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Pomegranate & Grand Marnier Flan Good Enough To Smack Yo Momma!

It’s POMEGRANATE month, oh yes it is.

And, I’m all about this pretty ass red fruit. So I’m going to talk my and your head off about it. Because, after what I experienced last month with this ruby jewel, I’m going to meet Lynda Resnick and make her my mentor. Watch.

Mrs. Resnick is the founder and owner of POM Wonderful. They are the company that puts out the largest numbers of poms, worldwide, and the producers of Pom Wonderful juice–you know the double bubble bottle packed with nothing but anti-oxidants?

Let’s call her a “SHEgenius.”

This post isn’t about POM Wonderful or Lynda (she’s already my guirl) as much as it’s about the sexalicious flan I made with a very special pomegranate.

Last month, I spent 3 incredibly exhilarating and delicious days in Fresno, Cali, visiting with Mrs. Resnick’s company. I won’t tell you anything about that trip until next week during a 3 part series of the trip and pomegranates in general, other than myself and 14 other lucky food and health bloggers were right smack in the middle of  orchards spanning 18 acres of pomegranate bushes. They’re in full harvest right now so you can imagine what the fields looked liked: RED, VERY RED.

And so in BH form, I snatched as many rubies as I could from the bushes, put them in my backpack and hauled ass back to Atlanta. One of them was the size of  cantaloupe, I swear. Security at the Fresno airport looked at me, wondering if they were going to charge me for the extra 15 lbs. of fruit I carried in my THIRD carry on.

I get home with 15 freshly hand-picked poms and just stared at them. They were pretty, luscious, and ready to be eaten. But what the hell was I going to do with 15 pomegranates? I eat out quite a bit, don’t have too much time cook since I’m always traveling, and even if I did cook more at home, I never eat the same thing for 10 days straight. Well, unless it’s cuban espresso.

Fortunately, I was only home in Atlanta 3 days before I went home to DC to celebrate my b-day and take a 2 week vacation with mi familia. I packed those rubies up and took them with me. Airport security in ATL stopped me, but I promised him (in Spanglish) I’d chuck one at him if he dared take them from me.

fullpom

My mom loves POM juice and keeps bottles at home which I could have used to make the flan, but I’d consider that cheating. Especially since I had the fresh fruit. This is how it went down:

I cut the pom, picked out the arils by hand, stained my  mom’s white counter tops, dropped arils on the floor which the dogs ate–pretty much made a mess. I drained the arils and then placed them in the blender in order to fully liquify.  I suppose I could have individually squeezed each seed, but that would have required the patience of my dog, which I don’t have.


Let me get to crux of this post. Mami got excited, some our Cuban friends got excited and my aunt got excited as I boasted about the trip. I showed them how easy it is to cut one open and eat the seeds, or arils right from the inside. NOTE: the juice is potent and will stain anything it comes in contact with. The fruit is really juicy and will squirt you. Wear protective gear. Goggles, gloves, an apron might work, too. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but the juice from the seeds is really red and will spill onto everything. Wipe immediately.

Of the 12 poms I took to DC, 5 were eaten straight. I gave 2 away and two were used to make flan! I’d never made a pomegranate flan, so the process was a 1st for me and I had no idea what it going to look like, let alone taste!

The arils have a smaller seed inside so that created a small problem. The juice wasn’t as thin as I needed it to be. That just meant straining it as I poured it into the custard batter.

Don’t these arils look amazing! And they’re from the pomegranate you see above on the white swing, which came straight from the orchards!

I had to add an extra egg to the mixture so that the flan wouldn’t be so pudding like, since I was adding 3/4 to 1 cup of fresh pom juice and a splash of Grand Marnier! So perfect right! I think Grand Marnier needs to go into everything! And I”m NOT a lush. I’m just sayin’.

For added ruby flavor, I added a bit of the fresh juice to the sugar I use to make the caramel that coats the flan.  It took a bit longer to caramelize in the flan mold, but it worked seamlessly. All this meant is that the resulting caramel sauce had  extra punch!

The flan my friends, was amazing! Isn’t she a beauty! Perfect consistency and surprisingly, not red in color! Absolutely fabulous and perfect for celebrating POMEGRANATE month! This was probably one of the more time consuming and labor intensive flans I’ve ever made, but it was well worth the stains and kitchen sink mess. Even the flan purists that order from my mom, loved it. They appreciated a new and different taste and have ordered some for Thanksgiving!

The “icing on the cake” was delicately placing fresh arils on top of each slice with the caramel just dripping everywhere!

TAKE A DAMN BITE!



I think even Mr. Robuchon would have thought this was genius! You can read about how he really does love my flan by clicking here.

update @ 5:25 pm: PS: I’m entering this recipe to Bon Appétit Blogger Holiday Bake Off Contest. I would appreciate if you would vote for me! You can go here NOW later today or tomorrow and vote. My submission is in the “custard”  category (I think 3rd page)! Help me win! I’ll entice you! If you vote for me and tell me you voted, I’ll send you a fresh pomegranate straight from the company! Stamped with the heart sticker and all! 🙂

Much love and sexy caramel.

 

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POMEGRANATE AND GRAND MARNIER FLAN 

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 eggs, whisked
  • 1 cup fresh pomegranate  juice from arils (you can use the bottled juice if you don’t want to get so labor intensive), parted.
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 6 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1/2 cup 2% milk
  • 1/4 cup fresh arils for garnish
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • splash of Grand Marnier (more like 2 Tbsp.)

METHOD:

For pom juice:

Cut pomegranate and remove all arils. Use the more red ones. Don’t rinse. Place 1-1/2 cups of arils in blender and liquify for 2 minutes.

For custard:

In a bowl, combine eggs, sweetened condensed & 2% milk & extract and whisk for about 2 minutes. Pour 3/4 cup pom juice from arils into custard mixture using a medium mesh hand strainer. Set aside.

For caramel:

Add sugar and strain 1/4 cup of pom juice to the flan mold and bring to medium-high heat. Allow all of sugar to melt down until golden caramel, stirring constantly. Do not allow the color of the sugar to become too dark or burn. When sugar is fully liquified, carefully coat the bottom and entire sides of the flan mold using hand towels to hold the pan (I suggest using a brush if you are not experienced in handling extremely hot caramel). Let sit for 2 minutes until sugar sets.Pour mixture into pan using using a medium mesh hand strainer. Close pan tightly.

I make my flans in a pressure cooker because it saves 75% time. If you want that method, email me. If you’re making it the traditional way, follow these instructions: If you have a traditional 10″ flan pan that does not have a lid, cover entirely with aluminum foil. If using a more updated version, cover lid and shut tight with latches. Add 2 cups of water to large saucepan and gently place flan mold  into Maria bath. Cook on medium-high for 45-60 minutes or until fully cooked, without the custard becoming too firm. When just at the point of less than too firm,  bring heat to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove flan pan from Maria bath and discard excess water from saucepan.

Do not remove flan from pan. Refrigerate for 7-9 hours or overnight. To unmold, use a butter knife and loosen the sides of the flan all the way around. Take a large plate, place upside down on top of flan and flip! Serve on large plate. Slice individually and sprinkle arils on each. Be careful not to waste any of the caramel sauce.

Serves 8-10. Enjoy thoroughly!

Eat well, love unapologetically, pray with true intention, and take care of yourself.

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32 thoughts on “Pomegranate & Grand Marnier Flan Good Enough To Smack Yo Momma!

  1. Fresh pomegranates are just about the best thing ever. When I was living in the SF area, I’d swing by market stalls right before closing and pick up what they didn’t want to carry home for *cheap*. Juicing by pressing against a strainer is a bit slower than using a blender but also avoids the slight bitterness from breaking apart the seeds. Mix with some simple syrup, let sit overnight, and you get an amazingly good and rich treat. The syrup’s freshness goes pretty quickly, but that means you have to use more!

  2. HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY “NOT” VOTE FOR THIS!! WISH I COULD EAT IT THROUGH THE SCREEN!!!!!!!!

  3. okay how did you know I was making one of your flans today for Tday dinner we are having Sunday? Voted for you and now going to go make the flan. wished I had bought a second flan pan. LOL

    have a great day Bren and good luck on the voting

  4. All, though it was a bit labor intensive b/c I pressed (well really blended the arils), I absolutely loved making it! it was well worth it. the caramel sauce was great! and the touch of arils on top was divine!

    i hope all of you make it, even if you don’t have a flanera or flan pan.

    By the way Jason, I din’t find that blending them made the juice too bitter. Could have just been the actual seeds I had in my pom.

    Julia: are you really!! which one! I have to say that lemon almond is my fave!! Let me know which one you’re going to do. THanks for voting and I’m sorry you have to register on their site to do so 🙁 Enjoy dinner! share pics.

    Tom: Thanks! I loved shooting them!

    Val: wait til you hear about the trip!

    Linda & Rosa: Thanks sweethearts!

  5. brenda como buena cocinera que me considero se apreciar un buen plato y ese dulce quedo delicioso .mis respeto para ti .creo que muy pronto me pasas en la cocina .mis respeto hija love mami

  6. I voted for your flan on the website with the intention of supporting you. But once I reviewed the other entrants from the same category I realized I was voting for the best recipe listed! Good luck!!!!

  7. Jonathan: glad u liked it, bro. I know how darn picky you are.

    Ivy: Thanks dear! I hope it wins, too! I think it has a strong chance!

    CB: me gusta que te gustó el flan. diferente verdad?

    Chand: Thanks SO much for voting, Chand! And I’m glad you came by and let me know! I’m working on getting POMs to all voters. And yes, I agree, I think mine was the best in that cat! 🙂

  8. Had this about a week ago and let me tell you it made me wanna smack my momma but i smacked my sista cuz it was that damn good..lol great eats

  9. Bren, I voted for your flan on the website, it looks absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to try some myself. I hope you win!!

  10. Hey Bren!

    Looks absolutely delish, even to a vegan… enough that I would consider a cheat…LOL. What a wonderful inspiration -yummy pomegranate. I voted 🙂 Buena Suerte!!!

  11. OMP!! (OH MY POM) I would have never imagined eating a pomogranite flan. It was delicious dios mio !!!!!!

  12. Esther: thanks for voting! I think it’s worth the vote!

    Brotha: loco! glad you like it! You know how finickey you are! LOL!

    Ashley: Thanks for voting!! You’ll have to come over and have some!

    Maria: had NO idea you were vegan! It really is yummy!!!

    Iris: I love the OMP! haha.

  13. Bren

    pomegrante flan looked great, but family voted it too sweet for pomgrante.they were talking of pomegrante molasses instead of caramel on top. I made an Irish Cream flan also.

    sorry no pics, they dived in before I could get my camara girl( youngest daughter) to shoot it

  14. Please let me have the information about using the pressure cookers for this recipe.
    Thanks Looks wonderful.

  15. Everything sorted… I had some nasty adult links in the footer (wonder how they always manage to break through).

    I see you love to make flans, and this one look even more amazing then previous ones because it is with pomegranate 🙂

  16. This recipe is fantastic! I bet the pomegranates did really well to cut some of the sweetness of the flan. In an amazing way of course. Great idea, I wish I had seen this before the contest was over. I would have totally voted for you!

  17. Hola!
    Acabo de encontrarme con tu blog y tus boards en Pinterest y estoy maravillada!!!
    Quiero hacer este flan, me podrias compartir las instrucciones para la olla express?? Te lo agradeceria…

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