Aubergine

Make this at home: Cherry-pomegranate ice pops

When we were at Strawberry Music Festival over Memorial Day, we had the best ice pops I think I've ever tasted.  They were cherry-pomegranate flavored, just the right balance of sweet and tart, and the most amazing garnet shade of red.  

The weather that weekend was cold (as you may remember me writing about), but we kept finding ourselves standing in line for ice pops anyway.

When we got home I started hunting around for a recipe.  I was surprised to only find a couple of versions. One used yogurt and another was pomegranate-raspberry instead of cherry. How is it that so few people have discovered this delicious combination?

Neither was quite was I was looking for, but using the raspberry recipe as my base I started experimenting.  I ended up with someting pretty delicious, but still not quite those pops we craved even in the snow.  I guess I'll just have to head back to Strawberry for the original version next year!

Here is my version if you want to give them a try.  Let me know what you think, and if you try any variations that come out wonderfully!

Cherry-Pomegranate Ice Pops

Note: Every style of pop molds holds a slightly different volume, so I'm writing this recipe in proportions rather than true measurements.  Adjust your batch accordingly.

2 parts pomegranate juice
1 part cherry juice
1/2 part fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and chopped
agave syrup or honey to taste

Divide the chopped cherries evenly between your ice pop molds.  Mix remaining ingredients together and check to make sure the sweetness is to your taste.  Pour the juice mix over the cherries and insert pop sticks into the molds.  

Freeze until hard.  Serve and enjoy!

The best garlic soup

We've been sick around here and it has been cold and the intersection of the two is soup.  Soup made with chicken broth, preferably.  Or garlic.  Or both.  This soup is the both.

I originally found it on the tremendous 101 Cookbooks blog, a spin on a recipe from Richard Olney's The French Menu Cookbook.  Heidi Swanson's version nails down amounts, the main difference from Olney's version, but I just don't cook that way, so my version goes back to rough measurements and reflects my adjustments.  It turns out this is actually a soup that you can wing pretty well.

This soup is likely to cure what ails you, and will also keep vampires away.  I recommend feeding it to anyone you are likely to be up close and personal with in the next 24 hours so at least you all stink of garlic the same.

Richard Olney's Garlic Soup

4 cups chicken stock (homemade is best for combating a cold)
2 cups water
1 bay leaf
a small handful of fresh thyme
about 2 medium cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled, and pressed (un-pressed cloves should measure about 1/3 cup)
fine grain sea salt to taste

Binding pommade:
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
medium handful freshly grated dry cheese (Parmesan or Asiago)
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

day-old crusty bread or large croutons, shredded cheese & more olive oil to drizzle

Bring the stock and water to a boil in a medium sauce pan and add the herbs, garlic, and salt. Heat to a gentle boil, cover,  and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the bay leaf from the pan. Taste and add more salt if needed.

With a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolks, cheese, and pepper together in a bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil, beating all the time. Very slowly, while continuing to beat the pommade, add a large ladleful of the broth to heat the eggs.  If you do this or the next step too fast, the broth will break (it won't look pretty, but still tastes ok). While whisking continuously, add the contents of the bowl into the garlic broth. Keep stirring until the broth thickens slightly.  If the soup doesn't thicken within a few seconds, turn the heat back on medium and keep stirring.

Place a handful of fresh croutons (that would be in my old life) or torn bread chunks (what I do now) into the bottom of each bowl and pour the soup over the bread. Finish with a sprinkle of cheese and a drizzle of oil. Serve immediately.

Makes about 4 cups of soup.

This recipe was adapted from the 101 Cookbooks Blog where it was adapted from The French Menu Cookbook by Richard Olney. Originally published in 1970, this edition was republished by Ten Speed Press in 2002.