Reflection 9

Couscous. A food memory.

The first time I had couscous was my sixteen birthday. My grandparent took my family to the Checkerberry Inn, in Goshen Indiana. It was a gorgeous european style country inn on 100-acre wooded private estate amidst Amish farmland. I remember we played croquet with my grandparents, on the lawn out in front of the inn on that golden August evening. But truely one of the most memorable thing about this evening was a food item we were served. No one at the table had ever encountered it before and there was to ensue much discussion as to what it actually was. Was it a pasta? Was it a grain? Well what ever it was it was good and served tossed with sauteed wild mushrooms. It was couscous.
My family soon sought to make couscous a regular part of our diet in the Vila house hold. To the extent that my brother came to dread it . My mother would roll her eyes when it showed up again and again at the dinner table. But neither my father or I (the cook and the shopper) ever tired of the miraculous couscous.
Now I stated the location of my first couscous experience and should state the year (1996) this predates the appearance of the Near East brand couscous in the Midwest. If you were living in Indiana in 1996 and had never lived anywhere else the likelihood that you would have experienced the wonders of couscous was practically nil. And the distance you had to go to procure it - from where we lived would have at least been the next town over.
Today couscous is popular. It is carried in grocery stores from coast to coast. But I still remember the first time I ever saw it and the novelty of it has never worn off. It is a grain. And incredibly versatile as to the innumerable ways you can dress it up, which is why today I am still eating lots of couscous. It can accompany an amazing variety of cuisines from Middle Eastern curries to Mediterranean vegetables. You will find it a perfect side for Kenya styled braised chicken or tossed with feta and mushrooms. The list goes on and on but the couscous remains!

Plus it cooks in less then 10 minutes!

Here is out household favorite couscous dish:

Mediterranean Couscous Toss (Serves 2)

1 box of Near East Couscous (garlic and oil version)
Cook as package directs - I throw mine in the rice cooker
for ten minutes and it comes out perfect every time!
toss cooked couscous with the following:
measure to your liking . . . .
sun dried tomatoes
feta cheese
crimini mushrooms
fresh basil
shallots
jalapeno pepper
fresh baby spinach
diced pan seared chicken or pork.

Mix it up - use whatever you have what ever you like.

The strongest flavors will be the basil and feta. The sun dried tomatoes will give it a smokey bright flavor and the peppers will give it a kick! spinach and the meat just fill it out to make more of a meal out of it. They can easily be left out and this dish can become vegetarian or a simpler side dish to serve on the side.

Reflection 8

The ubiquitous Mac and Cheese, a perfect cold weather comfort food. Now before you say: I would never eat That! Just imagine the calories!!! I ask you this; if I had a mac and cheese recipe that had half the calories and twice the flavor AND no low fat, skim milk, skinny on the anything in it- would you try it? Hmm. You don't have to answer out loud. Just think about it. Now I have always had very high standards for macaroni and cheese, and that is my grandmother fault. A a child I was most disappointed by the many glutenous dished that were passed off as mac and cheese. I saw powder packages that with a magicical stick of butter could turn into neon orange sauce. I saw the Velveta tube cheese that would take the form of any container you saved it in. And last but not least there was the dreaded cafeteria white sauce mac and cheese (that looked like glue and tasted worse) But I had been spoiled as a child. Fed by my grandmother, mac and cheese that actually had cheese in it. Not butter, not velveta and definitely not glue. And she also put jalapeno peppers and a dash of paprika in her mac and cheese. Then she baked until the noodles turned chewy on the top and edges and that was my favorite part. That WAS mac and cheese. And as an adult what I find so amazing about my grandmother's mac and cheese is that it has half the sodium and calories of most traditional mac and cheese recipes. It has about half the amount of cheese, no butter and hardly any milk. The trick is to use extra sharp cheddar. For me mac and cheese is all about flavor and texture. It should have a sharp kick from the cheddar and peppers and a warm smokiness from the paprika and an almost dry and chewy texture.

Here is what goes into my
macaroni and cheese:

Fills an 9x6 baking dish. (2-4 servings)

8 oz. Fusilli (100% Durum Semolina)
.25 lb Cheddar Extra-Sharp
1 Jalapeno pepper
1 Tsp. Paprika
1/4 cup Milk
3 Tbsp. Bread Crumbs

That's it.

How To:
Shred cheese. Dice pepper.Boil water. Add pasta, cook till al dente. Drain the pasta and set aside. melt cheese and add milk and paprika to melting cheese. Once the cheese becomes melted toss pasta and dices peppers into pot. Stir until mixed well. Pour into baking dish. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Bake at 425 for 30 to 60 mins - depending how chewy/crunchy you want it.

200 calories per serving