Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce and Dressing

Two recipes today, both from Thanksgiving dinner but posting in time for Christmas since I had recipe requests from our guests, who want to include them in their Christmas dinners. I know many of you like to have turkey for Christmas anyway, and these recipes will go equally well with any fowl, for example goose or duck, as well as pork.

My theme this year was pomegranate. It happened organically – I had one in the fruit bowl and it caught my eye as I was making the cranberry sauce. I had a bottle of Pom in the fridge and a bottle of pomegranate syrup in the cupboard. Now that I look back, it was all predestined, don’t you think?

Pomegranate in the cranberry sauce was an easy fit, but I decided to also include it in my dressing. That may not sound right to you, but I was making my dad’s legendary stuffing recipe, which is heavily Mediterranean in flavour. Pomegranate was my Cinderella – the uninvited beauty crashing the ball and stealing everyone’s hearts.

Now, I’m a fan of odd numbers, so I was subconsciously looking for the third place to insert some pomegranate fabulousness. At the last minute I found it: my ‘welcome’ margaritas. I just mixed in some Pom, which turned the ‘ritas a gorgeous ruby colour (très apropos), and answered the door.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Dad’s Legendary Stuffing/Dressing, with pomegranate:

For the stuffing/dressing recipe, I’m going to refer you to an old email of my dad’s. This is his ‘recipe’ (all quantities approximate, depending on the size of your crowd), with my addition of a couple of generous handfuls of pomegranate seeds at the last stage (just prior to baking). My notes added in bold:

 I could not find the e-mail which I sent to you last year. Please keep this for next year. DO NOT compare the ingredients of this year to last year’s. This is part of my secret to eternal success (hush). Here we go:

The Stuffing :

Toasted bread; – cubed at 3/4 inch (about half a loaf)
Yellow onion; – diced at 1/2 inch 
Celery diced at 3/4 inch 
Mushroom, fresh or canned – halves 
Olives, green or black – whole or halves 
Raisins, white are better (he means golden)
Walnut pieces (I use chopped almonds)
Salt and pepper
Garlic powder and hot pepper – optional 
Chicken broth – one to two can 

Saute the onion, celery and mushroom in butter till yellow. Add olives, raisins and walnuts. Saute a little longer. Add salt and pepper (garlic and hot pepper) if desired. Add bread. Mix while on the stove. Add the chicken broth and leave on low heat for 10 – 15 min.  (If you’re stuffing a bird, that’s what you do now. If you’re making this as dressing, like I do, then press it gently into a lightly-greased baking dish and bake it at medium heat for about 20 minutes. You just want it to dry out a bit and for the top to get crusty.)

(Thanks Dad.)