I decided to cook this dish because my fruit seller gave me a huge
heavy pomegranate as a New Year's good luck gift that was just
sitting and looking beautiful and ready to eat.
I thought
about making my usual Guinea Hen dish with it but my butcher
recommended I buy his fresh free range "galletto" or
rooster/cockerel instead. The Guinea Hen recipe assumes a wild bird,
and requires a marinade of lemon juice, black peppercorns and juniper
berries, and at the end it is finished with a little cream, but this
juicy young bird did not need any of that I decided. Keep it simple
and let the flavour of the bird shine through.
My
finish would be some fresh pomegranate arils, to add some tartness
and that delicious juice popping texture to the tender meat and the
thick slightly caramelised shallot-enriched pan syrup.
Here's
the recipe:
For 2 people you need:
A small young rooster, free range ideally - Cornish game hen will do instead, or even chicken thighs
A heavy large ripe pomegranate
A shallot
Extra virgin Olive Oil, salt, pepper
Prepare the rooster
If your butcher has not done it for you, cut the rooster into 4 pieces. Check for feathers and if necessary singe over a flame, then rub off. Wash and pat the pieces as dry as possible or your oil will really splatter!
Prepare
the shallot
Mince
it as fine as you possibly you can: use a mandolin if you have one,
then chop, chop, chop.
Extract all the arils and juice about two thirds of them in a food ricer protecting yourself /your kitchen from the splashes that stain most horribly - reserve the rest to add at the end of cooking time.
To cook the dish:
Heat
up 2 tablespoons of evo oil in a skillet, ideally non stick.
Place
the rooster quarters skin side down and brown over high heat at
first, then turn the heat down and let them brown slooooowly. High
heat only toughens the fibres of meat (and fish) while long slow
browning keeps the bird moist.
After
20 minutes or so, remove the rooster pieces to a plate and tip out
excess oil but do not scrape up the sticky bits of brown
deliciousness yet.
Add the shallot to the pan with a tablespoon of
water and let it soften, then return the rooster to the pan and
season generously with salt and pepper.
Add the beautiful
pomegranate juice to the skillet, scrape up those yummy bits, turn
the heat to very low, cover and leave to cook about 50 minutes.
Do check and add liquid from time to time - you want the pan juices to reduce to a treacly, slightly sticky sauce at the end but keep enough moisture in the pan while you braise, you can always reduce further at the end.
Test the meat by giving it a light poke with your finger - it should be yielding, promising you tender succulence. Now add the reserved whole arils and stir together with the rooster quarters and pan juices for a few minutes.
Taste and adjust seasoning and adjust the sauce by adding water or reducing until it is as you like it, then serve with a plain steamed vegetable - to rounds of appreciative applause, I hope!
