Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley

I had never heard of Israeli couscous until I moved to NYC.  I feel like I say that a lot.  Don't get me wrong, I have always been an adventurous eater and my parents exposed me to all kinds of foods growing up, but somehow we skipped right over Middle Eastern (with the exception of gyro, kebobs, shirazi salad, souvlaki and baklava) and African cuisines.  So I really missed out on Israeli couscous entirely until New York.  I think I had regular couscous for the first time in a tagine in France at an Algerian/Moroccan restaurant (at least I assumed it was one of those, although it could have been Tunisian or any other Arabic Maghreb country but there are a ton of Algerians and Moroccans in France).  But I had never heard of Israeli couscous until I went on my first shopping trip to Kalustyans.  And then I discovered that I loved it.  Because the grains are so much larger than regular couscous it does take longer to cook, but I think it's worth it.  Texturally Israeli couscous is similar to fregola or pasta.  According to Wikipedia, Israeli couscous is actually pasta so that makes sense.

Anyway, this is one of my favorite Israeli couscous recipes.  I enjoy the flavor of the cinnamon and the buttery crunch of the toasted pine nuts.  I think the couscous works wonderfully with merguez sausage or grilled chicken.  All in all, it's a fun side dish to have in your repertoire.

Recipe after the jump!

Merguez Sausage with Kale and Couscous

Merguez sausage was one of the discoveries that I made soon after moving to NYC.  Most specialty markets, and some regular grocery stores, stock D'Artagnan sausages, including the merguez sausages that I usually buy.  I generally pair their merguez sausages with our standard couscous that I cook in chicken stock and then mix with sauteed onions, currants, toasted pine nuts and cilantro.  But since we had a big bunch of kale in the fridge I decided to mix it up and make the couscous and top it with some sauteed kale.  So instead of adding the onions and currants to the cilantro, I used them to flavor the kale.  I also added a pinch of a few different seasonings that I tend to associate with Moroccan food to give the sauteed kale more flavor.  I liked the addition of the kale, but I think that in the future I will return to our tried and true merguez sausage and couscous combination.  Or I would do some combination of the two.  In the future I might throw the kale in with the couscous, along with the currants, cinnamon, cumin and crushed red pepper flakes.  Or something along those lines.  Alex and I both enjoyed the spices and flavors of the kale, but weren't sure that it was worth the extra pan and extra work.  With our standard recipe it takes exactly two pans and about 15 minutes for the entire meal to come together.  This version takes 3 pans and 20-25 minutes (which is still a fairly quick cooking meal).  Another alternative is to choose between the two versions depending on our mood and the contents of the fridge.

Recipe after the jump!

Mediterranan Roast Shrimp and Israeli Couscous with Asparagus and Sugar Snap Peas

Sorry guys!  I know we disappeared for awhile, but it's not my fault!  We were in FL for 5 days for a good friends' wedding and before that my Dad was in town visiting so we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off.  I had this post prepped and almost ready to go, but never had any time to sit down and finish it!  Alex and I went to Costco a few weekends ago and bought the world's largest bag of asparagus and some really nice looking tiger prawns.  So I had to figure out something to do with them for dinner that night.  I found the couscous recipe first and then decided that we would make some sort of simple Mediterranean shrimp to serve alongside the couscous. 

Ever since discovering how easy it is to roast shrimp, it has become one of my favorite methods of preparing shrimp.  I love sauteing and stir-frying shrimp too, but sometimes it's really nice to just throw it in the oven while you get the rest of the meal ready and not have to pay any attention to it.  Here we tossed the shrimp with garlic, evoo, butter, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest, and some toasted coriander and fennel seeds.  I got the idea to use the coriander and fennel seeds from Crescent City Cooking by Susan Spicer.  We have made other variations similar to shrimp scampi with just the evoo, garlic, butter and crushed red pepper flakes, but we have never added any other spices before.  Surprisingly enough, both Alex and I really enjoyed the coriander and fennel seeds.  I say surprisingly enough because Alex tends not to like fennel seeds (although he likes them more than caraway seeds, which he absolutely hates).  In the future I would probably crush them a little more finely than I did here because I did have one or two bites where I essentially had a mouthful of fennel seeds.  Which completely blows out your tastebuds.  But the combination of flavors was really interesting and one I would make again.  You could play with all manner of herbs and seasonings with this general recipe.

I thought that the couscous recipe was interesting.  It was a nice way to get some vegetables into your diet.  And since I love asparagus and sugar snap peas, it was great to serve them in the same dish.  I don't really like peas so I left them out entirely.  This recipe vaguely reminds me of the Disappearing Zucchini Orzo that Alex and I make from time to time.  I'm not sure which one I like better, although in some ways I might prefer the orzo to the Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend that we used here.  I feel like the orzo absorbs more of the flavor from the veggies than the couscous does.  I also thought that I have had better Israeli couscous recipes, including this recipe for Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley.  But with all of those things said, I think it is a really nice side and one that I would make again.  I'm curious to see how the leftover couscous will taste cold or at room temperature.  In some ways I think it would make an excellent picnic or potluck dish, rather than a hot side dish.

Recipes after the jump!

Two-Minute Calamari Sicilian Lifeguard Style

After spending most of the time leading up to Christmas gorging with Alex and my mother, I wanted something light, but hearty for dinner tonight.  Over the course of a few days, we had lobster rolls at Luke's, amazing seafood at Il Pesce (the seafood restaurant at Eataly), really tasty noodle soups and dumplings at Lanzhou Handmade Noodle in Chinatown, and global tapas at Tolani.  So I immediately thought seafood.  And when I looked in the freezer I saw we had some calamari in there.  While I never tried this dish the one time I ate at Babbo, it has become the calamari go-to recipe in our apartment.  I first stumbled across the recipe online on the Food Network website and then realized that it was also on my bookshelf in The Babbo Cookbook.  I'm not sure what the name is supposed to mean, or if it is supposed to mean anything at all, but it doesn't do the dish justice.  It almost seems like ordering a dish on a Chinese takeout menu - where "Phoenix Rising Shrimp" turns out to be fried shrimp with pineapple chunks in a variation on sweet and sour sauce.  What is that all about anyway?  I am not sure what I would call this dish, except that I think the name should be more descriptive of what is on the plate.  Perhaps that's a little simplistic of me, but that's how I feel.

Moving on!  This calamari is something like a stew.  It has a wonderfully spicy and flavorful broth.  There is something about the mix of the spicy red chili flakes, the sweet currants, the briny caperberries and the buttery pine nuts combine to create what the cookbook calls a "sweet, hot and sour Arabic kiss."  I dunno about that description either, but it is delicious nonetheless.  I do play with this recipe a bit from time to time.  I love the brinyness of the caperberries so I tend to add more than the recipe calls for, but that's just me.  I have also substituted fregola for the Israeli couscous in the past and that works well, but you have to cook it a lot longer than the couscous.  This time we used a Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend, which contains Israeli couscous, orzo, red quinoa, etc.  It was wonderful and perhaps my favorite adaptation yet.  If you make the Basic Tomato Sauce in advance, the entire dish takes less than 30 minutes to create, including prep time!  One warning - be careful not to overcook the calamari or you're going to end up with little white rubber bands in your lovely broth.

Recipes after the jump!

Faux-Moroccan Roast Chicken with Harissa Sauce and Couscous with Fresh Cilantro and Lemon Juice

So I must admit that I am rather proud of myself for sticking with my resolution to make more Asian recipes this week.  And here I am making Moroccan food, which I also mentioned that I had been wanting to make.  I seem to be on something of a Moroccan (or faux-Moroccan because I'm certainly no expert on Moroccan food) kick lately.  Not too long ago we made Quasi-Moroccan Turnip Greens and Moroccan Meatloaf.  And before that I made some Crispy Roasted Chickpeas with a homemade Moroccan spice blend.  We also made a Moroccan carrot salad, but I will have to post about that later.  I really enjoy the flavor combinations in Moroccan food - the sweetness of cinnamon, the smokey cumin, the spicy cayenne, the floral coriander...  It all just works so beautifully together.  I go through spice phases and this seems to be my current phase.  

Anyway, you have to try this chicken.  I know that I am always roasting chicken breasts and then posting about how wonderful they were, but these were truly spectacular - moist, juicy and very flavorful.  The light dusting of flour on the chicken helped to turn the skin nice and crispy by forming a light crust.  Otherwise I think that the skin would have remained flaccid and gummy from soaking overnight in the marinade.  The chicken was really lovely when dipped into the spicy and vinegary harissa sauce.  It would have been good without the harissa, but the harissa really gave it that something extra.  Plus it gave it some heat and I just can't help but to enjoy spicy things.  The couscous was pleasant, but a little bland. Then again, I purposefully looked for a couscous recipe that sounded a little bland because I figured that the thicken would be very flavorful and I didn't want competing flavor profiles.  Really all I wanted with the couscous was a nice side that would complement or balance out the chicken.  And I got that.  If I were to serve the couscous with a slightly less flavorful main dish, I would probably cook the couscous in chicken stock (instead of water), add more lemon juice/zest, and perhaps toss a bit of cayenne pepper in with the couscous while it steamed.

Recipes after the jump!

Quinoa with Spiced Zucchini

From the most recent posts on my blog you might think that I am trying out being vegetarian.  I guess after a few very heavy, meaty meals (like my cheeseburger the other night, which while delicious was a whopping 870 plus calories according to the nutritional facts chain restaurants are required to post in NYC), I can't help but feel the need to throw a few more fruits and vegetables into my diet.  And I love fruits and vegetables, but who honestly gets the recommended number of servings a day?  I certainly don't, although not for lack of trying.  I ate an Asian pear and an orange today, in addition to a few servings of zucchini, and considered that quite the accomplishment

Today for lunch I was looking in the refrigerator and the only thing I found that truly looked appealing to me was zucchini.  Now during the summer I buy tons of squash of all varieties from the various farmer's markets around the city.  Pattypan squash, zucchini, summer squash, crookneck squash - you name it, I have purchased it.  And then I end up trying to devise ways to use all of the lovely squash sitting in my refrigerator.  One of my favorite ways to use squash is to make Barbara Kingsolver's Disappearing Zucchini Orzo from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  Her recipe of grated zucchini mixed with onion, orzo, fresh herbs and Parmigiano-Reggiano is far more than the sum of its parts.  If I had children I would think that dish would be the ultimate way to sneak some zucchini into their diets without them either knowing, or caring.  Another favorite zucchini recipe is the Red Cat Zucchini I mentioned in my "Favorite Recipes of 2009" post.  I have also tried making various frittata, pasta and couscous recipes featuring squash.  April Bloomfield actually makes a delicious squash and squash blossom frittata at The Spotted Pig with mint and ricotta salata that I have tried to replicate several times.  One thing I always mean to do with squash, but never quite get around to, is baking.  I actually purchased the zucchini that I used for my lunch today because I wanted to make a chocolate zucchini cake, but somehow they were just languishing away in the fridge.  After my baking binge of the last few weeks I feel the need to take at least another week off before attempting another cake.

This recipe was a play on a couscous recipe from the September 2005 issue of Gourmet I made awhile ago.  Somehow I wasn't in the mood for couscous today and I wanted quinoa, so I adapted the recipe to use quinoa instead.  There is something about the texture of quinoa that I really like and it always makes me sad that I rarely think to make quinoa.  While couscous is rather bland on its own, quinoa has its own wonderful nuttiness that I was craving.  I had to play with the amount of spices, etc. because I find that couscous picks up flavors quicker and easier (due to that blandness) than quinoa does.  All things considered, I count this recipe to be a wonderful (mostly) vegetarian success since I did use chicken stock to cook my quinoa!

Recipe after the jump!