Seared Shrimps and Parsley Couscous Salad

This meal is for one of those days when you can just sit back and relax and do the prep work and the meal right when you are about to eat. It is also good for bachelor nights.

First the Parsley Couscous Salad, which is of course Mediterranean-inspired.

Ingredients for Parsley Couscous Salad are:

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped
1 firm tomato, very finely chopped
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 cup cooked couscous ( I use the Israeli variety)
Lemon juice
Fresh cracked black pepper
Salt
EVOO

Mix everything together except the salt and couscous and keep in the fridge. Just before you are about to eat, mix the couscous and salt and serve. Well, I haven’t written a shorter recipe than this. So…

As a last minute thought, I added some pomegranate leftover from the Fresh Fruit and Cream Cake. And the salad looked very Middle Eastern!

That being taken care of I just about had time to get my shrimps seared on my flat tava.

Ingredients for Seared Shrimps are:

400 grams shrimps, shelled, deveined and tail on
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons dry herb of your choice, I used oregano
Lemon juice
Freshly cracked pepper
Olive oil
Salt

Poke the shrimps on wooden skewers and keep them lined up. Remember to throw the bamboo skewers in water for about 20 minutes so that they don’t char or break in the heat.

Heat a tava or a flat skillet. Add little drizzles of oil, and the minced garlic. Sauté for a minute making sure not to brown the garlic. Add the dried herb. Mix.

Place the shrimps-on-skewers over the spices and let them sear on high heat. Turn the skewers midway. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Remove the skewers from heat when you see the shrimps turning pink in color and curling up. It takes about 5-6 minutes to do the shrimps.

Finish the Seared Shrimps with a squirt of lemon juice.

All this under 30 minutes! I could give Rachel Ray a run for her money. Is anybody listening?

Make It Tonight

I am always looking out for ideas and inspirations for dinner. Most nights I have what is proverbially a chef’s block.

Yesterday’s dinner was about quickly putting a meal together with some inspirations peeping out from the fridge (remember those black olives and the remaining couscous?) and some fresh white mushrooms and pork tenderloin.

After a rain-drenched afternoon, the idea of a hot soup was all too comforting and the soup of the evening ended up in a bowl of Cream of Mushroom Soup, actually my first time in making a mushroom soup. Nothing fancy, just some unsalted butter melted in a pan and the chopped red onion sautéed in it. Adding flour little by little, so as not to form clumps and then tossing in all that freshly chopped mushrooms. A simple seasoning of salt and pepper and some drizzle of heavy cream. Isn't that the most easy thing to do and under 20 minutes – prep to cook time!
Did you know in Chinese culture its okay to slurp your soup? So curl your stiff upper lip and s-l-u-rrrrrrrr-p.

Oil has always been a cause of worry for everyone whether its deep water or dietary. I have had many anxious moments each time I have wiped off oily fingers from biting on to that chicken or fish finger. Well, this variation of “fingers” made with some lean pork tenderloin may just quell your calorie-intake worries.

Cut thin strips of any meat that you choose – fish, chicken or pork work best. Dust them with corn starch and sprinkle some salt and pepper.

Dip them in an egg batter and roll them in bread crumbs. This is where you don’t turn them into unhealthy chunks of meat. We throw them in the oven at 350 °C with TWO teaspoons oil drizzled over them and bake each side till they turn golden brown. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes.

I made a yogurty version of the mustard-honey dip to go with the Pork Fingers.

Mix together plain yogurt, honey and old style wholegrain mustard. Enliven the taste of your Pork Fingers with this sweet-tangy dip!

 
After a soup and a starter, I went ahead and did a room-temperature couscous salad with pomegranate, broiled corn kernels, garden greens and that one leftover sprig of basil.   This is the freshest a Moroccan-inspired Couscous Salad can get. Toss everything together in a large bowl with the already cooked couscous, throw in a handful of very finely chopped red onion, some garden greens, kalamata olives, torn basil leaves and some freshly squeezed lemon juice. Add EVOO, salt and white pepper. Serve.

Some things in life are simple. And it never hurts if its this easy.

So what’s your meal plan for tonight?

King Of Queen Couscous Salad

Whoever thought I was the queen of my kitchen is going to have that myth dispelled today with this post.

Yesterday was a rare evening when P wanted to take matters in his own hands. Of course, I had to prep, chop, dice, and even crack pepper. He was feeling rusty and I was feeling lazy after all that Gajar ka Halwa. So the chemistry was perfect. My magic (read “rare”) moment of digression led me to park myself on the couch, prop my feet on the foot stool and turn on Food Network. From the couch, I watched my own personal chef boil couscous, toss everything in a bowl, mix everything up and serve a crunchy salad on a hot day.

Most of the ingredients were found in my personal air-conditioned art gallery commonly known as the fridge! You know all those humble leftovers from previous rendezvous in the kitchen. Except for these fresh, crisp stems of asparagus.
Of course, I had to wash, clean, cut and throw them in the oven with some EVOO, salt and pepper. All this work on a promised evening off made me realize I was something-in-between a Sous chef and a princess. I am allowed to sit out, but I have to dice, chop, and wash. But he “made the dinner”. Really! Remember those aromatic arugula from another day? Yes, they too. I was beginning to see what had inspired him. But I wasn’t complaining. Complaints about the cook could jeopardize my meal.
Our meal of couscous salad with arugula, baby prawns, grilled asparagus, capers, seasoned with parsley, lemon juice, EVOO, salt and pepper looked complete.
The stack of dirty dishes in the sink spoke well of who we were – two people who love eating! I wonder if someone in Japan is working on a self-cleaning kitchen…

After all, what's that saying – a meal is complete, when the kitchen is neat!