Another recipe from Fitness Food tonight — seems like every recipe we’ve made from this book is a winner. This time, chicken drumsticks are slowly simmered in a tomato and chicken broth-based sauce and served over couscous with chickpeas, green onions, and cilantro. It was a nice departure from the ever-present chicken breasts we usually cook with.

Lisa says:

Yay, we get to be cavemen!

Chris says:

What do you mean?

Lisa says:

The chicken is on the bone.

Chris says:

Ahhh… I get ya. Did you ever go for the giant turkey drumsticks at state fairs?

Lisa says:

Uh, no. The last thing I’d want to do is stand around in public ripping meat off a bone with my teeth.

Chris says:

But this…

Lisa says:

…THIS is different. This is delicious, and I can use a fork. And I can’t get enough of the sauce. Such a good flavor!

Chris says:

Agreed — and the recipe made a TON of couscous. Those four servings are mighty generous.

Lisa says:

I really like the couscous. It would go well with a lot of dishes, especially those that have a bunch of sauce to soak up.

Moroccan Chicken and Couscous
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1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili flakes
8 skinless chicken drumsticks
3 tsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ginger, grated
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock

1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 green onions
10 oz couscous
14 oz can chickpeas
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

In a small frying pan over medium heat, place the cumin, coriander, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, and chili flakes and dry roast for about a minute until fragrant. Grind using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.
Sprinkle the chicken drumsticks with the spice blend, rubbing in well. In a large, deep, frying pan, heat 2 tsp of the oil. Add the chicken and cook for 8 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Remove and set aside.
In the same pan, add the remaining oil and over medium heat cook the onion, garlic, and ginger for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add the tomatoes, chicken stock, and the chicken to the pan, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 45 minutes until the chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender and the sauce is reduced. Season to taste.
Meanwhile, to prepare the couscous, boil the chicken broth and garlic in a small saucepan. Put the couscous in a glass bowl, cover with the boiling chicken broth, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let sit for 15 minutes. Chop the green onions, and rinse and drain the chickpeas. Stir the couscous with a fork, and add the green onions, chickpeas, and cilantro.
Serve on a platter topped with the chicken and sauce.

4 Servings

Tonight Lisa made a stew and couscous combo adapted from a recipe found on the Food Network website. Acorn squash, spinach, garbanzo beans, onions, tomatoes, and spices over a bed of couscous.

Chris says:

Apparently we [heart] stews!

Lisa says:

What’s not to [heart]? This one is especially delicious.

Chris says:

…and colorful. Also, I love how the couscous soaks up the sauce.

Lisa says:

It rules, though, you know, I think my dad and brother would hate this dish.

Chris says:

Why?

Lisa says:

They don’t like sweet things in savory dishes.

Chris says:

That’s my favorite part about this one, I’m seeking out those little plump bursts of sweetness! Yum! Thanks Food Network!

Spiced Acorn Squash Stew with Couscous
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For the stew:
1 1/4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
6 canned plum tomatoes, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 acorn squash (about 2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned
1-inch strip lemon zest
1/2 cup golden raisins
4 cups chopped spinach (about 5 ounces)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds

For the couscous:
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, low-sodium canned
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup couscous

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, tomatoes, and spices and cook until the cinnamon stick unfurls and the tomatoes are cooked down, about 3 minutes. Add the squash, chickpeas, broth, lemon zest, and raisins and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, until the squash is fork tender, about 25 minutes. Stir in the spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add the lemon juice and season, to taste.

Meanwhile, make the couscous. Bring the broth to a boil with the salt and pepper in a small saucepan. Stir in the couscous, pull the saucepan off the heat, cover, and set aside until the water has been absorbed and the couscous is plump, about 5 minutes.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and mound it in 4 soup bowls. Spoon some butternut squash stew over each portion, top with almonds, and serve.

4 Servings

Tonight I finally got around to making a soup from The Ultimate Soup Bible, a cookbook we got from Lisa’s brother at Christmas. This easy to make tomato soup is made with Israeli couscous (which is much larger and chewier than regular couscous), onions, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, and mint; the soup has a great aroma and wonderfully garlicky flavor. It should appear in the rotation pretty regularly. We loved it.

Lisa says:

I love Israeli couscous… and this soup is so colorful.

Chris says:

It’s delicious. I like the cayenne: it’s subtle — just a slight tingle in the back of the throat.

Lisa says:

Oh *that’s* what that is. I was worried I was coming down with something.

Chris says:

Well, you’ll feel the blues if I take your soup away.

Lisa says:

Yeah, I will — I definitely want to have this again…

Chris says:

You’re in luck, then. The recipe makes so much that we’re having leftovers tomorrow night!

Lisa says:

Wahoo!

Tomato Soup with Israeli Couscous
———————————
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
14 oz can chopped tomatoes
7 garlic cloves, chopped
6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, if you’re veg.)
1 1/3 cups Israeli couscous
3 mint sprigs, chopped
5 cilantro sprigs, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
cayenne pepper, to taste
salt and ground pepper, to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onions and carrots and cook until they are soft, about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 the garlic and the remaining ingredients to the pan. Bring the soup to a boil, add all but 1 tsp of the chopped garlic, then reduce the heat and simmer for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the couscous is tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the rest of the garlic, and ladle into bowls. Serve with warm sourdough bread.

4-6 Servings

A full plate courtesy of the Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites cookbook. Swordfish is baked in a lemony cilantro sauce with onions, carrots, ginger, garlic, and tomatoes. We served it over a couscous with onions and peas, a recipe also from Moosewood.

Chris says:

Lemony!

Lisa says:

And cilantro-y! I love that sauce.

Carrie says:

Wow, I can’t believe I ate this whole thing, but it actually seems pretty light!

Chris says:

It is pretty light — the fish is just baked with lemon juice, herbs, and vegetables… definitely keeps the fish moist.

Swordfish Tagine with Chermoulla
——————————–
1 1/2 pounds swordfish
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
10 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger root
4 teaspoons ground cumin
1 cup fresh lemon juice
1 fresh chile, seeded, minced
2 large tomatoes, chopped
salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Rinse the fish fillets and set them aside. Prepare a glass baking dish with cooking spray or oil very lightly. Arrange the onions and carrots in a layer to cover the bottom of the dish and place the fillets on top. Lightly sprinkle them with salt.

In a blender or food processor, combine the cilantro, garlic, ginger, cumin, lemon juice, chile and half the chopped tomatoes and puree for form a smooth sauce. Add salt to taste. Pour the sauce evenly over the fish and vegetables and top with remaining chopped tomatoes. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the fish flakes easily with a fork (about 140F internal temperature).

Tonight I made another recipe from The Olive and The Caper, and this time it featured both of those ingredients. Swordfish marinated in lemon and olive oil is skewered with onions and bay leaves, grilled, and served with an olive and caper tapenade. I followed the recipe as listed below, except that I used less oil than called for. We had asparagus and broccoli cheese couscous on the side.

Lisa says:

Everything’s salty — this is my dream dinner! I usually don’t like olives, but that tapenade is really good. The marinade on the swordfish is so flavorful!

Chris says:

Wow, this rules. I didn’t think bay leaves were used in anything but stews and sauces for flavoring. You can really taste the flavor of them on the onions. Yeah, the tapenade is pretty salty, and so is the couscous — actually that couscous is pretty vile.

Lisa says:

Yeah, I can’t tell if I like it, or if it tastes like vomit.

Chris says:

There’s a winning endorsement… I’m just glad we also had the asparagus. Let’s definitely make that swordfish again, it was delicious.

Swordfish Kebabs with Olive and Caper Tapenade
———————————————-
1 cup lemon and oil marinade (Recipe Follows)
8 to 10 bay leaves, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 1/2 pound swordfish, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1 large onion, quartered, layers separated
2 cups Olive and Caper Tapenade (Recipe Follows)

Marinade:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
Stir all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

Olive and Caper Tapenade:
3/4 cup pitted Kalamata or other Greek black olives
4 large cloves garlic
4 anchovy fillets, preferably salt-packed
3/4 cup capers, drained
1/2 packed cup fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until chopped as fine as possible.

Place the marinade and the bay leaves in a dish that is large enough to hold all the swordfish chunks in one layer. Add the swordfish and onion and turn to coat it in the marinade. Marinate for 20 to 30 minutes at room temperature, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours. Turn the fish once or twice while it is marinating. When you are ready to cook swordfish, heat a grill to medium-hot. String an onion section, a piece of bay leaf, and then a swordfish chunk in a skewer. Repeat, in that order, until the skewer is filled, ending with a piece of onion. Fill all the skewers in this fashion. If there are extra onion sections left over, thread them on a separate skewer and cook them along with the others. Place the skewers on the grill and cook, turning once, just until white curds form on top of the fish and the centers are still a bit pink, 7 to 8 minutes. Transfer the skewers to a platter and let them sit for the juices to settle, 5 minutes. Arrange the skewers on a platter and serve right away, accompanied by the tapenade.