What To Do With the Opo

This is an opo

So, as a challenge, I bought an opo at the farmer's market on Sunday. I also got a lot of other neat veggie-goodies, but the opo was definitely the most unusual. The busy Asian man behind the counter was little help when I asked him "How do you cook this?" and he just said "Its like zucchini."

Right, well it was a start. So I did the modern thing and posted a message on Facebook with a picture of the thing and a question..."Anyone know what to do with an opo?"

Well, I have a wide variety of interesting and multicultural Facebook friends and sure enough, two came through for me. Thanks to Tricia and Marvin for directing me to their Philippine roots and getting me started on some basic opo recipes.

If you know me at all, then you know that a recipe is just a nice reference point for me to jump off of. But I didn't stray that far. So here's the recipe that I built off of their great suggestions:

3/4 opo, cubed
1 medium tomato diced
1/2 onion diced (I used a sweet Maui onion...yumm!)
3 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 cup diced pepper (I used a 'chocolate' pepper, but a bell pepper would be fine, or spice it up with an Anaheim or hotter variety)
1 cup chicken broth
1 chicken breast (boneless-skinless) cubed
2 tbls lite oil (I use a canola-olive blend by Smart Balance)
Salt
Chipotle pepper (or regular ground black pepper)

Step one:
Saute onions and 1/2 peppers in oil until onions turn brown at edges

Step two:
Add tomatoes, rest of pepper, garlic and opo along with 1/4 cup of broth
stir and blend all components

Step three:
Add chicken and rest of broth, salt and chipotle to taste
Bring to boil

Step four:
Reduce heat to high simmer, cover
Cook for 10-15 minutes until liquid is reduced by 1/3

The opo is mild tasting and picks up the flavors surrounding it well, while imparting a light vegetable/grassy scent that is not unpleasant. The opo has dense white flesh that turns soft and translucent when cooked like this.

Overall, I'd give this recipe about a 6. It was hearty and filling, and the flavor had a definite 'homey' appeal, comforting and non-threatening, especially when paired with brown rice.

I could see making more of a light-quick stew like meal as well, or even a hearty soup from this recipe.

So, that's my opo story and I'm sticking to it!

Pomegranates

Awhile ago I discovered pomegranates. 

OK, no I didn't discover them, I mean they were already there, and had been for thousands of years. But being that they were new to my own cooking repertoire, they were new to me.  They are a wonderfully healthy and tasty fruit that require a certain amount of dedication and creativity to really enjoy.

They are beautiful and messy (the bane of clean white shirts everywhere) but the arils look like rubies and really are quite lovely when released from their protective rind. And, once they are released, what do you do with them? Most of the recipes that I have seen seem to revolve around using the whole arils in some sort of mixture with other things, or sprinkling them on salads. Sure POM has taken great strides in marketing pomegranate juice in any number of varieties, but really, the juice is still left inside the aril where it may be a tangy little treat, but it doesn't do much to participate in a recipe as a full fledged member of the flavor pool.

So I set about finding ways of extracting the juice and meat from the arils so that it could be used as a sauce ingredient.  After several attempts I worked out the following method for extraction:

Open the pomegranates under water in a large bowl and then extract the arils beneath the surface of the water as well. Just let them sink or float in the water until you are done (hint, make the water luke warm so as to reduce the effect of cold water on your hands as the extraction takes a bit of time)

Once all the arils have been extracted, remove the pieces of rind from the water and then pour the remaining water and arils through a strainer.

Then pour the arils into a food processor (save out a handful for garnish and finishing) and grind the arils into a lovely ruby mash. Each aril is a combination of juice capsule and seed, the seed is the problem as it really doesn't add any flavor and it's small size is rather unpleasant to eat on its own. Using the food processor separates the juice capsule from the seed very effectively.

Next pour the mash into a strainer that is resting over a bowl, then use a flexible spatula to scrape the mash through the strainer so that the juice and as much of the meat gets squeezed into the bowl. After you have done the primary scraping, make sure to scrape the residue from the underside of the strainer as much of the meat and pulp clings there and you definitely want to get that into the juice in the bowl below.

You can use a touch of white wine to extract even more of the meat from the remaining seeds in the strainer.

Once you have gotten all the meat and juice off of the underside of the strainer, you can then throw the remaining seeds away. (I will keep working on some way to use these remains).

The bowl will now be filled with a pulpy ruby red liquid that will now be your base. 

The wonderful thing about using this base is that it stands up delightfully well in many types of sauces, especially in reduction sauces that often separate at the most inconvenient moments (like right before serving your masterpiece dinner!). Not our hearty little pomegranate sauce. Nope this stuff works with you like it is really glad to be opened up and released from its little ruby-jeweled shell, like a beauty queen who also happens to be a member of MENSA ...this stuff deserves to be taken seriously and appreciates it when you get over it's natural attractiveness.

Next up, basic sauces to make with pomegranates.