Morrocan Chicken with Cous Cous

Dan swung by the store on the way home today, and picked up cous cous, some thin sliced chicken breasts, and some asparagus - wanting to grab some ingredients that would be quick to prepare, light, and fresh.

Inspired by the cous cous, I grabbed some leftover Moroccan spice mix from when I made lamb kebabs in April, and coated the chicken with it. In a medium hot skillet, with a little olive oil, I cooked the chicken a couple minutes on each side (it was very thin).

I tossed the asparagus in some boiling water, just until it got bright green, then shocked it in some ice water. When the chicken was done, I pulled a little puck of charmoula I've been saving since March out of the freezer, put it in the hot pan and let it melt down a bit before adding the asparagus and tossing it in the sauce.

The result was really flavorful, really quick, and we both loved it. This one's gonna have to come back into rotation sometime soon.



And to sip along with it, we had a really delicious Oregon rose wine Dan picked up, called A to Z.

Charmoula is the New Pesto

When we sat down to meal plan at the end of last week, Dan & I realized it had been awhile since we'd had salmon. To remedy that situation, I pulled out some cookbooks and searched for salmon recipes. When I opened up The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook, I found a recipe for steamed salmon with 'Charmoula'. I'd never heard of it before, but the sidebar in the cookbook describes Charmoula as a classic Moroccan preparation that can be used as a marinade or a sauce and is commonly served with fish.

After marinading the salmon in it overnight, and then slathering the steamed salmon in it, I describe Charmoula as 'delicious'. It has intensity from the spices and garlic, with a freshness from the cilantro and parsley, and a brightness from the lemon juice - all in an almost creamy emulsion courtesy of the olive oil. I plan to put it on everything from now on. It's totally the new pesto.

Steamed Salmon with Charmoula
4 cloves garlic
1/3 cup firmly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/3 cup firmly packed fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tspn paprika
3/4 tspn ground cumin
1/8-1/4 tspn cayenne pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 6oz Salmon fillets, skin removed
Salt

Turn on your food processor and add the garlic cloves, one at a time until finely minced. Then add the cilantro, parsley, lemon juice, 1 tspn salt, paprika, cumin and cayenne and puree until smooth. Slowly add the oil, processing until smooth and emulsified. Measure out 3 Tbspn of the sauce and reserve. Put the remaining sauce in a serving bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Put the salmon on a platter and rub both sides of the fish with the 3 Tbspn sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Remove the fish and the remaining sauce from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes. Pour water to a depth of 1 inch in a large steamer and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Set a steamer rack or other large, round rack over the simmering water. Arrange the salmon fillets on a heatproof plate, place the plate on the rack, cover tightly, and steam until the fish is firm to the touch and is barely opaque when tested with a knife, about 8 minutes. Transfer the fish to warmed individual plates and top each fillet with a generous spoonful of the charmoula sauce. Pass the remaining sauce at the table.

(We ended up with extra sauce, so I poured it in a little silicone cupcake liner and popped it in the freezer to harden, after which I'll put it in a plastic bag. That way, I can defrost my Charmoula and have it whenever I want.)

Orange Ginger Carrot Soup and Moroccan Chickpea Salad

After catching up on posts from November and December, it was clear we haven't been putting as much energy into cooking great meals and eating healthy food. Between the holidays, and the weather, it's been harder to get to the Farmer's Market (and there isn't as much to choose from this time of year), and we've been too busy many nights to take time to make a good meal. So we decided to sit down and make a meal plan for this last week of 2008 that focuses on healthier, whole food meals.

We pulled out some cookbooks focused on healthy meals, and each flipped through one. Amidst the pages we found lots of great ideas, and filled our week with many of them.

To start off the week (our meal week goes Sat-Fri), we decided to use up a bunch of the vegetable broth I made recently using what was left of a veggie tray, and make two recipes. First was a orange ginger carrot soup pulled from
Quick and Easy Healthy Eating, and the second is a Moroccan chickpea & couscous 'salad' taken from the Prevention Diabetes Diet Cookbook. Both recipes turned out great, made use of our fresh herb garden, and tasted delicous and healthy. We marveled that the recipe was vegan (something we hadn't aimed for) and that the only non-fresh ingredients were the frozen peas and the canned chickpeas. Both recipes also ended up very orange.

It was nice to help more with the meal planning (I'm usually stumped for ideas, and Dan has a gift for it), and it was fun to make use of more of my cookbook collection.



We also had some of our new favorite local wine - a 100% cranberry wine from Pasek Cellars in Mount Vernon, WA. I like that it's not too sweet, not too tart, but still very fruity. They also do Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Blackberry, Coffee, Loganberry, Guava, Raspberry, and more traditional wines like Chardonnay and Merlot.





Orange, Carrot, & Ginger Soup
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and finely sliced
1 1/3 cups vegetable broth
2 inches ginger root, peeled & finely grated
1 1/3 cups water
zest of 1/2 orange
juice of 1 orange
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
chopped chives, to garnish

Place onions, carrots, and broth in a large saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Gather the grated ginger root into your hand and squeeze the juice into the soup. Discard the ginger root fiber. Add the water, orange juice and zest to the pan, bring back to a boil, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to cool slightly before blending until smooth. Reheat and serve garnished with chives.



Moroccan Chickpeas and Vegetables with Couscous

1 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil
1 cup 1/2" cubed sweet potato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)
1 1/2 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn salt
1 cup canned chickpeas
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
2 Tbspn chopped fresh mint

Set a large skillet over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan bottom. Heat for 30 seconds. Add the sweet potato, onion, pepper, cumin, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, or until onion is sizzling. Add the chickpeas. Stir to coat with the seasonings. Add the broth and bring to almost a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Add the peas. Bring mixture to a boil. Add couscous and stir. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve, garnished with mint.