Israeli Couscous Salad with Grilled Eggplant and Feta

Israeli Couscous Salad with Grilled Eggplant and Chickpeas

We found a basket of fresh figs at the Farmers' Market this week, and wanted to do something other than the usual Figs/Goat Cheese/Prosciutto/Greens delight.  We found this recipe, and adapted it to our needs.  The couscous came in a package from Harris Teeter - you may be able to find your own version locally.

1 medium sized eggplant, cut into half and thinly sliced
3 tbsp olive oil

1/3 lb. proscuitto, cut into strips and fried in a saucepan

1 package whole Wheat Israeli couscous (10 oz)
1 tsp dried or fresh mint, chopped
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp cayenne
pinch of salt

1/4 cup fat free feta
1 can (15 oz) drained chickpeas
small handful pistachios or pine nuts, toasted
5-10 fresh figs, cut into quarters small bunch fresh mint
olive oil

Optional:  1/2 pomegranate, seeds taken out

Heat a grill on high, brush the eggplant slices with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Grill on both sides until tender. Set aside.

Follow directions to cook couscous, adding cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, mint and pinch of salt. Set aside for 3 minutes then use a fork to separate and mix the couscous.

Fry up the prosciutto strips and add them to the salad.
Add in the chickpeas, pomegranate seeds (leaving some for serving), nuts and figs. Chop the fresh mint and in as well. Toss to mix and finish with a dash of olive oil. Sprinkle feta on top (liberally).  
 Arrange the salad on a plate with the grilled eggplant (eggplant can be chopped and mixed in as well) and serve (we added balsamic vinegar to the eggplant).

I Am Curious (Yellow) and Shark Steak

The picture really doesn’t have anything to do with the main dish, except that we found yellow eggplants and tomatoes at the Farmers’ Market. I wanted to do up a dish with nothing but yellow ingredients, but we couldn’t find yellow zucchini to complete the ratatouille. Maybe another day…. I did grill slices of the eggplant and served it with the Shark Steak.


We made a wonderful dish with shark steaks. Shark is usually too tough to eat, but we marinated it in a Jamaican Jerk marinade overnight, grilled it on the grill and it came out soo tender!! Here’s the recipe (which can also be used for chicken pieces or boneless breasts).


Jamaican Jerk Shark Steak


INGREDIENTS:
• About 1 lb shark steak (about 1 ½ inches thick)
• 1 habanero (or scotch bonnet) pepper (or see hints below)
• 1 inch, thumb size, piece fresh ginger, peeled
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled
• 3-4 Tbs fresh thyme leaves (or 1-2 tsp dried)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 Tbs ground allspice
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup white vinegar


PROCEDURE:


1. Deseed the habanero pepper and add it to a food processor (and wash your hands afterwards) with a 1-inch long, thumb size piece of peeled fresh ginger, 1 large clove garlic, add 3-4 Tbs fresh thyme leaves, 1/2 small chopped onion, add 2 Tbs ground allspice, 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup white vinegar and puree until smooth.


2. Pour the marinade into a large Ziploc bag or into a large baking dish and marinate the shark for 6-8 hours or overnight, covered, in the fridge.


3. You'll get the most flavor cooking the shark over a hardwood or charcoal fire but a gas grill is fine or even cook it inside in the oven in a pinch.


4. Cook the shark slowly until it is are cooked through and done, but not dried out, about 10-15 minutes.


HINTS: If you can't find a habanero (or Scotch bonnet) pepper, substitute 2 large jalapeno peppers instead. Substitute chicken parts or chicken legs or substitute pork.

Coconut Crusted Tilapia with Pineapple/Curry Sauce (Passover version)

So, it was passover, and we wanted to make some lovely crusted Tilapia with a spicy curry sauce. "That's what Matzo Meal is for!" So here it is.

The ingredients
3 3oz tilapia fillet
1/4 c panko or matzo meal (depending on season)
1 c shredded coconut (unsweetened)
2 tbs olive or canola oil
salt & pepper
1 c vinegar
1/8 c sugar
1 c water
1 c diced pineapple, chopped
2 tsp corn starch
2 tbs curry powder (spicy), PLUS one tbsp red (or green or masaman) curry paste (optional)

1. The first thing to do is to mix together the panko, shredded coconut, salt and pepper. Rinse the fillets with water (or you can dip them in a beaten egg), then dredge them in the panko-coconut mix. Make sure it is completely coated with coconut, then set aside. This is called the standard breading procedure.
3. Heat up a pan and add 2 tbsp oil. Make sure the oil is hot by dipping a toothpick into the oil, if tiny bubbles form around the toothpick that means it is hot enough to cook the fish. Place the coconut covered fish and cook on each side for 2-4 minutes. The coconut crust will become a golden color. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel so it can absorb the grease.
4. Add the vinegar plus the sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. Add the pineapple. Let that simmer until it is reduced by half. In a separate bowl mix the cornstarch with the curry powder, and add the cup of water and the curry paste. Finally, once the vinegar-sugar-pineapple mix has reduced, add the water+curry+starch mixture into it and whisk. Bring it to a quick boil then simmer. You will notice that the sauce thickened and you may add more water if you wish to have a thinner sauce. If you want something more thick, like a glaze, then reduce the water added to only half a cup.
5. Add the sauce to the top of the tilapia as garnish.

John and Jill Went Up The Hill …… An Italian Dinner

Italian Dinner

John and Jill came up from Atlanta to visit for the weekend. We had hoped to be able to grill and eat outside with them, but the weather was rainy and cold, so that option went out the window. Instead, Sherry prepared a variety of meals that fit well with the weather.

Sherry prepared a salad Nicoise for lunch, which required that I grill some crushed salt-and-peppered tuna steaks. While I prepared the tuna (rare, of course), Sherry set up a plate with Boston lettuce, pitted kalamata olives, sliced hard-boiled eggs, steamed green beans, roasted and quartered baby red potatoes, and cherry tomatoes, all coated with a Vidalia Onion-balsamic vinegar dressing. It was a wonderful and filling lunch.

For Dinner, Sherry prepared an Eggplant Napoleon, Chicken Marsala, while I made a Lemon Risotto. The risotto is flavored with the juice from a cut, squeezed lemon, 2 Tbsp. limoncello, and 1 Tbsp. cardamom. The meal was exotic and tasty!

EGGPLANT NAPOLEON (see photo)

1 eggplant, sliced laterally in ½ inch slices
4 portobello mushroom caps
2 large tomatoes, sliced into ½ inch thick slices
1 ball mozzarella, sliced into ½ inch slices
Pesto
Rosemary sprigs
Balsamic glaze

1. Grill the eggplant and mushroom caps. Set aside.
2. Prepare a stack of a mushroom cap on the bottom, then a slice of mozzarella, eggplant, tomato, pesto, eggplant, mozzarella, etc.
3. Hold the napoleon together with a rosemary sprig.
4. Decorate with balsamic glaze

To work off the dinner, we climbed to the top of King’s Pinnacle at Crowder’s Mountain State Park in Gastonia, NC.

TUNA PUTTANESCA

One of the marvelous surprises about living in Charlotte is the availability of high-quality tuna. There is just not a lot of diversity in fish selection at the markets. Salmon fillets (never steaks), tilapia, catfish, mahi mahi are the regulars in fish cases. But the tuna is always fresh and translucent, and can always be counted on for quality.

We had decided to buy some tuna and sear it on the grill. The rains from the past two days had ended, the sun had come out, the temperature was 46 degrees, so it seemed to be a way to celebrate outdoor weather again. But how should we accompany the tuna? Asian, Caribbean, something else? So Sherry decided to make her homemade puttanesca sauce, and serve the seared tuna over rotini.

1 tuna steak, about ¾ to 1 pound, 1 inch thick

Sauce:
Olive oil
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 small onion chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes, chopped
Red pepper flakes
Optional: urfa biber (Turkish chili pepper)
1 tin anchovies, chopped
½ cup kalamata olives, whole or cut in half
1 Tbsp. capers
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped (ok to add oil)
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
¼ cup red wine

1. Add olive oil to coat bottom of saucepan.
2. Saute garlic and onion in saucepan until onion is soft
3. Add tomatoes and cook until soft and mushy
4. Add remaining ingredients, and cook on low to medium heat until sauce is thick, about 10-15 minutes

Grill tuna until seared and rare in middle, about 3 minutes per side

Place pasta on plate. Add tuna piece. Pour sauce over tuna. Serve with shredded parmesan cheese.

SKATE WINGS

We have a wonderful fish store near us - Clean Catch Fish Market - that has great and exotic selections, as well as the freshest fish we've had in Charlotte. Last week, we found they it carried skate wings. We were up for adventure, so we bought some and followed the fishmonger's directions for cooking it.

Basic recipe

12 oz skate wing (for 2 persons)

The skate is first breaded with some corn meal, then pan sauteed in olive oil - three minutes on one side, until slightly browned, and then flipped over for a few more minutes until cooked through.

Remove the skate to a platter. Add to the pan some minced garlic, a minced shallot, herbs de Provence (or similar herbs) and cook until soft. Add some white wine and swirl until all ingredients are mixed and form a sauce.

Divide the skate wing into individual portions, pour the sauce over it, and serve immediately.

POST THANKSGIVING SOUPS

The highlight of any post-Thanksgiving meal is the opportunity to make soup out of the turkey carcass. So many choices, so little time. This year, we decided to make a Portuguese-style soup, with Kale, White beans and spicy sausage. Usually I use chorizo or linguica, but I decided to use spicy turkey sausage instead.

TURKEY SOUP WITH KALE, WHITE BEANS AND SPICY SAUSAGES

1 turkey carcass (left over from Thanksgiving), broken up to fit in a stockpot

Water to cover

3 Tbsp. chicken soup powder

1 large onion, peeled

1 bunch kale, cleans and chopped

2 cans cannelli beans, drained

5 spicy sausages, sliced and cooked in saucepan until cooked through

1 tsp coriander

Ground pepper, to taste

Place in stockpot. Bring to boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove bones and strip off meat. Add to pot and discard bones.

Add kale, sausages, cannelli beans. Cook at low heat for 15 minutes. Serve.

Since we ended up with excess sweet potatoes (like a dozen extra), Sherry made a sweet potato soup, which lasted us the rest of the week.

SWEET POTATO SOUP

Ingredients:

5 sweet potatoes

4 cans chicken stock

1 bunch swiss chard

1 Tbsp. chopped garlic

Olive oil

1 package lamb/duck/andouille sausages, sliced

1. Cut 4 sweet potatoes into small chunks.

2. Add 3 cans of chicken stock to stockpot. Add sweet potatoes, bring to boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until soft.

3. In separate saucepan, sauté 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic in olive oil. Add one bunch chopped swiss chard (thoroughly washed of dirt) and sauté until wilted.

4. In another saucepan, add sliced duck/lamb/andouille sausages and cook until cooked through.

5. When sweet potatoes are soft, puree in blender. Return to pot. Add chard and sausages. Add ½ tsp nutmeg, mace, coriander, cardamom.

6. Serve!!!!