(This is not the actual picture of the dish, but I don’t know where they have gone – so imagine these eggplant slices rolled around the cheese (which is dotted with fresh herbs) on top of couscous instead of salad!)

We got some really cute eggplants at the Farmers Market recently. I didn’t really have a dish in mind for how to prepare them, but I love eggplant, so I knew I would get inspiration at some point. They sat in the fridge for about a week, and then I got a bright idea! Recently we had gone out to eat and I had a rolled, stuffed eggplant dish that was breaded in panko and fried. I didn’t really want to fry the eggplant, but I wanted to roll them and stuff them. I love the combination of chevre and eggplant, and I had some nice chevre in the fridge. I stuffed the eggplants with fresh herbs and chevre and broiled them in the oven. I drizzled balsamic-pomegranate reduction over top and served it with raisin and pine nut dotted couscous. The flavors were really magical and took my taste buds to new heights! I was really pleased with the way the dish turned out – I think the combination of herbs really made it. This is a great dish for the last days of summer and I am betting it would be phenomenal on the grill!

INGREDIENTS:

3 small eggplants
8 oz. chevre
handful of fresh mint leaves
handful of fresh basil leaves
handful of fresh parsley
3 scallions
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil to drizzle before broiling

1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 cup pomegranate syrup

couscous cooked according to the package, drizzled with olive oil and mixed with 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts and 1/4 cup raisins.

METHOD:

Cut the eggplants lengthwise in thick slices. Place them in a salt water bath for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat the oven to 350 F. After 30 minutes rinse and squeeze out the water. Place slices on a cookie sheet and bake for about 10-15 or until soft. Place a TBS of chevre and a pinch of herbs on each slice and roll up the eggplant. Secure with a toothpick. Set the oven to broiler setting.

In a small sauce pan combine the balsamic and pomegranate syrup. Heat up on medium – low and reduce by half.

While the sauce is reducing, place the eggplant rolls on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Broil on high for about 5-7 minutes or until golden – be careful not to melt the cheese too much!

Serve over couscous. Serves about 4.

Today, I am dedicating this post and recipe to Bri, a fellow food blogger from Figs with Bri, and a woman fighting the long and difficult battle against breast cancer. This month’s CLICK event , hosted by Jugalbandi has a theme of Yellow, based on the Livestrong model. This month we, who are participating in this event, are dedicating our YELLOW posts to Bri, a strong woman with the heart and spirit of an Amazon! There is also a fundraiser going on for Bri – a way to help her seek the best medical care, in all areas, including holistic and experimental treatments some of which are not covered by her medical insurance. So please go here to check out the information and learn more about Bri’s cause – a little goes a very long way. The Foodblogger Blogosphere is a global village. we may not personally know everyone we interact with on a regular basis, but their stories and lives do touch us. I feel it is so important to support our fellow bloggers in good times and when they need us the most, during their trials.

(CLICK event photo)

Everyone here knows about my love for Moroccan foods. One of my favorite restaurants when I lived in the DC area was Marrakesh. This is how their website describes an evening there “course after course of Moroccan cuisine featuring succulent meats, vegetables, and salads served against the backdrop of Middle Eastern music and decor will both excite and lull you into one of the most special evenings of your life”. No truer words have ever been spoken.

Then at the other end of the spectrum, there was another great Moroccan restaurant where I used to live in Northampton, MA called Amanouz Cafe an unassuming place, yet serving up fresh and delicious food at very affordable prices. Both of the restaurants rate highly on my list of favorite restaurants of all time because of the education they afforded me for Moroccan food.

For one, the first time I went to Marrakesh, when I was a pre-teen, for my mom’s birthday, was the first time I had ever tasted Moroccan food – the spices, the hints of cinnamon, the smokiness of cumin, the meat falling off the bone, mint tea poured artistically into small decorated glasses. That coupled with the backdrop and splendor of the restaurant itself was a truly magical experience I have never forgotten. Then Amanouz, which is run by two brothers, whom I got to know while I lived in Northampton, taught me even more about Morocco and its food, making Morocco one of the premier vacation destinations of my soul.

However, even though I haven’t gotten there yet, some of my closest friends have, my dear friends Tony and Jonathan who gifted Roberto and I with a beautiful handmade Tagine (name for the cooking vessel and a meal), bought in a Moroccan market and hand carried back to Massachusetts and then down to Florida for our wedding. I cannot tell you how much this gift meant to me. Not only is it beautiful, but it was thoughtful and deliberate. So thank you Tony and Jonathan – I love you both and you are welcome to come to our house for Tagine anytime!

For me, the combination of chicken rubbed with aforementioned spices and slow cooked with tart green olives, lemon and raisins is quintessential of Moroccan cuisine – the sweet and the tangy in perfect harmony. So of course the first thing I wanted to make with my new Tagine was Chicken and Olive Tagine with Preserved Lemons (minus the preserved lemons).
Um, yeah, I am not a big fan of preserved lemons, however the nice olive lady at our farmers market solved this problem for me, by selling me beautiful green olives stuffed with lemon peels. This gave me the taste I was after without having to deal with preserved lemons.

Then to the issue of the Tagine. Handmade Moroccan Tagines from a Moroccan market do not come with directions – they come as they are. So research online taught me that hand painted, glazed (tagines are clay) Tagines are not to be used for cooking. They are for serving only. This actually suited me just fine, because even though I was dying to cook with a tagine, I was not dying to break this beautiful and sentimental gift from my friends and I know how tricky cooking with clay can be and I was leery to experiment with this piece. So out came my cast iron skillet – the only pan I use anymore, and it worked just as well! Served up in the beautiful Tagine, along with couscous, salad and pita and it was like being at the Marrakesh…well…almost.

Chicken and Lemon Peel Olive Tagine

INGREDIENTS:

coarse sea salt
one small chicken cut into 8 pieces
(or if you are the leftover queen like me, 8 large chicken tenders that are in your freezer)
1 TBS white vinegar (I used apple cider as this is what I had)
2 cups water
5 TBS olive oil
1 large bunch of fresh cilantro finely minced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp real saffron
salt to taste
1/2 lb chopped onions
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
2 TBS olive oil
a good amount of green olives stuffed with lemon peels
a good amount of raisins

METHOD:

Rub coarse sea salt on the chicken pieces and wash chicken in a bowl with vinegar and 2 cups of water.
Leave the chicken in the bowl for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile prepare the spice rub. In a large shallow bowl mix olive oil, cilantro, cinnamon, saffron, salt, half of the onions, garlic, cumin, ginger, paprika and turmeric. Mix together and add a little water if necessary to make a paste.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Then rinse and dry chicken and place in bowl with the spices. Roll chicken in spices making sure to cover them really well. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes.

Heat cast iron skillet, or tagine or dutch oven on the stove top and add 2 TBS olive oil. Place the chicken in the pan, and then pour the rest of the marinade over top. Add the rest of the onions, olives and raisins and cook in the oven, covered, for about 45-50 minutes. Serve with couscous, salad and pita bread.

Eating healthy is a way of life, some may argue that it is a boring way of life. They might say, food is about passion, and that you shouldn’t dumb down that passion through making it healthy all the time. I am certainly one to splurge but I really believe that some of the healthiest foods are the tastiest. For me there is no question of what I would prefer given the choice of a nice juicy marbled steak with Bearnaise sauce or a sushi roll. Who can argue that fresh vegetables from the garden are something most of us look forward to every year?

A list of my favorite foods include cheese, beans, hummus, olives, yogurt, papaya, salads of all varieties, avocados, almonds, artisan bread, ice cream and nice fresh sushi. So for me, healthy does not equal tasteless or boring – to me it equals fresh, unrefined, un-tampered with goodness. “Healthy” means something different to different people. For me, it is about moderation and the above qualifications are more important than calories and fat, calories and fat are natural, they are in everything, there is good and bad and they are important for a balanced diet. For me it is more important that my food is free of chemicals, hormones, additives, preservatives and dyes. So when you think about that, a diet of all my favorite foods fit into my category of “healthy”.

Here is another Leftover Queen classic! It was one of those meals which kind of cleaned out the fridge of Farmers Market finds and the pantry of dry goods . I made this when we were spending a weekend at home and had some time to kill. Usually if we are home on the weekend, we spend one day making and prepping food for the following week. We made bread, ice cream, sauces and usually a nice meal – that will produce leftovers!

When we made this we had some for dinner one night and then the next day, ate it like a cold salad at the beach. It is so flavorful, healthy and full of goodness. This made quite a lot so we had lots for lunches the following week.

This is one of those recipes that you can substitute anything you like. For us, the combination of the shrimp, pine nuts and raisins backed by the curry flavor was amazing! I am submitting this in Ben and Ivy‘s Fat Chefs or Skinny Gourmets event promoting healthy foods. I wanted to show that cooking healthy is a lifestyle and not something that needs a lot of planning to achieve. If you have a well stocked pantry full of whole grains, legumes and whole wheat pastas, as well as a freezer and fridge full of vegetables that have already been washed and are ready to use, cooking healthy is a breeze. You can create awesome stir fries, couscous, hash and healthy pasta and bean dishes in a flash.

Healthy foods are not boring, especially when you are using local, seasonal produce that is at the height of flavor and freshness in tandem with what is already in your pantry.


Shrimp Curry Couscous

INGREDIENTS:

1 box of instant whole wheat couscous – perfect to have on hand for a quick meal
2 TBS olive oil
2-3 carrots cut in small dice
½ red onion
½ can of organic garbanzo beans
¼ cup pine nuts – toasted
¼ cup raisins
couple handfuls of frozen peas
handful of assorted greens – beet and chard
1 TBS curry powder
1/2 tsp cumin
½ tsp tumeric
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
8 oz. extra large raw shrimp

METHOD:

Cook the couscous according to package directions. In a large skillet, heat the oil and sautee the veggies, peas, raisins and pine nuts together. Add the spices and sautee until veggies are tender and raisins are plump. Add the shrimp and cook until pink and look like a “c”. In a big bowl toss the sautee with the couscous and serve. Can be eaten hot or cold.

This is a wonderful and easy dish to prepare. It can be served hot as a main dish or you can chill it and serve it as a salad. It is a wonderful and refreshing dish that is easy to make variations of depending on what you have on hand and is the perfect dish to make with leftover shrimp!

Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb box of cous cous (not instant)
3 cups vegetable stock
2 lemons, juiced
1 lb of shrimp
1 lemon, zested
1 cup fresh basil, chopped
½ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup slivered almonds, toasted
salt & pepper to taste

METHOD:

In a medium saucepan heat 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the fresh garlic and sautee for 1 minute. Add the couc cous. Stir often until cous cous is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Carefully add the stock and juice of one lemon to the cous cous and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer. After about 5 minutes add the shrimp and cook together until the cous cous is al dente, about 8-10 minutes.

In a large serving bowl toss the cous cous and shrimp with the remaining olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, herbs, dried berries and almonds, stir gently to combine. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Serves 4.

Speaking of Tunisian CousCous, you can now purchase your own Tunisian Fancy Couscous (6.7 Ounce) by igourmet.com through Amazon. Amazon has a wide variety of wonderful gourmet and imported food products. Many of which I have available through my store. I will be featuring a variety of products through these product reviews on a regular basis, so stay tuned!

The national dish of Tunisia is in fact CousCous. CousCous is a small pasta that is made from semolina. Tunisian Cuisine is a complex mixture of Middle Eastern, Berber and European foods.

The Mediterranean Recipe of the Week this week is Tunisian Style Cous Cous. This is also by a guest cook this week, David, another one of my Travel blog buddies. David and Lucy have traveled all over the Mediterranean and Middle East and their extensive travels have inspired many creative dishes. You should definitely check out David’s Images of Islam Blog
Now for the Recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

Juice of 1 Orange
2 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice
1 Tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil
4 Cloves of Garlic
2 teaspoons of Ground Dried Coriandar
1 teaspoon of mixed dried spices – Chili powder, Chili pepper, Cumin, Oregano, Salt, Garlic, Black pepper, Dried onion, Paprika, Cayenne pepper, Nutmeg and Celery seed -
½ Cup of Cous Cous
1 Red Onion
1 Can of Chopped Tomatoes
½ LB of Pork/Lamb/Chicken/Beef – whatever you have available
1 Bell Pepper
*Handful of String Beans
*Handful of Broccoli

(* You can use whatever vegetables you have available)

METHOD:

In a large bowl combine the orange juice, vinegar, garlic, meat, coriander and mixed spices.
In a frying pan, sauté the red onion in olive oil until they are softened. Pour the contents from the bowl into the pan. Cook about 5-7 minutes or until the meat is cooked through. Add the tin of tomatoes and the Bell Pepper, String Beans and Broccoli to the pan.

Soak the cous cous in ¾ Cup of hot water. Once the cous cous has thoroughly soaked in the water add it to the cooking pan. Combine everything until it is thoroughly mixed. Take the pan off the heat and add the two tablespoons of lemon juice.

Serve on Plates, Eat and Enjoy!

Here is a wonderful dish prepared by one of my travel blog buddies, Lucinate! If you are into world travel, you should definately check out her blog, it is full of travel details all around the world. She just recently returned from a scuba adventure in Thailand. Her cooking is inspired by her many trips! Speaking of Thai, this is a Thai-Inspired Salmon with Cous Cous! Looks incredible!

INGREDIENTS:

2 boneless, skinless salmon fillets cut into large-ish cubes
100 grams (4 oz) chopped broccoli
100 grams (4 oz) green beans or sugar snaps or string beans
1 can cooked chickpeas
1 Jar Thai spices: (see below)
100 ml (7 TBS) cous cous
3 cloves garlic – or how ever much you want
1 teaspoon veggie stock (or whatever stock you prefer)

METHOD:

Add 150ml (10 TBS) boiling water and 1 teaspoon stock to the cous cous, stir and set aside.

Add a little olive oil to a fying pan and throw in cubed salmon.

Sprinkle thai spices to taste over.

Crush garlic over salmon

Cook for a few minutes.

Add broccoli and beans and mix with salmon. Sprinkle more thai spices over veggies.

Cook for a few minutes.

Push salmon/veggie mix to one side of the frying pan.

Add can of chickpeas to empty side of frying pan and add cooked cous cous on top of chickpeas.

Try to mix the chickpeas and cous cous together without getting the salmon and vegies involved.

When the chickpea/cous cous mixture is heated sufficiently turn off heat.

Place the chickpea/cous cous mix on a plate and add salmon/veg on top.

EAT!!

Serves: based very very loosely on two adults.

Thai Spices:
I am not sure if this is available in the US. It is a jar that comes with all the spices below.
It’s a brand called Schwartz and it’s called “Thai 7 Spice”. The ingredients are:

Salt
Chilli Powder
Dried Garlic
Ginger
Coriander Seed
Lemon Peel
Cinnamon
Cumin
Dried Chillies
White Pepper
Green Pepper
Onion Powder
Star Anise
Pineapple Powder
Jalapeno Powder
Cayenne Pepper
Cloves

All that in one little tiny jar!! I love it!