Truffle Mutt

Couscous Salad

This salad was actually a side to a citrus marinated pork tenderloin with salsa and spicy sauteed kale.  And yes, I wasn't kidding when I said addicted -we've been grazing on a lot of foliage lately.

So when it came to salad I had to pick something un-green for the position - enter couscous.  I've made variations of this salad a number of times.  It's easy to put together with a light dressing and any number of ingredients.  Tomatoes and basil, or roasted peppers and parsley tossed with olive oil and lemon dressing.  And you can make it to go with almost anything.

I put a Mexican twist on this one to go with the salsa and cumin spiced pork.  And doesn't it look great in the blue bowl I just painted at ceramics!?  Yes it does, if I do says so myself.

Couscous Salad:
2 cups cooked couscous, drained and cooled
6 green onions chopped
1 chopped avacodo
2 tbsp chopped parsley
6-10 chopped Peppadew peppers, or other sweet marinated peppers
Add the following to taste
salt
olive oil
lemon juice

Got Goat Cheese?

I was cleaning out my fridge a couple of weekends ago and as I plunged my hand into a slimy mass of over aged cucumbers I made a decision.  I need to menu plan!  I can no longer head to the market and buy whatever produce catches my eye.  It's going to be shopping boot camp from now on, focus, focus, focus.  My spontaneous shopping days are over and with some will power hopefully so are my refrigerator composting experiments. 

And I'm happy to report that although this recipe was not on the PLAN, it did use up ingredients in the fridge.  But of course, I didn't have the orzo, there was no goat cheese hanging around, cream was a scarce commodity and there were no Shitakes anywhere either!  In any case this dinner was welcome at my table even with all the switcher-oos.  

Boil a generous portion of Anchellini pasta to not-quite-limpness, otherwise known as al-dente and reserve a small portion (1/4 cup) of the cooking water.

Take 1 chicken breast - flatten it like a pancake with a rubber mallet from Home Depot, or Rona if you'd prefer.  Remember to cover the chicken between sheets of wax paper - or you'll be scrapping chicken flesh off of - well pretty much everything.  Season the chicken with salt, pepper and thyme and then dust with flour and fry in a sizzling hot pan with olive oil.  When the chicken is done put it on a plate, add another splash of olive oil to the pan and in goes 1 chopped red pepper and a heaping cup of sliced button mushrooms.  Saute until lightly browned and then add 2 cloves of chopped garlic. 

Add a splash of chicken stock and then turn the heat to low.  Mix in 1/4 cup of creme fraiche and a 1/4 cup of grated sharp cheese.  Season with salt and pepper, a sprinkle of thyme and fresh chopped parsley.  Add the pasta, chopped chicken and reserved cooking water to the mix and stir until mixed and heated through.

And there you have it.  One red pepper and a bag of mushrooms on the road to greatness and not sliminess.  Liz 1 - Fridge 0.

Chicken + Almonds + Garlic

= YUCK!

It's apparently a Spanish dish, but I just couldn't do it!  I'll spare you the recipe and leave you with a waning instead -  if you see something masquerading as a recipe and it calls for garlic, almonds, parsley, chicken and a few other things pass on in it and save your almonds for granola, chicken for grilling and garlic & parsley for bread. 

The Edamame thankfully were an A+.