Curied Couscous with Broccoli and Feta
Today was Middle Eastern night at the house! When I saw this week's meals included a Middle Eastern inspired dish, Curried Couscous with Broccoli and Feta, I couldn't wait to try it. My love for the cusine is long known, and well documented. Israeli food has always been a favourite of mine. When my father was young, he lived in Israel for about five years. Even though he's forgotten the language, he remembered the food and always made a ton of hummus, gabba ganoush, falafel, couscous, and Israeli salad all through my childhood. Then, I was about 10, a Middle Eastern restaurant opened near by with food ranging from Morocco to Turkey. I think my whole family went every week for a good six months, in which time my love for the whole region grew as I tried dish after tasty dish.
The recipe was very generic, without any ingredients more exotic than a shy spoonful of curry powder. However, that did not affect it's tastiness in any respect. It was very easy to throw together (a cooking style I am beginning to love), with the most taxing thing waiting for the veggies to steam in my archaic rice cooker.
The recipe calls for getting the veggies pre-cut, but to save money, we got whole broccoli crowns, baby carrots, and whole ginger root. I cut the baby carrots in half, diced half an onion, and roughly chopped the broccoli. I steamed all veg, together to develop the flavours as the couscous cooked and sat. We nixed the chickpeas, and used a asiago/Parmesan mix we had in the fridge. I also added two huge tablespoons of tahini.
I honestly did not miss the chickpeas or feta, which is saying a ton because I will eat chickpeas out of the can at times. I'm sure both additions are there for protein, but the couscous is so heavy, adding other heavy, fatty, starchy items would weight it down too much. A really fresh goat cheese and chopped hard boiled egg whites would be a better choices for people needing a high protein meal.
Next time, I'm going to up the Middle Eastern-y-ness by changing the raisins to dates, using pomegranate syrup instead of sugar, and maybe using almonds. I did really like the cashews, but to me they're more of an Indian nut. Or maybe that's just me.
The one thing I've noticed with this site is that the serving sizes are huge. This recipe claims it serves five, but I had a heaping plate, Monty only had about half a cup, and we still have tons left over for lunch tomorrow. The suggested side for this is hummus and pita, which I didn't get to eat because I was too busy eating the main dish. I do plan to bring some hummus and carrots with my lunch tomorrow.
Lunch: The pasta from last night was very good for lunch. The sharp lemony flavour had mellowed, letting the brine from the artichokes and the garlic to really shine. The pasta held up well, and the spinach was only slightly mushy.
The recipe was very generic, without any ingredients more exotic than a shy spoonful of curry powder. However, that did not affect it's tastiness in any respect. It was very easy to throw together (a cooking style I am beginning to love), with the most taxing thing waiting for the veggies to steam in my archaic rice cooker.
The recipe calls for getting the veggies pre-cut, but to save money, we got whole broccoli crowns, baby carrots, and whole ginger root. I cut the baby carrots in half, diced half an onion, and roughly chopped the broccoli. I steamed all veg, together to develop the flavours as the couscous cooked and sat. We nixed the chickpeas, and used a asiago/Parmesan mix we had in the fridge. I also added two huge tablespoons of tahini.
I honestly did not miss the chickpeas or feta, which is saying a ton because I will eat chickpeas out of the can at times. I'm sure both additions are there for protein, but the couscous is so heavy, adding other heavy, fatty, starchy items would weight it down too much. A really fresh goat cheese and chopped hard boiled egg whites would be a better choices for people needing a high protein meal.
Next time, I'm going to up the Middle Eastern-y-ness by changing the raisins to dates, using pomegranate syrup instead of sugar, and maybe using almonds. I did really like the cashews, but to me they're more of an Indian nut. Or maybe that's just me.
The one thing I've noticed with this site is that the serving sizes are huge. This recipe claims it serves five, but I had a heaping plate, Monty only had about half a cup, and we still have tons left over for lunch tomorrow. The suggested side for this is hummus and pita, which I didn't get to eat because I was too busy eating the main dish. I do plan to bring some hummus and carrots with my lunch tomorrow.
Lunch: The pasta from last night was very good for lunch. The sharp lemony flavour had mellowed, letting the brine from the artichokes and the garlic to really shine. The pasta held up well, and the spinach was only slightly mushy.