14 days of recipes for Valentine’s Day: DAY 12: Pomegranate, Gouda, and Pear Quesadilla with POM Salsa

No matter if you’re coupled up or single, we’re pretty sure you’ll still be hungry for some sweet treats no matter if you choose to celebrate the love-filled holiday or not. Who would pass up all that chocolate? Not us.

Throughout the 14 days leading up to the big day of hearts, kisses, and cupid, we’ll share a mix of recipes of food and cocktails appropriate for the holiday. It’s up to you if you want to share or not!

For today’s recipe, we’re sharing the ingredients for Pomegranate, Gouda, and Pear Quesadilla with POM Salsa for a fun Valentine’s Day treat.

POM Wonderful juice is available in a variety of flavors (it also comes in a light version, POM Lite), has four whole pomegranates in every bottle, and is sold at grocery stores nationwide.

DAY 12: Pomegranate, Gouda, and Pear Quesadilla with POM Salsa

*Recipe courtesy of POM Wonderful.

Ingredients: 

Quesadilla:

• 1 cup arils from 1-2 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates or POM POMS fresh pomegranate arils
• 6 8-inch flour tortillas
• 4 oz. smoked Gouda cheese, thinly sliced
• 2 large firm pears, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil

POM Salsa:

• Juice from 1 large POM Wonderful Pomegranate*, or 1/4 cup POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice
• 2 cups arils from 2-3 large POM Wonderful Pomegranates or POM POMS fresh pomegranate arils
• 3-4 teaspoons chopped jalapeno pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped yellow bell pepper
• 4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Preparation:

Quesadilla:

• Score 1-2 fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate underwater to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 1/2 cup of the arils from fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.)
• Place 2 strips of cheese on each tortilla
• Using fingers, press 1 teaspoon of arils into cheese.
• Add 2 slices of pear, sprinkle with sugar. Fold tortilla in half.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon oil to a nonstick skillet and heat.
• Place folded tortillas in the pan and brown lightly; turn over and cook until crisp. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon of oil if needed.
• Cut each tortilla into halves and serve with POM Salsa.

POM Salsa:

• Score 2-3 fresh pomegranates and place in a bowl of water. Break open the pomegranate under water to free the arils (seed sacs). The arils will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the membrane will float to the top. Sieve and put the arils in a separate bowl. Reserve 2 cups of the arils from the fruit and set aside. (Refrigerate or freeze remaining arils for another use.)
• Prepare fresh pomegranate juice.*
• Thoroughly mix to combine all ingredients. (Salsa will keep covered, in the refrigerator, for 2 to 3 days.)

To learn more about POM Wonderful, visit pomwonderful.com.