couscous with mint & fruit

I'm venturing out! In my attempt to increase my cooking vernacular, I cooked with three ingredients I've never used before. (go me). Shallots, mint, and this peculiar orange fruit, known as a loquat. Have you guys tried this before? It looks like a longer apricot, but tastes like a sweet, subtle pear/mango/something or other...

Anyways, you can use a loquat, but if you can't find it, I'm confident whatever in season fruit (apricot, plum, pluot, etc.) you decide to use will taste fancy and delicious.



First make the dressing:

Combine shallots, rice vinegar,

honey, and oil. Stir to combine. Then add mint and garlic salt. Set aside. 

Other ingredients: 

4 ½ cups water
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/3 cups dry Couscous (2-10 ounce packages)
½ cup Dried Currants or Golden raisins
½ cup chopped dried plumcots, apricots, plums, apples,

or kumquats

1 bunch green onion (trimmed and thinly sliced)
Extra mint for garnish
1 cup pistachios and almonds (or other favorite nuts)
4 fresh loquats, plumcots or red flesh plums (chopped)

To taste...

Garlic salt to taste

White pepper (or freshly ground black pepper)

Lemon juice from 1-2 lemons 

To prepare:

1) In a large saucepan, combine water, oil, cumin and salt.
Bring to a boil on high heat. Turn off heat and stir in Couscous. Cover and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add in dried fruit and raisins then fluff with a fork.

2) Toss dressing with couscous, then mix in green onions. Add in lemon juice, pepper, and more garlic powder, and salt if needed.

3) Toss in nuts and fresh fruit. Garnish with chopped mint and fresh sprigs.

4) Top with a some protein (or mix in some garbanzo beans!) to make it a complete meal or bring

to your next summer picnic.

Kinda messy...but worth it. 

Makes about 12 cups. Recipe courtesy Cathy Thomas from Melissa’s Everyday Cookingwith Organic Produce via the Great Park.

places

Well before this started looking like a food blog, I originally started 3 letter words to share travels, photos, stories and eats with friends, explore different cultures and the like. Recipe posts will continue, but a little more focus never hurts. :)

 Creative decor/illuminated bottles | Seoul, Korea

 Sunrise | Chicago, IL

Monet's Gardens--like real life versions of his paintings | Giverny, France

 Neon transportation | Bangkok, Thailand --photo by James

Pretty glass flowers (?)/Ceilings at Bellagio Hotel | Las Vegas, NV

Broccoli Cornbread

Last year, my coworker friends and I started a tradition to celebrate birthdays. We exhausted some of the usual lunch spots so began holding Iron Chef challenges to celebrate the birthday honoree(s).  It was a slow start, but our food eventually graduated from store bought items to more elaborate dishes (e.g.: prosciutto wrapped stuffed dates, smoked tri-tip, authentic Filipino food, chorizo sliders...).  It's been a fun way to get out of the restaurant rut and learn new recipes. Did I mention there is a giant golden whisk trophy involved? It's kind of awesome. Anyways, this Cottage Cheese + Broccoli Cornbread won it for the cheese category. It's super savory and I really like the onions and broccoli mixed with the course corn meal texture. Don’t be thrown off by the name or seemingly out of place ingredients. It won for good reason--well done Rob. :)

You'll need: 
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cottage cheese, drained
1 teaspoon salt
1-8oz. package of corn muffin mix (I used 1 cup of Bob's Red Mill Cornbread & Muffin Mix)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1-10 oz. package of frozen chopped broccoli, thawed & drained (about 1 1/2 cups)


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 8x8 pan.I've made these into muffins before. They tend to stick to the paper a bit, so I recommend making it in a baking pan, or greasing the muffin pan and doing it without the paper liners. 
1) Cook onions on medium low heat over oil, until translucent. Remove from heat and let cool.

2) Stir eggs, cheese, salt together till combined. Add corn muffin mix, butter, broccoli, and cooled onions.
3) Pour mixture into baking dish and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
4) Let stand for 5 minutes before removing pan. 

saving berries

 
I grew my first strawberry. Just barely though. I'm hiding the bulk of this pot, which at one point flourished with promising green strawberry leaves. Only this guy made it and sprouted flowers. I guess only the strong survive in my garden. I still love you little strawberry!
Speaking of berries, I just learned a method to keep your berries fresh a little longer. Just mix one part vinegar (white or apple cider) to ten parts water. Swoosh the berries in the mixture, drain, and store in the fridge. Apparently, the vinegar kills any spores that cause your berries to grow white fuzz. Raspberries will keep for about a week and strawberries for 2. 

s'mores stuffed cookies...revisited

I've made these S'mores stuffed cookies a few more times and have since developed a S'mores Stuffed Cookie science if you will.

A few tips and changes...
Instead of breaking the graham crackers into smaller shapes, I stick a whole S'more inside the cookie (1 graham cracker sheet broken in half, 2-3 pieces of Hershey Chocolate, and 1 marshmallow cut in half lengthwise). I thought putting a smaller cookie would make these a little more manageable, but I've found it works better with a full size.

When assembling your cookie, make the bottom layer wider in diameter than the S'more inside (or Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in this case). Then pick up the whole thing and fold up the edges to enclose S'more. Add extra dough as needed. 

This results in cookies that are about the size of my open hand (much more fun and impressive)...and much better looking than my original version.

Bake for 22-24 minutes or until browned on top and dough is cooked through. Gently move onto a cooling rack for a few minutes. Serve warm, of if you need to, microwave for 10 seconds.

Unbaked cookies can be stored in the freezer (in case of an emergency). Taking them from freezer to oven actually results in really fluffy cookies in my experience.

I'm brainstorming and would love your ideas! What else can would you want to see baked inside a cookie?