Pork with Pomegranate Glaze and Wild Rice Pilaf

A few weeks ago, I was actually snowed in. Hard to believe now that it's 50 degrees outside in December. But it snowed enough that my tires wouldn't go in the snow. The light would turn green, I would carefully hit it gas pedal, and my tires would only spin and slide around.?

Fed up, I had my dad take me to the grocery store in my parents' SUV. I decided to make Pork with Pomegranate Glaze because I had pomegranate juice in the fridge and dried cherries to make a rice pilaf.

Of course, the grocery store was a nightmare--everyone grabbing food as if it was a frigging blizzard. So, there wasn't a pork tenderloin to be had. I picked the thickest, leanest pork I could find that I felt would hold up to roasting in the oven.

In the end, the pork wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped. It would have been better if you had seared the pork in the pan, put the pan with the pork in the oven to roast and then used the pan juices to make a pomegranate pan sauce. At least I think so.

The rice was great. It definitely made the meal. Dried cherries in rice might sound odd, but the cherries plump up nicely and the sweet goes well with the savory.

Wild Rice Pilaf with Cherries
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup diced shallots
1 box of wild rice pilaf (such as Uncle Ben's), seasoning packet discarded
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/3 cup fresh parsley
1/3 cup toasted pecans

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir in rice and saute 1 minute. Stir in chicken broth, water, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir in dried cherries, cover and cook 10 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and stir in parsley and pecans.