How to Make Couscous

I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about rice because it is cheap and easy, especially if you know how to use a rice cooker. But there are many, many delicious and healthy grains I hope to touch on, and next up is couscous. Couscous is made from semolina flour, has a good deal of protein, and it cooks in about three minutes (you’ll have a tough time finding anything but the instant version of couscous, so it’s pretty safe to assume.) It’s my go-to starch when I’m throwing together a last minute meal.

One of the ideas I have brought up, and will continue to bring up and expand upon, is the idea of free flavor.  By adding herbs, spices and veggies to your grains, you can turn a boring pile of clumpy starch into something with depth and flavor. It will sometimes be the best thing on your plate! Here’s a recipe to show you how to use free flavor to enhance this wonderfully simple grain, couscous.

Update: March 23, 2012

So, I haven’t been posting nearly as much as I would have liked. A million excuses. But the best one is that I’ve done a couple of cooking lessons recently. I think they both went really well, and I’m excited to continue on this path. I figured that before I get back into the serious business of explaining techniques and tips for working in the kitchen, I’d share a bit about these first two lessons.

First, I had a coworker request lessons in cooking Japanese food. I decided on doing salmon shioyaki (salt-broiled salmon), a cucumber & seaweed salad with sweet vinegar dressing, a chunky pork stew, and the classic staple, short grain rice. We went to the store together so that I could show him where to find some specialized ingredients that might otherwise be difficult to track down. Some of the staples of Japanese cooking – short grain rice, mirin, rice wine vinegar.

A New American Diet

It is time for us as Americans to admit that our diets are not working for us. We are unhealthy as people, and our diet is one of the greatest contributing factors. We eat too much meat, too many processed foods, not enough vegetables, and not enough whole grains. We have to change the way we think about our current eating habits. We can no longer treat our diet as an afterthought.

We have to become more demanding as consumers. As a country, we have the palate of a middle school student. We want cheese, fat, and sugar. In the meantime, we have forgotten about fresh vegetables, and how to prepare them properly. It’s no wonder that many children hate vegetables when the only reference point they have is frozen vegetables that have been microwaved or boiled into a limp, dull, flavorless mush. Even if we could simply prepare frozen vegetables with proper cooking techniques, we would be making steps in the right direction.

How to Steam Vegetables

One of the easiest ways of preparing food, especially vegetables, is by steaming. This is not my favorite method of cooking, because you don’t get the depth of flavor produced by roasting or the ability to layer flavors produced by sautéing. However, steaming is hands down the easiest, quickest and healthiest way to prepare food. Since this blog is about breaking down cooking to it’s most basic components, I figure this is a great technique to write about.

First, you will need a steamer basket to suspend food above boiling water. You can find either a metal, plastic or bamboo basket that has small holes or slits in the bottom. This allows the steam to cook the food, instead of submerging food in water, as with boiling or blanching, so you don’t lose nutrients into the cooking water. Metal steaming baskets are common in any grocery store that sells kitchen supplies, and you can find them on-line for right around $10. You can also find bamboo steamers at an Asian market or on-line for about the same price.

Awesome Chocolate Coconut Bars

So, because I am both busy and surrounded by a great many people with various culinary skills that I do not possess, I’ll be hosting guest posts from time to time. First off is my marvelous associate, Kitt Jennings. She is quite the baker, putting together some of the best cookies, cupcakes and pastries I’ve ever had. They’re specially requested for friends parties. You’re about to see what all the fuss is about!

Your humble blog author would never say so, but he is definitely one of the best people you can have in a kitchen. Until it comes to desserts, that is. Not that he’s bad at it — baking is just not really his thing. That’s where I come in. Baking and candy making are the absolute only things I do better in a kitchen. So, dear readers, allow me to share a recipe with you.

Book Review: Yan-kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook by Yan-kit So

A book I have been spending a lot of time with recently is Yan-kit’s Classic Chinese Cookbook by Yan-kit So (part of the reason I haven’t been posting too much recently!). I’ve found it to be a great, easy to read book that manages to be authentic, comprehensive and accessible. I have made a good dozen or so recipes from this book, and all have been tasty, and many have been completely, outrageously good.

Some of the favorites so far have been the Kung Pao chicken, willow chicken in black bean sauce, beef with preserved tangerine peel and braised fish Hunan-Szechwan style. The Kung Pao chicken is a scaled back version of what you see in many restaurants – no onions, bell peppers or jalapenos here. It’s dried red chilies, peanuts and sauce. And it’s so much better for it. The chicken in black bean sauce calls for fermented black beans, not that gloopy black sauce at the grocery store, which makes for a dish that is still pungent and flavorful, but also light. The beef with preserved tangerine peel is fragrant with orange without being syrupy or overly sweet, and is a great way to use those dried tangerine peels. And braised whole trout in a spicy broth really just sells itself, doesn’t it?

How to Make Dried Tangerine Peels

One of my favorite things about winter is the small, delicious citrus fruit that comes into season at this time. It’s beautiful. In the middle of a long dark winter, tangerines of all kinds are like small little doses of sunshine. At the store near my house, you can often find 5 lb bags of these tangerines on sale for the same price as a jug of orange juice. It’s the best preventative health care I can think of.

After I’m done devouring my tangerines, I’ll sometimes dry out the peels in the oven to use for later. What do I use them for? Any number of things. I’ll throw them in with some rice to give it a nice, fresh fragrance. I’ll add them to a nice cup of mint tea. Put them into a chicken brine. Use them to make the Chinese classic, orange chicken.

Penne with Pesto, Zucchini & Mushrooms

I think pasta is one of the most enjoyable foods to cook. I can’t really explain it, but I have a lot of fun with pasta. Part of that is because it is such a broad category with almost endless variations – you can really throw just about anything into a pasta and have it turn out well. You just have to exercise some restraint. The secret is to not overwhelm the pasta with sauce or other ingredients. Despite the endless variations, however, there are certain pastas I find myself making again and again. This is recipe for penne with pesto, zucchini and mushrooms is of them.

During the summer months, when Kitt’s garden is really taking off, we end up with a lot of basil and a lot of zucchini. This pasta is a great way to use both of these ingredients. I always enjoy pairing zucchini with cremini mushrooms because they not only taste great together, they also cook at the same rate. And one of the easiest ways to take advantage of lots of basil is to make pesto. We make huge batches in the summer, and then freeze several portions of it to thaw throughout the year – which is why I’m posting this in winter! For this recipe, you can use store bought pesto or make your own.