Grilled Summer Vegetable Couscous Salad

 A tasty summery salad!

In my last post, I wrote about a little bit about my eating habits over the course of the day. I've been trying to focus my lunches on vegetables as much as possible, so I've been making a lot of different salad combinations. This is my most recent. It's certainly good as-is, but don't be afraid to shake it up! Substitute orzo, quinoa, or even rice for the couscous, and use whatever veggies and/or dressing you have on hand. Toss in some diced chicken, canned tuna, or beans for a protein kick. It's a great way to eat seasonal veggies and clean out your fridge at the same time.

Grape tomatoes, zucchini, and red bell pepper are the stars here.

Grilled Summer Vegetable Couscous Salad
Serves 2 as a main dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry pearled couscous (I cheated and used a box of Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil couscous)
• Olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
• 2 red bell peppers, cleaned and cut in half
• 8 grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1-2 tablespoons salad dressing (I used homemade balsamic--recipe follows)
• Fresh basil, salt and pepper, and/or other seasonings as desired

Steps

1. Cook couscous as directed on the package. When finished, remove from the burner and cover to keep warm.

2.  Prepare vegetables. Brush a grill pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. When it's hot, place peppers skin side down and the zucchini cut side down on the surface. (You can also use a real grill--brush the veggies with oil in that case--or a Foreman grill for this.)

Start with zucchini cut-side down and peppers skin-side down.

The zucchini will develop grill lines after a few minutes. Turn it over and cook one or two minutes more skin-side down.

Lovely grill lines.

Cook the peppers until they begin to blister and char on the outside. Flip and cook a few minutes more on the other side. I wasn't going for the blackened skin of a roasted pepper here, just a slightly softened pepper with a nice grilled flavor. I still wanted them to have a bit of crunch.

Still a few steps away from roasted peppers.

Set the grilled vegetables aside to cool. Place the tomatoes and spinach in a large mixing bowl.

3.  When the grilled vegetables are cool enough to handle, slice the zucchini into half moons and the peppers into strips. Toss the warm vegetables on top of the spinach and tomatoes in the mixing bowl.

The warm vegetables will wilt the spinach just slightly.

4.  Fluff the warm couscous and pour it over the vegetables in the bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and toss everything together.

Now is the time to add seasonings. I used the packet
that came with the couscous, and didn't feel that it
needed anything more after the dressing was mixed in.

I originally intended this to be a cold salad, like a pasta salad. But of course I had to taste it right away, and it's pretty good served warm too! It's joining my lunch tomorrow with some cherries and Greek yogurt.

And, as promised, here is the "recipe" for my balsamic dressing. I apologize for the lack of specificity--this is something I just sort of throw together every couple of days. It works well with a savory dish like this one, but it's also delicious on a simple salad of spinach and berries.

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette
Enough for 2 or 3 salads

Ingredients (amounts are approximate)

• 1-1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (you may not want this much)
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper 

Steps (just one!)

1. Combine all ingredients in a shake-able container with a lid. Shake well until blended. Taste and adjust as needed. The dressing will keep in the fridge for at least a week (at which point I'm usually all out and need to make more).

A tip on salad dressings: If you can't figure out what it's missing, think through the five tastes. With this recipe you have bitterness (vinegar and mustard), sourness (lemon and vinegar), sweetness (honey), saltiness (salt), and umami (olive oil). If I think about that while I'm taste-testing, I can usually figure out what I need to add to balance the flavor. Works for other dishes too! Read more about the five tastes here.

Noodles with Swiss Chard and Peanut Sauce

Well, it's been a while. A very eventful while.

In the past month since I last posted, I witnessed Paul's graduation and celebrated Mother's Day. I've seen a roommate evicted and discovered that the kitchen sink was clogged. I've finished the first draft of my project for Cincinnati Children's. I've done a six-mile run, my longest to date. And though I haven't told you much about it, I have done quite a bit of cooking.

I've had to be creative the past couple of days because the kitchen sinks are still clogged, which means I can't make too much of a mess. It's difficult to clean up without a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, or even just a place to wash your hands. So, I've armed myself with paper plates and plastic utensils for the duration, and gotten friendlier with the microwave and toaster oven. More on that later.

For now, it's back to happier times. To cat times. To these cats:

Lila & Squish.

These cats belong to my friends Doug and Stacy, who went off to Boise last week and needed a house/cat sitter. Which means that I got to spend almost a full week with these little (adorable) balls of fur. The cats really aren't important to this story. I just like them and the picture.

Anyway, the point is that taking a mini-vacation from my house was pretty nice. I'm a creature of habit, but sometimes I need to shake things up.

A food related example: spinach. I have been buying pre-washed, organic baby spinach in plastic tubs for months now. Every week it went in the cart at the store. Every week it ended up on my sandwiches, sauteed with my eggs, wilted in my pasta...and finally I just couldn't take it any more.

Enter the new leafy green on the block: Swiss chard. Similar health benefits, but prettier. And cheaper, too. I got a bunch (organic) for about $1.50.

My roommates' reaction: "What is that giant vegetable?"

Now I've seen chard popping up in recipes for a while now, and had a vague idea of what it was, but it took my spinach ennui to help me take the leap. And I have to tell you, this stuff is pretty tasty. To me, the greens taste like thicker spinach, but in a way that is different enough to keep me interested. It's a little crisper, maybe. The stems taste sort of like beets. Which is odd, because I don't really like beets, but I like these stems. So in short, Swiss chard tastes like things I don't feel like eating, but in a way that makes me feel like eating chard. (My relationship status with Swiss chard: It's complicated.)

Anyway, here's how you prepare it:

1.  Fill a large bowl or a clean sink with water. Add your chard and swish it around to clean the leaves. If there is any grit, it will sink to the bottom.

2.  Using paper towels or a salad spinner, dry the chard. (I suppose you could also do this after you cut it--might be easier that way!)

3.  Lay a leaf on the cutting board. Cut off the end of the stem and discard it. Run the tip of a sharp knife along both sides of the stem to separate the greens.

Easier than it sounds, I promise.

4.  You can leave the stems whole or cut them up (assuming you want to eat them--some people throw them away). I chopped mine up like celery.

Chard comes with different colored stems. Mine was just red, but
I've also seen yellow and white in the supermarket. Sometimes stores
bunch several varieties together and call it "rainbow chard."

5.  Bunch or roll up the greens and slice them. I don't think it's the conventional way of doing things, but I like to roll them up from a short end and then slice so that I end up with long ribbons of chard. They mix well with pasta that way!

Pretty and healthy.

6.  Store your chard greens in a paper towel-lined bag or plastic container. I washed out one of those spinach tubs and used that. Store the stems separately.

You'll probably end up with more than you thought.

After you chop it all up and see how much space it takes, you'll probably be wondering what you are going to do with all this chard. Well, you can eat it raw, saute it, steam it, boil it, stir fry it...you name it. But for some more specific options, The Kitchn's Open-Faced Ravioli is a great choice. Or, if you've cut it into nice long ribbons, a noodle dish might be appropriate.


Noodles with Swiss Chard and Peanut Sauce
Serves 1

Ingredients

2 oz long pasta, such as linguine or fettuccine
1 1/2 cups Swiss chard greens, cleaned and cut into ribbons
1/4 cup of Swiss chard stems, cleaned and sliced
1/2 cup snap peas
1/4 cup carrot, sliced into disks (half a medium carrot, or a handful of baby ones)
1 clove garlic
1-2 tsp cooking oil
Soy sauce
Sriracha hot sauce
2-3 tbsp prepared peanut sauce (homemade or store-bought--I don't have a good recipe yet!)

Steps

1.  Boil a pot of salted water (or add soy sauce to the water) and add the pasta. Cook it for the minimum time indicated on the package. When there is about 4-5 minutes left of cooking time, add the carrots. When there is about 2 minutes left, add the peas. Drain.

2.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Add the chard stems and saute for about 5 minutes. Add the chard greens, garlic, and soy sauce and sriracha to taste. Saute for another minute or two, until the greens are just wilted. Turn the heat to low. (You could just as easily boil the chard with the noodles too--I just happen to like the sauteed texture better--or saute all your veggies. It's up to you!)

3.  Add the drained noodles and vegetables to the frying pan. Pour the peanut sauce on top. Toss everything together (tongs work well for this) and cook for another minute. Serve with extra condiments, if desired.

Noodles, veggies, and sauce. Does it get any better?

The great thing about this recipe is that it's adaptable and a great way to clean out the fridge. With so many veggies, you don't need a huge serving of pasta. And once you get a feel for how long different kinds of vegetables need to cook, it's easy to switch things up. You could also add chicken, beef, tofu, or some other kind of protein to this dish, or use a different kind of sauce.

So, have you tried Swiss chard? What do you do with your leafy greens?

You win some, you destroy some.

I don't know how it happened in my culinary life that the first time I tried stuffing filling into sheets of dough it wasn't for an Italian dish. I am half-Italian, so ravioli or tortellini would have made sense.

But instead my first attempt was potstickers, something decidedly Asian. Although if Marco Polo really did bring pasta back to Italy from China...maybe it does make sense.

Anyway, the back story: I "discovered" potstickers about a year ago, and made a habit of buying them whenever I saw them in the freezer section. This was during my undergrad days, and my grocery store then always had them. The Kroger where I shop these days, however, does not, so for a while I lived with no potstickers.

And then, I discovered Trader Joe's, a magical store that carries not one, but FOUR different types of potstickers (or gyoza, as they are labelled there). So for a while I bought the pork or chicken potstickers and was contented. And then, Lent happened. No more pork, no more chicken. My choices were narrowed to Shrimp or Thai Vegetable, so I got the vegetable ones.

Trader Joe, I was disappointed. The Thai vegetables were mushy, the wrappers were pre-browned for some odd reason, and I still don't know what makes them "Thai." I gave them a chance, but ultimately this is not a solution.

Which brings us to Wednesday's interesting adventure. I typically don't go "off book" on foods I've never made before, but this was an exception. I'm not going to say these potstickers are authentic or correct or anything like that. I mean, I had to use wonton wrappers (more on that later). These are borne of the mind of a finals week graduate student. Take them for what you will.

Vegetable Potstickers

Ingredients

1 small package of coleslaw mix (shredded broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and cabbage)
8 white mushrooms, cleaned
1 tbsp minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes
1 egg, beaten
1 package (40-count) wonton wrappers (get potsticker/gyoza wrappers if you can)
Water

Steps

1.  Chop coleslaw mix roughly in batches. Chop mushrooms into small dice.

Just a rough chop on the coleslaw, so you don't end up
with huge pieces!

2.  Heat vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add coleslaw, mushrooms, garlic, and seasonings. Stir to coat with oil. Cover the pan for 1-2 minutes so that the vegetables steam, and then saute for another 1-2 minutes.

Cook the veggies until crisp-tender

3.  Remove pan from heat and place the vegetable mixture in a strainer over a bowl. Allow it to strain and cool for about half an hour.

Strain the extra liquid out of the filling.

4.  Taste the vegetables and add additional seasonings if needed. Press out as much liquid as possible. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl and add the vegetables, mixing thoroughly.

5.  Prepare your assembly area. Have a bowl of water (for sealing), a damp paper towel (to cover unused wrappers), a plate, a spoon or fork, and a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper ready to go.

Not pictured: a cup of water for wetting the skins.

6.  Take each wonton wrapper and lay it on the plate. Use your fingers to spread water along the edges of the wrapper. Use the spoon or fork to place ONE teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the edges and pinch them together (pictures below).

Wet the edges of the wrapper and place a spoonful of filling
in the center.

The easiest way to do it with the wonton wrappers is to just make a triangle-shaped potsticker:

Fold corner to corner...

...seal one edge...

Press out as much air as you can while sealing the other side.

 Or, try the pyramid shape:

Fold the top corners together just like for the triangle shape.
Then, fold the side corners in one by one.

You should end up with something that looks like this!

I even tried crimping a few like "real" potstickers. They came out pretty ugly, so I only did a couple!

Not my best work.

7.  Place finished potstickers on the baking sheet. When it is full, place the sheet in the freezer (you will probably need to have two sheets available). Continue forming the potstickers until the wrappers or filling runs out.

On the plus side, these potstickers are one of the most
photogenic foods I've ever blogged about!

Cooking station. Yes, I ate all of those. It was a long

cooking session.

8.  To cook the potstickers, heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan with a lid over medium heat. Place the dumplings in the hot oil and cook for about two minutes (until the bottoms brown). Reduce the heat, add about a quarter of a cup of water, and cover. Steam until done. (And remove promptly!) The first batch I steamed for over two minutes, which was wayyyyy too long and resulted in a bowl of destroyed dumplings:

If this happens... just slosh some soy sauce on top
and call it good. That's what I did.

The  second time, I steamed them for only ONE minute, and most of them came out with no trouble. Some even had crispy bottoms still! Even so, wonton wrappers are not the same as potsticker wrappers. They are thinner and thus cook faster (which is nice), but they don't crisp up the same way that potstickers do (and they seem to lose the crisp pretty quickly). I'm not saying it's good or bad; it just is.

One of the few that came out perfectly steamed
AND nicely browned on the bottom.

Alternatively, place dumplings in a microwave-safe bowl with a tablespoon or two of water. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave 30 seconds to a minute. While not quite as tasty, this method at least kept them all in one piece!

The microwave was kind to this little guy.

So, while I didn't succeed at producing perfect potstickers with wonton wrappers (I don't think that's possible), they're still better than the Thai vegetable things that are still sitting in my freezer. Why?

Fresh, tasty, and non-mushy veggies!

The filling is the real winner here. The seasoning may not be authentic, but the vegetables are just the right texture--soft, with just a little bit of bite left to them. I'm looking forward to trying this recipe again sometime with a different mixture of veggies and seasonings...right after I finish all the ones left in my freezer!

Things You Can Do with Chickpeas

A chickpea in a pasta pod.

So I did a bit of improvising last week. There was a recipe in Solo Suppers I wanted to try that involved chickpeas in pasta. I'm still not sure how I feel about beans in pasta (aside from soups like pasta e fagiole or minestrone) but I (sort of) had the ingredients and decided to give it a try.

The original recipe is called "Orecchiette with Broccoli and Chickpeas." Well, I didn't have any orecchiette or broccoli, so I made this with small shells and spinach. It's a pretty versatile recipe; you could add pretty much any vegetable to this, change up the beans, or leave them out altogether. However, if you are using beans, specifically chickpeas, I would recommend some type of bowl-shaped pasta. Why? Because the chickpeas nestle themselves right inside, as you can see in the photo.

Here is my modified recipe:

Pasta with Veggies and Chickpeas

Ingredients

Bowl-shaped pasta
Salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
1/4 cup cooked chickpeas (adjust amount based on your preferences)
1 cup spinach

Steps

1.  Boil a pot of water. Add the salt and one serving of pasta.

2.  Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper, and chickpeas and cook for two minutes.

Saute the chickpeas with the seasonings.

3.  Add the spinach and cook until just wilted.

Be careful not to over-wilt!

4.  When the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the saute pan. Stir it all together, transfer to a serving bowl, and top with Parmesan cheese.

Ta-dah!

The beans add an interesting texture to the dish, a softness alongside the pasta's "bite." I think a crunchy veggie like broccoli or fresh green beans would probably be a better match, but the spinach is still delicious.

The pasta was good, but it left me with a lot of unused chickpeas. I know what you're thinking: make hummus. Well, I might have but I already had two containers of my favorites in the fridge (Atheno's Roasted Red Pepper and Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic). So instead, I came up with the idea for what I am calling a Mediterranean Pita.

Mediterranean Pita

Ingredients

Chickpeas
Marinade
3/4 cup fresh spinach
2 tbsp Kalamata olive pieces
1 oz cheese (I used chevre because that's what I had--obviously feta would be a welcome alternative)
1 pita

Steps

1.  Marinade your chickpeas. I used some olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic. Create your own, or use a salad dressing. I let them sit overnight in the fridge.

Marinating chickpeas.

2.  Combine chickpeas and their marinade with spinach, olives, and cheese in a bowl mix well.

At this point, you could stop and just have yourself a nice salad.
But let's keep going!

3.  Cut a pita in half and heat it in the oven or toaster oven. (When you cut it before heating, it will start to open up on its own which makes it much easier to stuff!)

Pita-heating.

4.  When your pita is toasty, stuff it with the spinach mixture. Enjoy it while it's warm!

I had enough filling left over to have a salad on the side, too.

So, there you have it. A couple of new and interesting things to do with chickpeas!