Pomegranate Beef

Don't turn your nose up at me!

You might actually like this. Amazingly, Ron really liked it. Of course, I didn't tell him what was in it before he tasted it. He thought it was just stew beef in gravy. I wish I would have had taken a picture, or video, of him eating it and asking me what was in it.

He asked, "What's in this?"
I answered, "Why?"
Ron, "It's kind of fruity tasting."
Me, "That's because it has fruit juice in it."
Ron, "What kind of fruit?"
Me, "Pomegranate"
Ron, "WHAT??"

You had to be there, but it was funny. The thing is, he finished eating it. Said it was good. I was amazed!

But of course I had to give the recipe my own twist.

On a side note, I have friends who are teachers, my daughter-in-law is a wonderful teacher, there are teachers that I have the most fond memories of. But I often wonder just how well I followed directions. (See where I'm going here?) My favorite teachers were the ones who let me be flexible with the directions. Or gave very few or vague instructions. The ones who let me, or us as students, do our own version of an experiment, or avenue of research. I know that does not work well for all students and I am not advocating free reign for students. But for me I learned the most from working in my own direction. As with my recipe experiments, I make a lot of mistakes but learn from them as I go along. Most of the time I end up with some pretty good stuff. The original recipe is the teacher. I am still the student. And it's a lot of fun.

Now for the original recipe with my alterations.


1 tablespoon olive oil (spray with cooking spray)
1 yellow onion, sliced (or chopped fine, however you like it)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence (Pepper Blend)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 pounds beef roast (I used a stew beef, less work in the end)
4 garlic cloves (whole is fine, or you can chop them)
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes (we don't like chunks so I put them in the blender to make a thick juice)
1 cup unsweetened pomegranate juice (Pom is the brand around here)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup (I used honey. Use any liquid sweetener you like)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I used raisins one time and dried cranberries another. Both were good))


The Directions:

Use at least a 6-quart slow cooker. Swirl the olive oil into the bottom of the stoneware. (Or spray with cooking spray) Add the onion. Rub the spices (or sprinkle on top) on all sides of meat and add to the stoneware with the garlic, the whole can of tomatoes, pomegranate juice, vinegar, and syrup. Sprinkle the raisins on top. Cook all day on low. Any where from 6 to 10 hours.

The juice is pretty thin for a gravy. So you can fish the meat out and add a flour and water slurry to thicken it. If you don't mind getting a couple of other things dirty that is. I put the juice in a sauce pan and added 1/4 cup of flour to about 1/2 cup of water. Stir to make a slurry and stirred it into the juice on medium heat. When thickened add the meat back in to keep warm.

This can be served over mashed potatoes or noodles. It's great over either one.

I hope you enjoy this. We sure did.

I wonder how cherry juice would taste? hmmm Just might have to try that next time.