottles of bubbles were livened up with fresh pomegranate juice* and a few of the beautiful jewel-like seeds to pop in your mouth as you sip on your drink. very beautiful to look at and delicious to sip whilst feeling (or pretending to be) sophisticated.

*halve the pomegranate and squeeze into a sieve placed over a jug/bowl. a surprising amount of juice is released – 1 pomegranate is fine for 1 bottle of bubbles – and there will be some seeds which remain unsquashed which you can pick out and put in the glasses before serving.

warm lamb and aubergine salad with pomegranate

 

one of the things i love about weekends is that you have time to cook things slowly and over long periods of time.

shoulder of lamb is a cut of meat that i want to use more often . it’s good value for money and the meat tastes fantastic, especially if you cook it long and slow. i did a version of this lamb and aubergine ragu using lamb shoulder (which was cooked using the method detailed below) and it was fabulous.

however, despite the chilly weather i wanted to do something lighter this time and was inspired by the nigella lawson recipe for shredded lamb salad with mint and pomegranate (where i discovered this method of cooking shoulder of lamb).

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