Carmelita's Cookitaly

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Pomegranate braised Rooster - Galletto alla Melograna

I decided to cook this because my fruit seller gave me a huge heavy pomegranate as a New Year's good luck gift.

I thought about making my usual Guinea Hen dish with it but my butcher recommended I buy his fresh free range "galletto" instead. The Guinea Hen recipe assumes a wild bird, and requires a marinade of lemon juice, black peppercorns and juniper berries, and at the end it is finished with a little cream, but this juicy young bird did not need any of that I decided. Keep it simple and let the flavour of the bird shine through.

My finish would be some fresh pomegranate seeds or arils, to add some tartness and that delicious juice popping texture to the tender meat and the thick slightly caramelised shallot-enriched pan syrup.

Here's the recipe:

For 2 people you need:

A small young rooster, free range ideally - Cornish game hen will do instead, or even chicken thighs
A heavy large ripe pomegranate
A shallot
Extra virgin Olive Oil, salt, pepper

Prepare the rooster
If your butcher has not done it for you, cut the rooster into 4 pieces.
Check for feathers and if necessary singe over a flame, then rub off.
Wash and pat the pieces as dry as possible or your oil will really splatter!

Prepare the shallot
Mince it as fine as you possibly you can: use a mandolin if you have one, then chop, chop, chop.

Prepare the pomegranate
Extract all the arils and juice about two thirds of them - reserve the rest to add at the end of cooking time

To cook the dish

Heat up 2 tablespoons of evo oil in a skillet, ideally non stick
Place the rooster quarters skin side down and brown over high heat at first, then turn the heat down and let them brown slooooowly. High heat only toughens the fibres of meat (and fish) while long slow browning keeps the bird moist.
After 20 minutes or so, remove the rooster pieces to a plate and tip out excess oil but do not scrape up the sticky bits of brown deliciousness yet.
Add the shallot to the pan with a tablespoon of water and let it soften, then return the rooster to the pan and season generously with salt and pepper.
Add the beautiful pomegranate juice to the skillet, scrape up those yummy bits, turn the heat to very low, cover and leave to cook about 50 minutes.
Do check and add liquid from time to time - you want the pan juices to reduce to a treacly, slightly sticky sauce at the end but keep enough moisture in the pan while you braise, you can always reduce further at the end.
Test the meat by giving it a light poke with your finger - it should be yielding, promising you tender succulence.
Now add the reserved whole arils and stir together with the rooster quarters and pan juices for a few minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning and adjust the sauce by adding water or reducing until it is as you like it, then serve with a plain steamed vegetable.

Filed under  //   Emilia-Romagna   Veneto   braised   cockerel   galletto   melograna   pomegranate   rooster   traditional  
Posted January 11, 2010