Couscous

A while back I bought about a pound of Israeli couscous. I've had it in restaurants and I've made that Far East pre-seasoned box stuff enough, but I knew that the Israeli was better, so I thought I'd try it.

It is better. Easy and delicious. These are hardly recipes, just ideas. Delicious ones.

Also, I'm sorry about the HUGE picture at the top. I can't seem to shrink it, so I either need to a) accept it, b) get a new template that accepts pictures, or c) get rid of it.

Last night for dinner I made Israeli couscous with basil butter. Easy enough: chop fresh basil, smash into unsalted butter. Pref. let sit in fridge overnight, but whatevs (If you've not done this before, the best way to store it is to get some parchment paper, spoon the butter into the middle of it, and roll it up and twist the ends like an old-school candy wrapper. It'll keep in the fridge for a good week, but it can also go in the freezer for a loooooonnnnnng time.) Cook couscous, add generous pat of basil butter. Sprinkle with some salt or garlic salt. Enjoy.

For lunch today, I sauteed a clove of garlic just until fragrant (45 seconds?) and two handfuls of fresh baby spinach. Let that go until wilted. Tossed about a cup of cooked couscous with that and added a pinch of salt. Absolutely wonderful (and a good way to use the slightly limp spinach that was left in my fridge).

Found a recipe for toasted couscous with grilled veggies that I'd like to try, but need to go to the grocery store first. I also wish I liked zucchini more than i do. Maybe I'll just do the asparagus and bell peppers.

New postings?

I haven't really been here in awhile, and I know there's not really anybody checking/using this blog, but I'd like to start posting some ideas again. Right now I'm on the hunt for the perfect BBQ sauce recipe. While it's not popular with "real" BBQers, I love Famous Dave's Devil's Spit and have been trying to make a similar sauce with no real luck. I've used a few recipes out of Raichlen's BBQ Bible (and his sauces book) and I've not really loved any of them. Too sweet, too vinegary, too bland. I've tried building two of my own from scratch and they've been fine, but not great. So maybe I'll post a few recipes here in the upcoming days and if anybody happens upon this, they can give me some suggestions. If not, at least I'll have a record of what I've done, what I've liked, and what I haven't liked.

Herbed Chicken Tenders

Biz sent this recipe link to me in a random email and I just made the chicken tenders today. I didn't make the sauce, but the chicken tenders were absolutely delicious. Here's the link, but I pasted the recipe below, too.

Herbed Chicken Tenders with Tomato Sauce Recipe

INGREDIENTS

Chicken Tenders

• 2 lbs chicken tenders (about 12 pieces)
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk*
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp Italian seasoning herbs**
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted

Tomato Dipping Sauce

• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup minced onion
• 1 chopped garlic clove
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 15-ounce can of tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar

*You can make a substitute for buttermilk by adding a tablespoon and a half of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 1/2 cups of milk and letting the mixture stand for 10 minutes.

**A mixture of dried herbs often used in Italian cooking such as marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano, and basil

METHOD

Sauce

1 Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Sauté the onions, stirring often, until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another minute.

2 Add the tomato paste, mix well and cook for 1-2 minutes more. The tomato paste should darken to a brick-red color.

3 Add the tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, salt and sugar and bring to a boil. Cook this for 5 minutes if using tomato sauce, 10 minutes if using crushed tomatoes.

4 Put the sauce into a blender and purée until smooth. Hold your hand over the blender lid to keep it from popping off, and start the blender at a low setting and work up to the highest.

The sauce will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

The Tenders

1 Soak tenders in buttermilk for 15-30 minutes. While the tenders are soaking, make the sauce (see sauce directions above).

2 Mix together the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, and salt in a shallow bowl.

3 Heat oven to 500°F. Line a roasting pan with foil. Brush the top of the foil with vegetable oil to help prevent sticking, or use a Silpat sheet. One by one, remove the chicken tenders from the buttermilk and place in the bowl with breadcrumbs, coating them on all sides with the breadcrumbs. Place on the roasting pan.

4 Drizzle a little melted butter over each chicken tender. Place in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through, and the pieces are lightly browned.

Serve with a bowl of the sauce for dipping.

Serves 4-6.

Lisa T's Moroccan Chicken

I don't know where my friend Lisa got this recipe, so I can only credit her. It is SO good, though. It's also really good (maybe better?) cold. I've been making big batches and eating it for a few days. Probably would make for a good sandwich, too.

spice mixture
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 t cumin
1 t ground ginger
1 t coarse salt
1/2 t turmeric
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t cinnamon
freshly ground black pepper to taste

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (or can use 4 chicken legs, rinsed well, patted dry, drumsticks and thighs separated)
1 lemon
1 cup Greek olives, mixed green and black, pitted and sliced
10 dried dates, halved lengthwise (I've used dates, apricots, dried cranberries, whatever dried fruits around--all good)

1. combine all spice mix ingredients in large bowl, add chicken and coat well. Cover loosely and let stand at least 1 hour in refrigerator. (I like to let it sit at least 2 hours.)
2. Place deep heavy skillet over medium heat and add chicken skin side down (I just dump the whole thing in there so that there's some olive oil and more of the seasoning). Cover, cook 8-10 mins
3. Turn chicken over, squeeze 1/2 fresh lemon over chicken. Add olives and dates. Cover and cook 8ish more mins, or until no longer pink. Add a small amount of water if too dry.  


Serve over jasmine or basmati rice, or just eat as is. 

The greatest thing since before sliced bread

First of all, even though this website is awesome, you should still buy this book. All you really need is this basic recipe, but the alterations in the book and website are absolutely worth it. The end result? We have fresh baked homemade bread almost every single day, and I don't mean the bread machine kind.

New use for an old thing

I made olive tapenade for grilled cheeses last night (put marinated garlic stuffed green olives, kalamata olives (pitted), and a little good olive oil in a mini food processor and just chopped it, basically). Lovely grilled cheese, btw. But had left over tapenade and no good bread or anything, so I put it over pasta today with a bit more olive oil. REALLY good.

No postings

Okay, I don't think anybody is using this anymore, but I thought I'd point out that Beej and I are making the jamaican jerk salmon tonight and I'm wicked excited about it. I have this fantastic cashew "recipe" if I can find it, and I'll post that here. It's great for parties or even gifts.