Vegetable Couscous

What is it Seth Rogen says in Pineapple Express..."couscous, the food's so nice they named it twice," right? Couscous and its complementary spices and ingredients are very commonly found in Indian food aisles of grocery stores, but, fun fact: it actual origins are North Africa. Wherever it comes from, or whatever style of food you decide to cook with couscous, one thing is for sure, it's a welcome deviation from usual rice dishes. Couscous even has a different texture than rice; it's "fluffy" and soft. Additionally, some health-oriented websites posit that couscous dishes are usually lower in calories than rice dishes.

The recipe I used is from The Cook's Library Vegetarian, also known as my own personal Bible. Seriously, this cookbook, given to me by my mother, is the only reason I know my you-know-what from a whole in the ground in the kitchen. Not to say that it's elementary, because there are some extremely challenging recipes in there, and a multitude of ingredients that I had never even heard of before reading about them in this book.

With the exception of not including turmeric or turnips, I stayed very true to the recipe. Usually, I take the time to make my own fresh vegetable bullion, as the book suggests, but, admittedly, I cheated and used a pre-made vegetable broth from the store. This was actually my first experience cooking couscous. The book rates this recipe as "moderately difficult," but I think anyone but a complete novice would be able to handle this. My boyfriend, who at first turned his nose up to the idea of another vegetarian dinner, saw me helping myself to seconds and gave in. He loved it. I used slightly more of each ingredient than the recipe asked for so I had leftovers to take with me to work the next day--a welcomed change from my usual packed lunches of crackers and apples.

The casual cook may not find this recipe to be something you can just make yourself for lunch. The book indicates that it takes twenty minutes to prepare and forty minutes to cook, but keep in mind that even if you decide not to make fresh bullion, you still must finely chop many vegetables (a time-consuming process) and continuously monitor and stir the ingredients in stovetop pans to prevent overcooking or burning. This recipe, which has zucchini, carrots, onion, green beans, and red bell peppers, would be a perfect dinner for two, or, increase the portions and make enough for a family dinner or dinner party with friends. I guarantee you that you'll want to share this zesty little spice-filled meal--vegetable couscous is, in a nutshell, scrumptious.

Asparagus & Basil Spaghetti

Any amateur chef teaching herself is bound to make a few errors, which this blog has certainly spotlighted from time to time. However, I always try to look on the bright side of my errors, even when I can't creatively save my dishes. Today, though, I had a difficult time saving an easy-to-make, hard-to-enjoy veggie meal.

My boyfriend gave me a cookbook, Pasta, and I was eager to try a new recipe out for us on my day off. Most vegetarians learn quickly that the majority of our population has a very narrow view of meatless food, believing it all to be boring salads, which is, of course, one thing I am trying to disprove with this blog. However, Pasta's very limited vegetarian section mostly featured recipes I didn't have the exact ingredients for, so I chose "Spaghetti with Charred Asparagus, Lemon, and Basil." Just by looking at the recipe, I thought it sounded rather bland--obviously written by someone with a limited scope of vegetarian cuisine--and I wondered if I was going to be able to impress my omnivore boyfriend at all with this meat-free, and seemingly tasteless, meal.

More often than one would think, it's actually very feasible to substitute frozen or canned vegetables in recipes that ask for fresh produce. However, I committed a huge lapse in judgment using canned asparagus spears today, and, irritatingly, now that I reflect on today's meal, I knew deep down--even before I started cooking--that it would be a bad idea not to use fresh asparagus. Alas, I was so anxious to try something from this new cookbook without having to visit the grocery store, and the recipe did not specify if the spears needed to be fresh, canned, or frozen. Here is the problem with using canned asparagus. It's already cooked, and it's packed with preserving juices, so it's already tender. So broiling it until it's "charred and tender," as the book instructed, was an impossible task, and the extra virgin olive oil I used in this feat just made the asparagus soggy. You can't "char" canned asparagus--you can just, well, ruin it, which is basically what I did. By the time I stirred it in with the cheese, pasta, and seasoning, it just kind of crumbled soggily to the point where it looked like additional seasoning instead of the fresh, straight, well-cooked spears that would have saved this dish.

To try to repair the blandness of this recipe, I upped the basil, pepper, and garlic, and also added in oregano, Italian seasoning, and just a hint of paprika. I also stirred in sliced mozzarella (in addition to the Parmesan) at the very end, to prevent the cheese from getting overcooked. (Doing an internet search later, I found that many similar asparagus/spaghetti recipes use mozzarella in place of Parmesan.)

The results of this recipe were not completely disastrous, apart from, of course, the lack of visible asparagus, or asparagus that you can actually taste. I added in some cold chunks of fresh tomato to liven it up, which was an excellent decision. Apart from the tomatoes, though, this literally was like eating creamy spaghetti (with some very well-done seasoning, though, I must add). I couldn't taste or see the asparagus, so DO NOT USE ANYTHING BUT FRESH GREEN PRODUCE IF YOU MAKE THIS!! The recipe actually says you can substitute the asparagus with broccoli florets, which I think, with the heavy amount of basil it calls for, would not be a good idea. Asparagus and basil go together much better.

Would I make this again? Well, put it this way: I need to have the memory of that soggy asparagus completely leave my mind first! Hey, every cook makes a faux pas here and there, and, usually, our mistakes are repairable, or at least, cover-up-able! However, this mistake-in-a-can was just beyond saving, although I certainly tried. I actually tried eating this with spaghetti sauce, too, and, astonishingly, doing so made me realize my spaghetti dish actually could get worse! This is truly an example when spaghetti and spaghetti sauce are not a match made in heaven.

The reheat value on this recipe, by the way, is nonexistent. Fresh from the stovetop, it was tolerable; six hours later later and a minute and a half in the microwave, it was definitely not.

This isn't to knock Pasta, though. The cookbook is a great little manual and contains a variety of ways to prepare different grain-based meals, but this dish suffered from two big errors: (1.) The generally bland nature of vegetarian recipes in omnivore cookbooks, and (2.) My use of canned asparagus. However, there are nearly twenty recipes in the vegetarian section of Pasta, and many in the meat-based sections are easily adaptable to a vegan diet (we often use Morning Star Farms's soy ground beef for cooking). I'll just have to remember to make a more comprehensive grocery list next time I visit the produce section--and keep the pantry door closed.