Name: Brisket Braised in Pomegranate Juice with Onion Confit and Pomegranate Seeds
Yield: Yield: 8 Generous Servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons olive or canola oil; 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups); A first- or second-cut beef brisket, about 5 pounds, trimmed of excess fat, wiped with a damp paper towel, and patted dry; 2 Turkish bay leaves; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 3 fresh thyme sprigs or 2 teaspoons dried leaves; 2 fresh rosemary sprigs; 2 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade, or good-quality, low-sodium purchased; 1 celery stalkcelery with leaves, coarsely chopped; 2 cups pomegranate juice (see Cook’s Note); ½ cup dry red wine; ½ cup pomegranate seeds (see Cook’s Note); 4 large onions (about 2½ pounds), very thinly sliced; ¼ cup chicken broth; 3 tablespoons olive oil (or 1, if broil searing); 2 leeks, washed well and coarsely chopped (include both white and pale green parts); 2 large carrots, scraped and coarsely chopped; 6 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

Preparation info

Yield:
8
Generous Servings

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Jewish Holiday Cooking

By Jayne Cohen

Published 2008

About

Cut open a pomegranate. Hundreds of juice sacs form a nearly perfect star, red as blood. Little wonder it is celebrated in myth and ritual by all ancient peoples—Chinese, Greeks, as well as Jews—as a symbol of fertility and abundance.

On Rosh Hashanah, Jews often eat the pomegranate, one of the miperi ha-eretz (seven choice fruits of ancient Israel), in fulfillment of the commandment to eat a fruit not yet sampled this season. For, according to kabbalistic tradition