On the other hand, throw in cream or butter and the boy sings odes of rapture. What can I do? Cream? Butter? Pasta? Ah, what of it! What’s life without living, what’s food without flavor? So I might as well indulge in rich fun once in a while…

And thus, I decided to make one of his favorite Italian dishes: Shrimp Scampi with only a few adjustments (notably the spice factor, and the whole wheat pasta factor haha). Considering I only marinated/seasoned the shrimp for about 20 minutes prior to cooking as opposed to my usual few hours, I was satisfied with the way it sucked in flavor and spice. Nevertheless, I would recommend seasoning for as long as possible. But that’s just me. But do make this dish! It’s soooooooooo utterly perfect.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled and deveined (I prefer 31-40 count; I don’t like jumbo shrimp that much)
• Olive oil
• 4 large garlic cloves, grated or minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp plain vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, very thinly sliced
• Bell Peppers, diced (I used green and yellow this time)
• Garlic powder or paste
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Red chili powder
• Pasta of choice, cooked and drained (I used whole wheat rotini because that’s what we had at the time)
• Chili flakes (optional)
• Lime (optional)

Prepare your shrimp (if bought frozen, defrost as directed by the packaging) by a simple seasoning of garlic paste/powder, salt, pepper, and red chili powder. Quantity is hard for me to dictate because I rarely notice what I do, but 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 2 tsp garlic paste, 1 ½ tsp chili powder may do the trick. You may choose to squeeze a little lime in as well. Set aside and let the flavors soak in a bit (30 minutes).

Boil your pasta, making sure not to overdo it—keep it al dente, then drain and set aside.

In a large skillet or frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of olive oil on medium and cook the shrimp until they are completely pink but only just so, which should only take about 5-7 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the pan and save for later. In the same pan, add a little more oil and begin to sauté the onions on medium-low heat, until they soften into silky sultry seduction. Sorry, I have a particular fondness for melty onions. Anyhoo, add the grated garlic and continue to sauté until the garlic and onions combine. I added red chili powder at this point (You know by now that we like it hot).

Add the chicken broth and vinegar (some recipes may call for white wine, but as I don’t use alcohol, I’ve found a little vinegar and broth is a fair substitute in this instance), and reduce to a simmer, letting the flavors swim and swirl together, about 5 minutes. Have a taste and decide how much salt/pepper you might like to add now.

While that’s going, in a separate pan fry your diced veggies on medium heat. You want to cook all the raw crunchiness out and obtain a beautiful mild char on the peppers.

Now, add the shrimp into the garlic sauce, and the veggies once fried. Add the butter, stirring it in entirely. Finally, turn the stove off and add the pasta, tossing and turning so the glorious garlic butter sauce coats each and every crevice. Sprinkle the chili flakes around, and a squeeze of lime all around, for the extra special zing!

That’s it folks, a very simple dish for very delicious flavor!

Of late I’ve dabbled in a few sugary endeavors, and will hopefully blog about more of them later. But I’d be remiss not to start with the first triumph of this past holiday season: Pumpkin Ginger Cakelets. I actually had wanted to make something like this for Thanksgiving, but having fallen ill that week, it was enough that I at least made dinner; fancy and arduous desserts would have to wait. But so you know, I originally wanted to remaster the Pumpkin Ginger Roulade (or rather, the Disaster Roulade). As the weeks dwindled by, I began to realize a roulade just didn’t hang in the balance for me. While it would be delightful for a fall celebration with friends, I couldn’t possibly make a whole pumpkin cake for just the husband and me (pumpkin not his ideal flavor, whereas I would likely eat the entire thing). And I personally don’t enjoy taking partly eaten pastries to work (i.e. half eaten cakes) so better to bake something that comes in multiple servings—like little cookie sandwiches!

And thus it was fixed upon me to make a cookie sandwich…

I prefer softer cookies in such a circumstance to crispier or crunchier ones, and all the recipes I studied seemed to offer pumpkin cookies that held the texture of cake, so I prefer to call these cakelets than cookies. Anyhoo, may they bring as much happiness to your cold and frosty winter days as they did to me, my husband, my sister in law, my friends at work and pretty much anyone else I could offer them too in hopes that I wouldn’t indulge… too much.

Ingredients

For the cakelets:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon *
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg *
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup of pumpkin puree

*You may also substitute with pumpkin pie spice if you have that on hand.

For the Filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp heavy cream
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup crystallized ginger (candied ginger, with sugar crystal coating), chopped finely/minced

As always, first step is to preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment or lightly greased foil.

Have ready two bowls, one for wet and one for dry ingredients. In the first bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix and set aside.

In your second bowl (or in an exquisite Kitchen Aid stand mixer) beat the granulated sugar, brown sugar and softened butter until combined and blended, like a velvety mist of early morning sun (y’know, pale yellow and all…). Add the egg, vanilla extract, pumpkin and beat until smooth.

Grab a spatula (or spoon) and ever so gently gradually mix in the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Resist any urges to sample your batter from the spoon… or just go ahead. I won’t judge.

Now I used a simple ice cream scooper, but however you see fit to get equal sized portions of dough on the cookie sheet, just use that method. Place evenly spaced rounded scoops of dough on your baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes. The edges should be browned ever so slightly and the cookies sooooooooooft and fluffy. Remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

In the meantime, make your filling. Combine the cream cheese, vanilla extract, cream and 1 cup of the sugar. Blend on low speed until completely mixed. Gradually add the rest of the sugar and the crystallized ginger and blend until smooth. I use a bit less sugar than some because I like the slight tartness of the cream cheese against the sweetness (plus the ginger is sweetened too), but you add more as you feel.  A note about crystallized ginger: it’s a bit dense and chewy, so I recommend chopping it up into small pieces and then blending it for a few seconds to get it more finely minced. Don’t blend it too long, else you’ll just end up with powdered ginger.  Another note: If you can’t find it, you can just use a small dash of powdered ginger, but account to add a bit more sugar if necessary.

Fold over the sides of a piping bag or a ziplock bag and dollop the filling into the bottom (or one of the corners if using a ziplock bag. When ready to pipe on the filling, just snip the corner and squeeze away.

Once the cookies have cooled, pair them up so like-sized matches exist, and flip one over and begin to pipe the filling on the flat side. Top off with the matched cookie and voila! Pumpkin Ginger Cakelet is born!

These “cookies” are so deliciously soft and moist, it will definitely be hard to resist having more than one. In such a case, you might as well use some of the batter to make a cupcake or two or three… instant classic there as well.

Tell me what you think!

You must understand that this is a man who claims to be vegetarian at heart but only eats maybe five veggies at all with any gusto.  A man who cringes whenever I mention the S-word at a restaurant.  This same man sat there munching, happily proclaiming for all to hear (and by all, I mean me) that this was his favorite salad ever.  He not merely endured it, but relished the crisp sweet pleasure that I had concocted with fruitful flare!  Oh perhaps I exaggerate slightly but his proclamation was completely true.

I originally made this salad for Thanksgiving dinner, whereby all my friendly guests fell enamored with the simply powerful dressing that brought an exhilaration that greenery had never held in their lives.  Hyperbole?  I concede it.  But then I’ve also never seen my friend Tehniat drool over salad either, so you be the judge.  During that evening, the husband was prompted to give a name to this salad, and so that is what I present to thee: the Crisp Cranberry Orange Marriage.

Ingredients

• 1 head of Romaine lettuce, sliced thinly
• 1 cup pre-sliced red cabbage
• 1 cup sliced carrots
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• 1 fuji apple, chopped
• 1 granny smith apple, chopped

For dressing:

• 1 orange, zested and juiced
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• Dash of salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp rice vinegar

I love presentation—I live by the charter that we feast with our eyes first, and almost just as equally as with our mouths.  This particular salad ensemble is such a colorful rainbow of delight, it literally dances its way into your tummy through mere vision.  Of course, as with all else, you can use whatever you like—any berries, nuts, fruits, or veggies (I’ve on occasion used chopped cucumber, sunflower seed/cranberry trail mix, and crushed walnuts for example) but this particular arrangement is a gem, and I wish I could always eat this.

Anyhoo, firstly rinse and chop your lettuce—Slicing the romaine into thin strips blends it in with the slices carrots and cabbage, and allows the other additions to hide in every nook and cranny evenly.  I’ve taken to enjoying my homemade salads prepared this way.

In a serving bowl, arrange the lettuce on bottom, then spread the red cabbage next and finally the carrots.  Set aside.

Chop the apples, and mix them in a bowl with the almonds and cranberries.

Zest an entire beautifully aromatic navel orange, and then juice it completely.  Combine the zest and juice with the juice of half a lemon and the other dressing ingredients, and whisk rapidly until thoroughly combined.  Take a quick taste; depending on how sweet your orange is you might want more or less honey.

Take the fruit mixture and add it to the center of the salad mix (I say center because at this point you’ll have created the image of colorful rings, with green of the lettuce on the outside, then purple cabbage and bright orange center of carrots.  If you’re serving guests at a dinner, I would save adding the dressing and mixing it until actually served, so they may marvel at the beauty.  I know I know, but I get like this sometimes. So if the fruit is added to the very center, it won’t completely cover the rainbow of rings).

Finally, just pour the dressing atop, mixing and tossing and turning.  Even after mixed, it’s a beautiful salad, and the fresh orange taste rivals any of the most gourmet dressings you might ever find.  Truly seduces every sense: bright colors, fruitful scents, blissful taste, crispy crunch of fruit and greens, and you might likely won’t resist dragging a finger along your plate to dredge of the last remnants of the sweet citrus dressing.

Enjoy!

I certainly am not knocking the grand tradition that is our Thanksgiving Rituals (distrustful as I am about the origins of such appreciative holidays). I could eat sage-onion stuffing (recipe courtesy of my friend Z) for eons, and never let us forget the accolades I bestow on the greatest gourd of all, the pumpkin! And let it be known, I did confront and beat into submission a Thanksgiving dinner fit for 6 hungry palates (Alya cooked a turkey ALL-BY-HER-SELF… her FIRST-TURKEY-EVER, mind you! Nerves were scattered like spilt salt by the end of it all). But that will have to wait until another post, another time, hopefully in the month of December because I know I have been egregiously lagging with my posts.

And that is another Reason why I share with you my mushroom exploits—I have reverted to them multiple times in the past few weeks, it felt wrong not to share. It all began with a country called Ethiopia… and the fabulous culinary establishments in DC whose purpose is to bring this great cuisine to my salivating tongue all the curious society.

On our anniversary weekend we made n excursion to an Ethiopian restaurant, and during that experience fell absolutely in love with the divine gift that is Mushroom tibs. Naturally, once I returned home I had to do some research on it, and while I am sorely lacking in the department of traditional Ethiopian spices, I did find a recipe that called for a fair substitution/alteration of flavor, coming remarkably close to the glory of the sautéed delicacy. And so the Mushroom has become a fairly regular guest at our dinner table—which is no problem for me since he’s such a fun guy (Ohhh insert catcalls for lame jokes here).

Ingredients

• 1 ½ – 2 cups white button/crimini mushrooms sliced or chopped in chunks (your preference)
• 1 red onion, sliced
• 1 tomato, diced
• 2 tsp garlic, minced (or paste if you don’t have fresh garlic)
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• ¾ tsp garam masala
• Salt
• 1 Lime
• Optional: 2 jalapeno peppers or 1 green bell pepper, sliced (seeds removed)

I am discovering that, most of the time, the best recipes are so simple both in ingredient list and in production. Not all, but most. Since I got married, I have become much more familiar in the science and nuances of the kitchen realm. You don’t just fry onions, you consider time and temperature for the result you want. You check the consistency of a dough as you mix it, you learn when is the best time to add a spice to a frying concoction, and so on. Going by recipe is useful, important for learning and broadening horizons, and quite necessary for both the novice and the professional, but nothing will be gained if you don’t take the time to listen to your food as it splutters and sizzles, and register what it all means. And so, you learn that a simple recipe on paper expands into atomic complexity on the skillet, depending on how you approach it.

That being said, this is a simple recipe on paper, but the complexity lies in the development of flavors by the end of it.

So, begin with the mushrooms: add 2-3 tbsp (extra light) olive oil to a skillet at medium-high heat, and add the mushrooms. You have to start with the shroomies to get all the water out of them first. Watch as the pan slowly fills with water and steams, and eventually cooks out, leaving browed shrunken mushrooms in its midst. When the water has nearly disappeared, add the garlic and let it melt into the mushrooms. This entire process will take a good 10 minutes or so, so be patient.

Once water is gone, add the onions and fry with the mushrooms on medium heat. Don’t let them burn, so make sure to turn the heat down just a bit, and stir it occasionally. Here add the spices: garam masala and chili powder (I say chili powder because I don’t use cayenne, but a hotter one from Indian grocery stores. Use whatever you got!), and salt. Usually I go easy on the salt, and just add it completely at the end if needed. And usually it is needed because the husband doesn’t think I ever put enough, though for me it’s just fine. Oh the struggle. You may also add the peppers at this point if you have/want them.

When the onions have softened enough to your liking, add the tomatoes and let that cook and reduce down until “oil separates from water completely” and the tomatoes no longer look or taste strongly like them. J I have no other way to describe this process to you. Reduce to a simmer and cover, letting it cook, for about 5 minutes.

Eventually the mushroom dish will have a nice dark gravy (you can add more water if you like it with more sauce—just add a bit more spice to accommodate that addition).  Squeeze lime generously around and add more salt if you like now.

I am personally not a fan of garam masala usually, it has too strong and overbearing a taste—but somehow when absorbed by mushrooms the taste is divine. Perhaps the texture and subtle flavor of the mushroom just complements the strength of the masala, toning it down and enhancing its subtleties. Who knows. Whatever the case, it works so well together I shan’t complain.

This is a perfect dish with either rice or bread. If you want to make it “saucier”, it also works as a lovely gravy (which I did in fact do for Thanksgiving—yum!). Whether you munch on it with authentic injera, or drizzle over fragrant rice, it will delight the tastebuds and have you whispering sweet melodies for the Ethiopian culinary arts.

Of course it really isn’t like that. This hushed snow won’t last very long at all; it barely survives the journey down before mottled grass steams it back to the sky. But it is quite an enchantment to combine the spirits of Halloween with ghostly white. I’m actually not a huge fan of Halloween to be honest. It’s ridiculous the kind of spectacle it has become (and I won’t even bother discussing the vapid and barely-there costumes that are a cultural mainstay of our oh-so-brilliant society) but I do respect the history behind it, the whispers of people past that are remembered, and… well, a fun and haunting corn maze or two. Plus, it’s aaaaalllll about pumpkin for me. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin!!

But today is not about this most glorious orange fruit, but its cousin… the butternut squash.

I hardly venture to new fruits and veggies when I know the husband doesn’t take a particular liking to it—and butternut squash has never met kindly with his palate. However, I was simply craving soup! You see what kind of wintry gusts of winsome weather are rolling in now, how can one resist a decadent sumptuous and savory soup on a cold October evening??

Besides, I took it down a familiar route for the husband, making a beautiful curried medley of flavor. As far as my quick research revealed, the two primary directions with this kind of soup are the traditional pumpkin spice route (thus rendering it almost dessert-like in my opinion, oh I love pumpkin pie!) or a curry flavor. I had made coconut curry with butternut squash once, so I can see how those flavors do combine well. And with a soup, the entire thing is blended into a smooth creamy consistency, thus removing any discomfort one may have with this texture of the squash. Plus, I added my own touch because leaving it a simple creamy soup wasn’t enough—so what matches better than curried tofu and peppers? For us, nothing else would do. J

So I embarked! I tend not to use chicken broth these days by the way for two reasons: never know when a certain chicken flavor will be too strong for the husband to swallow (literally) and the bouillon cubes I buy, whether chicken or vegetable flavored, have added MSG which seems to bring about headaches in this household. So I simply used water, but for your sake be aware you can use a broth instead. Or make homemade broth even, if you have the time.

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, cubed (I cheated this time, I admit, as I found already diced squash at the store)
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 6 curry leaves
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp lime
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 5 cups of water
• Firm tofu, diced in cubes
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped large
• Curry powder
• Chili flakes

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Fill a baking pan with the cubed squash, sprinkling over with olive oil and salt. Also add in the large garlic cloves (unpeeled). Cover the pan with foil and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, or longer. (I’ve also just placed an entire pod of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil, to roast. Once removed, the full pod is soft, moist, and with such a subtle garlic flavor that I could just eat that alone with some pita bread.)In a large pot, begin gently sauteing the onions while the squash is roasting. You want to render them soft and nearly melted, so a slow flame over the course of the 30 minutes is a perfect combination. About 10 minutes in, add the curry leaves and continue to cook.

After 30 minutes, check your squash—it should be soft entirely through. If you still have a little toughness or resistance, leave it in a little longer, but it shouldn’t take longer than 40 minutes total. Once done, remove from the oven. VERY CAREFULLY remove the garlic first (it will be hot so please be mindful; use a spoon or tongs if needed) and lightly peel and squeeze the softened garlic cloves into the pot with the onions. Next, pour the butternut squash and any liquid that seeped out into the pot as well, making sure not to splash.

Add the curry powder, chili powder, lime, and desired amount of salt and pepper. As always fudge around with the quantities you like. I kept it a little milder because I was adding the tofu as well and wanted to make sure the butternut flavor was not entirely overpowered. Combine well, adding the water (or broth if you desire) and bringing to a slow boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and let cook for a few minutes.

Separately, prepare the additions in the simplest way possible really. Toss the tofu in a little curry powder, salt and pepper. In a frying pan begin frying the green pepper chunks on medium heat. After 5 minutes, add the tofu, and generously add more curry powder and chili flakes as you desire. Make sure to keep the heat between medium and low, the peppers should soften enough but retain a slight crunch, and the tofu should crisp up on all sides. Once done, set aside.

Check the soup: the squash should be mostly degenerated into a fleshy pulp intermingling with the onions and garlic. Now if you have an immersion blender this will be easy for you; if not you’ll have to do as I do and let the pot cool down enough before adding it to your blender. Remove the curry leaves and then blend the soup however you can (I did it in 3 batches so I wouldn’t overfill my blender). Pour back into the pot, check the flavor (adding whatever you think it needs) and warm back up. It’s ready to serve!

You can now either add the tofu and peppers directly into the pot, or as I did, serve a bowl of soup and top it off with some veggies before serving. Your choice! Either way, I hope this warms up your cold rainy evening.

I realize I have been away for far too long than any responsible blogger ought to be if she desires to travel the gastronomical seas with her readership.  So, to make up for the loss of intrepid adventure time let me take you on a journey into the past to uncover the foodly treats that played magnificent melodies on my heart strings. I may even be so daring as to let the photos do (most of) the talking.First Anniversaries deserve something special, and for us food trumps all, so we endeavored to try something up until then not experienced: Ethiopian food, at Das Ethiopian in Washington DC.

Injera – a spongy bread round and thin like a crepe but with a tang, the perfect (and only) utensil with which to eat. Food is served atop the injera (here we have spinach rice, shrimp and chicken tibs, lentils and beans) and extra rolls of injera are served in order to eat communally off the main platter. One of the BEST dining experiences I’ve ever had outside of home.

We had stayed overnight in DC, so the following morning (the morning of our actual anniversary) deserved a bit of pizzazz as well. Being a Sunday, restaurants are overrun with brunches, but we wanted to try something outside of the usual pancakes, omelets and such (to be honest, the husband is not a fan of such cuisine, whereas I could down a huge stack of pumpkin pancakes in 5 seconds if the massive influx of carbs were not a concern). Nevertheless, we did have brunch… Cuban style.

Fried Taro Root, Garlic, Cilantro Galore

Chubby Frites with Lemon Aioli

fried egg atop sweet white potato crisps and sprinkling of cotija cheese

(blurry) Cod Fritters.. the husband's favorite

Corn muffin, churro, empanada with fruit jam filling, and some savory soft bread!

Without a doubt one of the heaviest brunches ever conceived by man, and not an easy adventure. Frankly, you must be a daring fool to risk your health eating this more than once a year. A fried feast of Cuban mastery, with tastes and flavors I never touched before. I would love to incorporate some of these ideas at home, sans the deep frying. Cuba Libre in downtown DC doesn’t skimp on the flavor, or the flair for that matter. Banking on the immersive experience of supposedly sitting in a gorgeous tropical plaza of culture, the restaurant feeds all the senses. Our check even came in a cigar box. Clever.

Last sojourn for now is the Old Ebbitt Grill adjacent to the White House, which we actually went to the following weekend with my sister-in-law and her beau, for brunch preceding a garden tour of the White House (thanks very much to my friend’s little brother for sharing tickets with us!). Now, I had withered hopes of enjoying food here because it was laden with sausages, crabs, and just unappetizing concoctions, but my veggie sandwich turned out to be something special. I’ve never had deep fried eggplant serving as the outer bred to a feast of grilled veggies within. I may have preferred if someone had warned me the eggplant would be subjected to such a fate, but the description left that out. Still, I admit to its tastiness even if my pores were crying to sweat out the grease I was forcing in. Sigh. Half a sandwich will do, thankyouverymuch.

However, we did enjoy a delightful spread of hummus and edibles, and the husband had the best thing you could ever eat: dessert for brunch. Not the best Crème Brulee (our wedding’s version was absolutely divine) because it was a bit too thick and the sugar shell on top was too difficult to shatter, but still, he was pleased. Don’t get the wrong idea though, we had had our tasty oatmeal at home already just in case… and it was a birthday weekend, so exceptions are allowed on such occasions.

There you have it. And now I am back to trying out new recipes, and revamping old ones, so soon we will be back to exploring the wide terrain of food. My mom-in-law even gave me a fun recipe for shrimp that I’m trying out tonight hopefully. More on that in the offing my friends! In the meantime, eat Ethiopian!

So I tried to salvage this by making an asian-inspired curry blend of peppers and… it became passable. But I have since learned that the jam shall remain on the breads, crackers, and the like. Or possibly used for grilling one day. I don’t quite throw in the towel do I?

Thankfully this post is not about that. It was not a pleasure to make, and thus shall be shoved into the recycling bin of recipes. However, I was already in a less-than-chipper mood that day, because neither my sweet and sugary coconut sugar cookies nor a delightful batch of tomato-soup-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting won in a baking competition at work. Granted, I was unaware that half the points garnered came from DECORATING THE STATION. *Deep Breath* Not going to relive that stupidity, because honestly… no big deal. But your mood transfers into everything else you do, be it motivational speaking, darning a sweater, or cooking a meal.

Tonight I was in a much more inspired mood. Mostly I just wanted to overcome the previous cooking debacle and reign supreme once more… in my head. But we have a whole stash of beets in our fridge currently. Random yes, but the husband made this delicious beyond my wildest imagination sabzi (vegetable dish) of beets and carrots, South Indian style, so now I keep them stocked because he must make that for me at least once a week. And thus, seeing the carrots, thinking about the various ways to make the husband actually eat a variety of vegetables, and wanting to create my own dish, I concocted Beet-iful Rice! Or more plainly, Garlic Rice with Beets, Carrots, and Zucchini.

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cup basmati rice
• 1 beet root, peeled and shredded
• 2 carrots, peeled, shredded
• 1 zucchini, peeled and shredded
• ½ onion, sliced
• 4 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• 1 ½ tsp red chili powder
• Salt
• Coriander leaves
• 5-6 whole black peppercorns
• ¾ tsp cumin/coriander spice blend
• ½ lemon

Begin by prepping all the veggies. If you happen to buy a full beet root with the stalks and foliage, you can reserve the leaves to cook just like spinach (or so I’m told). I just had the roots themselves, so a quick (and messy) peel leaves them ready to stain everything in sight.

In a deep frying pan/dutch oven/etc, add a few tbsp of olive oil, lightly fry the onions and 2 tsp of the garlic, and add the rice in to brown. After a few minutes, toss in half of the shredded carrots and zucchini, the turmeric, chili powder, peppercorns, cumin/coriander powder, 1 generous tsp salt, the juice of ½ the lemon, and water (double the quantity of rice; in this case, 3 ½ cups). Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium, cooking until the rice is done (and water all gone!). I’ll be honest, rice is my nemesis, so this is always difficult for me to achieve… somehow I managed it well today.

Separately, heat 1 tbsp of oil on medium-low, and lightly fry the beets and remaining carrot and zucchini. Add the rest of the garlic (or more if you like) and salt to taste and toss until everything has wilted, roughly 8-10 minutes. Add a handful or coriander leaves and fry in with the veggies.

When the rice is cooked, top off with the beet mixture and lightly mix. Taste the salt level, and add more as you like. The dish is not only tasty and light in flavor, but beautiful too, with its myriad of purples and oranges. A final garnish of more coriander leaves is the cherry on top for this recipe.

Glorious to behold, and perfectly matched with just yogurt, or as we did it tonight, an aloo bhaji styled dish (potatoes and assorted veggies).

Since then, he spoke often about us creating our own dish inspired by that; so often that mere week or so later, I decided to make it with him during this recent battle with the CH beast. But obviously it needed a companion—this stalwart dish could not trudge into the dark recesses of our bellies without a legion to conquer that grumbling realm. Furthermore, to me it just felt like a side, a lovely accompaniment to something greater, the Sancho Panza to some elusive Don Quixote of foodstuff. But… I didn’t really have the time nor the groceries for something greater, but I did have a hearty supply of black beans at my disposal. And so the great Two-Sided Tale of our dinner was born.

Our story is headed by the great desire of the husband, a spicy, tangy and cool couscous laden with ethereal flavors. But it is closely tailed by bright, raucous beans that nearly pop with mariachi tunes and zip through your senses like Speedy Gonzalez. Combined, one reaches a sublime medium. *insert sigh of pleasure here*

Ingredients

Couscous:

• 1 box original couscous (plain)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (maybe a bit more)
• 1 jalapeno, finely chopped
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 green onion, chopped
• 3 tsp minced garlic
• Lime
• Salt
• Handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
• Red pepper

Beans:

• 1 can black beans, drained and washed thoroughly
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• Cumin seeds
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp red pepper

I wouldn’t really call this cooking, I call this Eeeeeeaaasy! (fyi: must be sung in a high operatic voice). As far as couscous is concerned, basically cook it as directed (again, cook? Really? “Add dry couscous to boiling water, remove from heat, cover, voila?” Not cooking in my haphazard melee of a kitchen). After it’s ready, let it cool down a bit, and just add all the other ingredients. I squeezed pretty much an entire lime and then some, but you make it as tangy as you like. Same goes for the salt and red chili pepper. 1 tsp is a good start, and then add as you see fit.

Best bet is to let it sit in the fridge to let the various flavors merrily marry. This is especially awesome once paired with the hot sizzly inky legume we got going on the other side of the spectrum.

As for the beans, again simple is as simple does. In a pot, add a few tbsp of olive oil and sauté the onions and peppers until wilted and aromatic. Add the garlic and cumin seeds, let them roast up a bit, and then stir in the beans. Reduce heat to low and let the beans cook in the veggies to absorb some awesome flavor, and then add the salt and red pepper to your liking. I honestly… just… what can I say? That’s it. If you can’t achieve bliss through this, then I pity then ill-fated sensibilities of your unfathomably challenged cooking skills. Seriously, it only takes a few minutes and once you’re done you have to fabulous sides that offer both cool piquant vibes and zippy fresh zest. I am drawn to the adjectives today, I feel.Anyway, match these suckers up and you will be singing… hopefully not mariachi tunes though. You’ll need the whole band for that.