Chopped Challenge: Fit to be stewed

After what felt like one of the longest weeks of my life it was finally Friday. I was looking forward to a weekend of relaxation and nothingness only to find it fully booked. Our only free night was Friday and as such it was The Husband's only opportunity to get in a Chopped Challenge this past week. Fortunately I got home early to find him squirreling the basket ingredients away. Not wanting to waste any of my precious free time I opened up the basket and took a look-see.

Whole Pomegranates, Top Round, Slab Bacon and Baby Bok Choy.

Obviously the first thing I needed to do was break down the Pomegranates because they were of no use to me sitting there like the ugly berry Persephone succumbed to (if you don't know the reference you need to work on your Greek mythos). The Husband obviously thinks Pomegranates are unique enough that they have shown up twice in two weeks.  I suppose to the average person in this country hasn't handled a Pomegranate despite Pomegranate juice being a food fad about three or so years ago. Pomegranates are a HUGE pain in the butt, and if it wasn't for the fact that the pomegranate juice you buy in the bottle is barely passable for the burst of flavor you get out of the seeds once you free them from the pulp, I would never break them down. Unfortunately, I am addicted and when in season (late August through January) My fridge usually contains a pomegranate or two waiting to be broken open and consumed while simultaneously dyeing everything in sight a beautiful but frustrating shade of purple. So although I do not find whole Pomegranates particularly exotic, many of you, dear readers, probably do and a Pomegranate in July is certainly rare enough to prompt my attention. In that matter I guess I can't fault The Husband too much for being excited to see them.

Anyway, there are many ways to break down a Pomegranate. A little time on YouTube will bring you to plenty of options all claiming to be the best way to get the seeds (called arils) out of the fleshy pith without breaking too many of them and without redecorating your kitchen and clothes. Here is just a selection from the POM Council (http://pomegranates.org/index.php?c=27), I find the water bowl method to be the safest for the arils and the wooden spoon thwacking method to be the fastest, I used a combination of both. The fact of the matter is I have tried many of the suggested methods and none of them will save you from the destructive mess that is a pomegranate. So throw on an old shirt, clear your kitchen of anything important and expect to be trying to get pomegranate off your ceiling for the next week. I would tell you it is worth it, but the moment you put that first aril into your mouth, you're going to know for yourself.

While seeding my pomegranates I took some time to think about what I planned to do with the rest of the dish. I knew Top Round is typically a very lean cut of beef. In my mind, it is typically used for stews and braises for the very reason that it takes time to break it down and make it tender. I thought I could probably let it stew for an hour or so before hunger over took my desire to get it to the fork melting stage I love in stews. All I needed was a braising liquid, and what do you know? Pomegranates can be juiced.

After seeding the Pomegranates I took about 2 cups worth and dumped them into the bowl of my food processor. Pulsing a few times breaks open the arils and allows the juice to come away from the seeds. Then all I had to do was strain and I had about a cup of pomegranate juice. This I combined with the soy sauce and red wine and set aside.

Next for the bacon. Slab bacon as A LOT of fat and tends to be less processed then sliced bacon. I figured I would cube up the Slab bacon and render the fat to be used as my primary source of fat while I cooked. I would also get nice chunks of bacon meat to go with the Bok Choy (who could complain about that?). This slab came in two pieces with the skin still on. I made a safe bet that the skin wasn't intended to be consumed unless I was making cracklin, so I skinned it. I then set to slicing and cubing the bacon. Unfortunately I found that one half was basically entirely fat, and as much as I love bacon grease, I knew that I didn't need that much fat. Fortunately the other half was plenty meaty. I placed the bacon into the cast-iron I was going to use to braise along with 1/2 a cup of water and turned the heat on medium. The water trick is a trick I learned from America's Test Kitchen. If your goal is to render the fat off the bacon adding water allows the fat to render before the meat begins to burn, then when you  are done rendering, just allow the water to evaporate and voila! bacon fat.

While the bacon fat rendered, I set to chopping up my mirpoix (I am obviously very french today). Thinly slicing the carrots, onions and celery means they will soften quicker, shortening the cooking time.

Final step was to cube the beef  into about 1 inch pieces and dredge them in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper using the plastic bag method.

Now that everything was prepped I vacated(one of my favorite cooking words) the bacon from the pan and onto a paper towel. The Husband then poured the bacon fat into a heat proof pan. I then placed two tablespoons of that fat back into the pan over medium heat. Once sufficiently hot, in went the beef pieces in batches, browning on all sides. It took about 3 batches in total, adding additional fat as needed. After the beef was done, I tossed in another tablespoon of fat and all of the veggies. Stirred until they softened and the fond started to scrape up from the bottom of the pan. I then dumped in half of the braising liquid and deglazed the pan. Last step was to add back in the beef, and the remainder of the braising liquid, cover and set aside to braise, I estimated an hour would be enough. Two hours would have been ideal but I was getting hungry and didn't want to wait.

About 30 minutes into the cooking time, I started on the Bok Choy. I cut two of the heads in half and placed them cut side down in some of the reserved bacon fat in my cast iron skillet. Followed that up with the bacon bits I had set aside earlier and turned the pan on medium high. Thinking I wanted to use the pomegranates again I took half of the remaining pomegranate seeds and some balsamic vinegar in a small sauce pan and set it aside to reduce as a dressing for the bok choy.

It was then that I realized I was missing a starchy element to my plate. Something hearty to stand up to the stew. I also hadn't incorporated any of the Veg from The Box. Glancing about the kitchen I saw the blue potatoes sitting on the counter and had a moment of genius. Last year I had made latkes with the blue potatoes and in the process all the blueness had been leached from them. This year I was going to make a mash. A purple mash to be precise. So I wrapped the potatoes in wet paper towels and tossed them into the microwave on the "baked potato" button.

I turned back to the Bok choi and flipped them over. The underside had browned nicely and I was very pleased with how they were coming out. The bacon was beginning to render further, I was worried that it was going to burn and then I remembered that even charred bacon is good bacon. I turned off the heat to let the residual heat in the cast iron finish it off, and topped it with the balsamic glaze.

By then the bell for the stew had gone off and the potatoes had finished cooking. I tasted the stew and found it high in acidity but overall pleasant, I added some honey to balance it out and was pleased with the flavors. Next, I pulled the potatoes from the microwave and mashed them with some butter, milk, salt, pepper and green onions from The Box. I love the purple color!

All that was left to do was plate and eat.

I thought that the beef could have cooked another hour to give it that really fall apart tenderness that is desirable in the stew. But it wasn't exceptionally tough and I am sure when it gets re-heated it will reach that magical point. The Bok Choy was just as yummy, but I think I am Bok Choyed out for the season.  Overall it was a hearty meal, albeit a little out of place mid summer.

Judge's Corner

Coming soon

Recipes 

For the Beef:

• 1 cup of pomegranate juice (Preferably fresh)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3/4 cup red wine
• Slab Bacon or a packet of regular bacon cut into cubes
• 1 1/2lbs top round cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 large carrot (sliced thin)
• 1 large onion (sliced thin)
• 1 large celery stalk (sliced thin)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

1. Render the fat from the bacon by placing it in a heavy skillet over medium heat with 1/2 a cup of water and cover. Once the fat is properly rendered raise heat to medium high and remove the cover allowing the water to evaporate. Vacate the bacon, drain fat into a heat safe bowl.
2. Combine Flour, Salt and Pepper in a ziplock bag. Add the beef pieces and shake to coat. Add 2 tbsp of the bacon fat back into the skillet and brown the beef on all sides in batches, adding additional fat as needed. Once the beef is browned, add an additional 2tbsp of fat into the pan and saute the carrots onions and celery until tender. 
3. Combine Pomegranate juice, soy sauce and red wine in a small bowl. Once the vegetables are tender, use half the liquid to deglaze the pan scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get up the brown bits. Once all the brown bits are removed, add the remainder of the liquid and return the beef to the pan. Cover and cook for 1-2 hours or until beef is fork tender.

For the Bok Choy:

• 3/4 cups of pomegranate seeds (preferably fresh)
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup rendered bacon bits & 2 tbsp of bacon fat
• 2 baby bok choy Halved

1. Combine the balsamic vinegar and 1/2 cup of the pomegranate seeds in a small sauce pan and set to simmer over low heat to reduce for the remainder of the cooking time. 
2. In  a heavy skillet heat over medium heat the 2 tbsp of bacon fat. Place the bok choy cut side down into the bacon fat. Top with the bacon bits and cover. Allow to cook for 5 minutes or until the underside just begins to get translucent and char. Flip the bok choy over and cook for another 5 minutes or until the bok choy is translucent, tender and charred around the edges. Stir every so often to keep the bacon from burning.
3. Once the bok choy is cooked quickly pour the balsamic and pomegranate mixture over the top, stirring vigorously. Serve with the remaining 1/4 cup of fresh pomegranate seeds

For the Mashed Potatoes:

• 4 large blue potatoes
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp milk
• 1/4 cup sliced scallions (whites and greens)

1. Cook the potatoes until fork tender using your favorite method (bake, boil, microwave, steam)
2. Mash the potatoes with the remaining ingredients, Salt and pepper to taste.