The joy of cooking

Pomegranates - now there’s a fruit that brings back memories.

When I was 5 or 6 years old, my mom bought me a little white sailor suit, including a white sailor cap. Sunday morning before church, she took what felt like a hundred snapshots of me all dressed up. In a half hour, we would pile into the two-toned Ford station wagon with red interior and head off to church.

Thirty minutes is a long time when you’re 5 or 6, and I couldn’t just sit idle.

My brothers and I headed out the door and down the street to our favorite climbing tree, which just happened to be a pomegranate.

Up the tree we went; down came the fruit. We enjoyed watching the pomegranates hit the ground, where they broke and revealed their sweet, red seeds. We began to pull more fruit off the limbs, eating the seeds as fast as we could pop them into our mouths.

As you can imagine, a white sailor suit and sticky, red pomegranate seeds don’t mix. I had juice stains all over my white shirt and pants.

All of a sudden, our dad called us home to head off to Sunday school. When my brothers and I ran into the house, my mom’s eyes got as big as the pomegranates we carried. She saw the drippings from the pomegranate juice all over my new, white sailor suit.

Needless to say, we didn’t make it to church that day, and I got to spend some quality time in my room with a sore rump. It would take more than 50 years for me to taste another pomegranate, thanks to friends Beth Sylver and Pam Satchell of Loma Rica.

We met at Pam’s house in Loma Rica, where we had a good ol’ time chopping, slicing, mixing and cooking the recipe for the most beautiful game hens I’ve ever seen. (They are formally called Rock Cornish game hens, but I have always just called them game hens.)

In case they’re new to your culinary arsenal, game hens are like little chickens. I mean really, really small chickens. One hen will serve just one person unless you don’t have much of an appetite.

Not only are they easy to prepare, they add an “aha!” factor for guests when you serve the birds dressed and nicely plated. I get little white leg footsies at the cooking store and put them on the cooked birds just before serving.

Beth and Pam went above and beyond the norm when they prepared their recipe. They mixed together a pomegranate sauce that was to die for, as well as being healthy for you. Pomegranates are filled with antioxidants.

As busy as both of these friends are, they still find time to cook together with their husbands at least once a week.

“We just love to cook with each other. We laugh and we look for new ways to make old recipes. We can tell it worked when we see the smiles come across our husbands’ faces,” Beth said. “Plus, our husbands love when we get together and cook because they get a really great meal, and when the four of us get together, we have a great time together.”

“Beth and I are always on the lookout for new recipes,” Pam said. “When we find one, we try it once and then we put our own spin on it the next time we make it. Some work great, some not so great.”

When Beth, Pam and I sat down together to share lunch, it was one of those special days when great food brings good friends closer together. The hills of Loma Rica were filled with the smells of Cornish game hens, and I think every animal within a mile of Pam’s kitchen window lined up with vain hopes of getting a taste.

Their loss is your gain. You can buy pomegranate preserves at any major grocery store, and you won’t even have to climb a tree or steal your neighbor’s fruit.

Besides, pomegranates don’t go well with white clothing. Too bad I had to learn that the hard way.

Cornish game hens with pomegranate Sauce
Ingredients

• 4 Cornish game hens

• 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped

• 1 1/2 cups pomegranate preserves

• 2 medium shallots, sliced thinly

• 1 1/2 cups pomegranate balsamic vinegar

• 1/4 teaspoon whole peppercorns

Putting it together

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Lightly coat the game hens with sauce (see below).

• Place game hens into a heavy baking pan and cook for 1 1⁄2 hours, basting the birds every 30 minutes.

• Remove game hens from the oven and serve with sauce.

Sauce preparation

• Combine rosemary, preserves, shallots, balsamic vinegar and peppercorns in a medium sauce pan.

• Bring mixture to a slow boil over medium high heat.

• Reduce heat and simmer for eight minutes or until syrupy.

• The sauce can be made with cherry preserves and regular balsamic vinegar, if the superior pomegranate preserves or pomegranate vinegar cannot be found.

Cook’s note: Serve with a fresh garden salad made with mixed greens, feta cheese and strawberries with a light vinaigrette dressing.

• Serve this dish with three-colored oven roasted potatoes. It’s fun, flavorful and looks very nice mixing together Yukon Gold, new red and sweet potatoes.

• Don’t forget - a free, full-color recipe card of Beth Sylver and Pam Satchell’s “Cornish Game Hens with Pomegranate Sauce” is available today in the lobbies of the Appeal-Democrat in Marysville and Yuba City.

• Your Neighbors’ Favorite Recipe returns June 20 as I head back up the hill to meet Michelle McNeil as she prepares her incredible recipe for Sherry Chicken. Until then, hope to see you in your neighbors’ kitchen.

Contact Food editor Michael S. Reed at 749-4720 or mreed@appealdemocrat.com.