It’s Christmas Time!

Annnd…that definitely applies to much more than the world of sweets and cookies.
To represent the Christmas main-dish world, we have:
Pomegranate Chicken!
(you could make this into cranberry chicken or even cranberry-pomegranate chicken. They’re both red. They’re both Christmas-ey. They’re both delicious.)

Originally from this site.

Sweet and Sticky Pomegranate Chicken
(serves about 3-4)

2 pounds chicken wings or legs (We used thighs)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sweet chili sauce**
1/3 cup pomegranate juice (or cranberry juice or cranberry-pomegranate juice)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 lime, juiced
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
pomegranate arils for garnish
freshly chopped parsley for garnish
optional: dash of red pepper flakes

directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large measuring cup or bowl, mix together chili sauce, pom juice, soy sauce, vinegar, lime juice, brown sugar and garlic.

Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper, then place in the skillet and sear on each side until deeply golden and brown, about 2 minutes per side. Remove chicken and place on a plate, turning heat in the skillet down to medium-low. Pour in pomegranate juice mix and whisk, allowing the sauce to bubble and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Place chicken back in the skillet and turn and toss to coat. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove chicken and serve with chopped parsley and pomegranate arils.

For a vegetarian option:
Stir-fry celery and broccoli and a bit of fresh garlic until just tender. Add about half a can of great northern beans or some other protein of choice. If you were thinking ahead, you would have saved out some of the sauce and not poured it over the chicken. If you were really thinking ahead, you would have kept this simmering slightly for a while, to bubble out that vinegar-y taste. So…then you would dish out a serving of brown-and-wild-rice-yummy-mix, spoon the broccoli and celery and bean stir-fry over the top of that, and then pour a semi-thick yummy sauce over the top of that. Cashews go decently well with it as well.

**If you don’t have sweet chili sauce, and don’t really want to buy an entire jar and leave half of it unused for the rest of…a long time…you can make this recipe: (note that this probably will give the sauce a very different taste than if you had used real sweet chili sauce. But…we liked it anyway…)
”Sweet Chili Sauce”
1/2 cup. tomato sauce
2 T brown sugar
1/2 T vinegar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of cloves
dash of allspice
1/8 teaspoon chili powder

Yummm…Happy Christmas, everyone!