Sirloin with onion-pomegranate-and-berry sauce, served with orange sweet potato wedges.

If you are like me really having to watch what you eat to not permanently expand horizontally then this is for you!   Yes, I am not called the not so skinny cook for no reason. … Unfortunately I have to fight the battle of the bulge regularly.  I have to admit that I really struggle, as I am not one of those people who can survive on lettuce and celery sticks for days on end….  I am a self proclaimed foodaholic after all!  I made this dish this due to the fact that the sweet potato chips are not deep fried and the pomegranate- sauce definitely contains less fat than  good old cheese-sauce and everything is super-packed with the yummiest flavors!   Thus,  saving on fat but not giving up any flavor.  It also took me less than three quarter’s of an hour to prepare this, making this ideal for a week-night when you want to splash out a little.

I saw Claire Robinson make this duo on Home Channel and I was instantly hooked on the promise of  intense flavor and the beautiful colors of this dish.   I tried to relocate the original recipe on the net but failed to do so and had to rely on my memory  and own  interpretation therefor.  I also had to adapt the recipe as I couldn’t find exactly the same ingredients that she used.  Never the less,  I was still very pleased with the end-product.  Once I started preparing this I couldn’t get enough of all the lovely aromas that were filling my kitchen-orange and rosemary , onions, berry and pomegranate  and lastly steak being grilled…  Yum!  The Pomegranate- sauce had a beautiful intense sweet and sour  taste that fused very well with the  onions I used.   The sweet potato wedges  were fluffy inside and slightly crispy on the outside with a sweet orange taste and hints of cumin and ginger. It all just really complimented the plainly prepared steak very well…

Hubby made us a salad with some of our favorite crispy ingredients and voila !  A  great tasting healthy meal!

This recipe will serve 4 persons when served with a good helping of salad:

Recipe:

Sweet Potatoes:

• 1 packet of orange  sweet potatoes ( I used 6 medium sized sweet potatoes) – cut into large wedges
• 1 1/2 cups of orange juice
• 1 t of fine ginger
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 Tbsp of good quality olive oil
• freshly ground salt and pepper

1. Pre-heat  oven to 220º c
2. Place all the ingredients together in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil
3. Continue cooking until the orange juice reduces and forms a syrup
4. Pour through a sieve and strain so that the seeds and the rosemary stay behind in the sieve
5. Pour  the strained reduction over the wedges and stir very well with a spoon, covering the wedges with the reduction all over
6. Place the covered wedges on a baking tray covered with baking paper and roast in the oven until crispy on the outside.   Check after 30 minutes and when done remove from the oven.   Serve with the steak

Pomegranate-and-berry-sauce:

• one small packet of salad onions  – chopped (Claire used shallots in the original recipe but I couldn’t find any, so I decided to go with what I had )
• 1 Tbsp of olive oil
•  1 garlic clove crushed
• 2 Tbsps of berry preserve ( The original recipe used cherry preserve -if you can find)
• 1 1/4 cups of 100%  pomegranate juice
• freshly ground sea salt and pepper

1. Fry the onions and the crushed garlic in the olive oil until  soft
2. Add the juice,  the berry preserve and the salt and pepper  and bring to a boil, cooking the sauce until well reduced. ( It will look like a chutney when done)
3. When it has reduced enough to look like a chutney, remove from the stove and place aside.

Sirloin:

• 4 Thinly sliced sirloin steaks ( Suitable for quick pan frying)
• Olive oil to drizzle ( About 2 Tsps or more to your own taste)
• Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

1. Drizzle the steak with olive oil and grind the salt and pepper over, making sure the steak has been seasoned on both sides
2. Heat a thick bottom frying pan until very hot and fry the steak on both sides turning after two minutes ( You should not need any more oil as the steak has already been covered sufficiently)
3. Remove from the pan and dish up
4. Spoon the pomegranate sauce over the steak and serve with the sweet potato wedges and fresh salad