Its pomegranate season! No, not here, unfortunately. But in pomegranate-growing regions of the world it’s pomegranate season. Which means that you can find both ridiculously over-sized spheres and almost sanely-sized organic versions of the explosive fruit all over Montreal. There’s something fishy in those chemical sprays that turns these things into the Hulk Hogan of fruit.
I never had a pomegranate until just a few years ago. I’d heard of Persephone and Hades and the whole season thing, and minus the fact that there are horrible quotations given it gives you gist of the story. And for goodness sake she only ate 6 pomegranate seeds! If she’d been given a modern day pomegranate we’d be spending the whole year in winter! There are so many seeds on the fruit and though a little messy, they’re very much worth knocking out of there.
And that brings me to the other important pomegranate info: how to get the seeds out. It can be a sort of messy process. I like to cut it in half, and then make a few wedges so I can pull out the fibrous midsections and gently coax the seeds out, but this takes forever, so I’m always looks for another method. And they’re not seeds at all, really! They’re explosive little jewels of sweet-and-sour, blood-red juice. So this recipe book, “Plenty”, said to cut the pomegranate in half, place one half cut-side-down in one hand held over a bowl, and knock the other side with a mallet. And I DO love mallets. Both the kitchen kind and the musical kind.
And if you don’t have a mallet you can use any kind of flat, heavy object to beat the seeds out. A whole lot less subtle than coaxing.
Verdict? Not the greatest method. I made a real mess. But it was fun. And either way it’s definitely worth it. I ended up with about 2 cups of seeds from a single pomegranate (non-organic, sadly), and you really don’t need to use many at a time, since you appreciate the flavour more of just a few rather than an entire mouthful.
Basically they make the salad sing. The rest of the recipe is kind of boring (though I got second opinions that it was lovely, and I think with a salty, fatty cut of meat it would be very soothing). Celery, olive oil, parsley…with a little pep from allspice and cloves, and a lot of help from a decent sherry vinegar, but in general I found the salad bland and the only thin that convinced me to keep eating was the pomegranate seeds. So, here’s the original recipe, but feel free to up the sherry or other seasonings to taste.
Barley and Pomegranate Salad
1 cup pearl barley
6 celery stalks, diced (you’re supposed to reserve the leaves to add later, but I hate the taste and texture, so I say toss them. Well, ideally, compost them)
1/4 cup olive oil (make sure it’s tasty or it’s a waste)
3 tbsp sherry vinegar (or more, to taste)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2/3 tsp ground allspice (this was pretty interesting. It adds heat to the salad. Not heat in terms of pepper heat, but heat in terms of warm, mouth-conquering spice. I used whole allspice and grated it, which made it much more intense)
salt and pepper to taste (be generous. Up to 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper)
3 tbsp dill, chopped (fresh is essential – not dried)
3 tbsp parsley, chopped (again, fresh, for colour and taste)
seeds from 2 large pomegranates. (2! That’s a ridiculous amount of seeds if you’re using properly-sized pomegranates, and it’s a lot of seeding work. But I say go whole hog because otherwise the salad will be lacklustre. 2 pomegranates it is!)
Directions: Cook barley – rinse in cold water like rice, then bring to a boil in a large saucepan with 4 cups of water. Simmer, covered, for about 35 minutes, or until tender. It’s hard to over-cook barley, but it never really seems to soften too much. 45 minutes max if you’re not sure if it’s done. Make sure there’s enough water and it hasn’t all boiled off.
Drain the barley well (no soggy barley salad please!), and in a large mixing bowl combine the celery, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, allspice, salt and pepper. Stir, then add the drained barley and stir again.
Once the salad cools completely add the dill, parsley, and pomegranate seeds (don’t add these while the salad’s hot or the leaves will wilt and the pomegranate seeds won’t be as bright and fresh. Let the flavours “marry” for 30 minutes or so, then taste and adjust seasoning (more salt and pepper, more sherry, etc) before serving. This is also amazing the next day, or the next day, or the next day. It’s perfect potluck fare, and it’s comforting for a casual meal at home.
Leave a Reply