I thought the prep for this salad was very similar to a quinoa salad, where the couscous is cooked and fresh diced vegetables are added to it, then served up warm or chilled. It's very easy to do. The longest prep time of the recipe is chopping the vegetables. This ingredient ratio is adapted from the Bon Apetit magazine. I served this with the Moroccan Roasted Chicken.
Ingredients
2 c low-sodium, organic chicken broth
8 oz Israeli couscous
1 large red pepper, seeded and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 English cucumber, unpeeled and diced
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
grated lemon peel from 1 lemon
juice of 1 medium lemon (2-3 tbsp)
Directions
1. In a 2 or 3 quart pot (with a lid), bring broth and spices to a boil. Add couscous, stir, and turn off heat. Cover with a lid and let it sit for 15-20 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork.
2. Add vegetables, lemon juice, and lemon peel to the pot and stir to combine. Transfer couscous salad to a serving dish. Serve warm or chilled.
Quick Preserved Lemon
Preserved lemon is a common ingredient to chutneys and by itself as a condiment. I used this recipe as part of a lemon-onion sauce for some roasted chicken. Bittman of the NY Times food section uses a ratio of 2:1 for sugar to salt. I adjusted the salt down, but it was still too salty in the sauce. The salty-sweet-sour of the lemon is a good flavor though. In retrospect, I'd eliminate the added salt in the chutney recipe.
Ingredients
1 fresh lemon
1 tbsp organic granulated sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
Wash, halve and de-seed the lemon. Slice lemon into 1/4" dice and put into a glass jar with its juice. Add salt and sugar. Muddle the ingredients together, then cover and refrigerate for a few hours.
Use this in recipes that call for preserved lemon.
Ingredients
1 fresh lemon
1 tbsp organic granulated sugar
2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
Wash, halve and de-seed the lemon. Slice lemon into 1/4" dice and put into a glass jar with its juice. Add salt and sugar. Muddle the ingredients together, then cover and refrigerate for a few hours.
Use this in recipes that call for preserved lemon.
Moroccan Roasted Chicken
This, like many in the cuisine, is a multi-step process which involves a fair amount of time for the ingredients to marinate. This batch marinated for a few days in the refrigerator; though it could probably be used as early as the next day. The lemon-onion chutney sauce that goes with it is probably better when eaten in a very hot and dry climate. At 50 degrees F and damp in the Pacific NW in late May, the sauce was far too salty. The original recipe calls for a whole chicken and has a much longer cooking time.
Ingredients for Marinade
8 chicken bone-in, skin-on thighs
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a resealable plastic bag or food-safe container. Gently rub the spices with the oil into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Line a shallow baking pan with a Silpat mat that will fit inside. Evenly space chicken pieces on the pan. A lot of fat will render out of the chicken skin, but don't worry, this will help the skin really crisp up later. Bake for an hour.
3. Using tongs, gently turn chicken over. It is possible, even with a Silpat, that the chicken will stick to the mat. Return chicken, skin-side up, for another 10-15 minutes, until the skin is very crispy. Remove chicken from baking pan and set in a covered glass dish. Serve hot.
Ingredients for Marinade
8 chicken bone-in, skin-on thighs
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a resealable plastic bag or food-safe container. Gently rub the spices with the oil into the chicken. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Line a shallow baking pan with a Silpat mat that will fit inside. Evenly space chicken pieces on the pan. A lot of fat will render out of the chicken skin, but don't worry, this will help the skin really crisp up later. Bake for an hour.
3. Using tongs, gently turn chicken over. It is possible, even with a Silpat, that the chicken will stick to the mat. Return chicken, skin-side up, for another 10-15 minutes, until the skin is very crispy. Remove chicken from baking pan and set in a covered glass dish. Serve hot.
Roasted Fennel and Tomato
One bulb is not enough for more than one person and the while some of the more thinly cut slices were charred instead of caramelizing, it still tasted pretty decent for a side dish. It is sad to see that our state considers this plant to be a noxious weed and prefers to use herbicide to eradicate common fennel than to allow people to harvest it for free. Seriously, all public lands management would need to do is post an alert saying that there's a free vegetable that people can harvest and it would all be picked; of course that would also encourage visitors to pick all the other native plants that managed land and state parks have.
Ingredients
One (or more) fennel bulbs, washed and cored
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp olive oil + more if needed, for roasting
handful of whole grape or cherry tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp organic sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
1. Slice fennel bulb(s) in half and take out the core. Thinly slice the bulb as you would celery or any root vegetable.
2. Toss fennel with garlic, salt, sugar, lemon juice, tomatoes, and olive oil.
3. Arrange fennel in a glass baking dish (I used a 9" x 13") and bake for 30 minutes. Check the oven after 15 minutes and stir the vegetables around.
4. Remove from heat and serve on a plate, as a condiment or side dish for another entree.
Ingredients
One (or more) fennel bulbs, washed and cored
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp olive oil + more if needed, for roasting
handful of whole grape or cherry tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp organic sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
1. Slice fennel bulb(s) in half and take out the core. Thinly slice the bulb as you would celery or any root vegetable.
2. Toss fennel with garlic, salt, sugar, lemon juice, tomatoes, and olive oil.
3. Arrange fennel in a glass baking dish (I used a 9" x 13") and bake for 30 minutes. Check the oven after 15 minutes and stir the vegetables around.
4. Remove from heat and serve on a plate, as a condiment or side dish for another entree.
Sourdough Starter Batch #1
Hopefully it'll ferment in time to make some loaves for this weekend's BBQ. This particular starter recipe doesn't make you feed it every day. This is fortunate because the slacker in me doesn't want to do that. Instead, the fermentation time is 4-8 days and you need to check the starter for signs that it is not doing well, like the entire mixture turns pink (bad sign! toss it out and start over). You only start to feed the starter once you take a cup of it out for a bread recipe.
Starter Recipe Ratio
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 c all purpose unbleached flour
2 c warm water (between 105 and 110 degrees F)
Maintenance Ratio
1 c warm water
1 c all purpose unbleached flour
+ a pinch of sugar
I started the starter in a large wide-mouth glass jar and covered it with a kitchen towel secured by a rubber band. At the moment, it is sitting in a corner of the kitchen counter.
Starter Recipe Ratio
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 c all purpose unbleached flour
2 c warm water (between 105 and 110 degrees F)
Maintenance Ratio
1 c warm water
1 c all purpose unbleached flour
+ a pinch of sugar
I started the starter in a large wide-mouth glass jar and covered it with a kitchen towel secured by a rubber band. At the moment, it is sitting in a corner of the kitchen counter.
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