Well today turned out to be, as Bob Ross would put it “A happy accident”. Meaning by that…my original plan was foiled but brought about a better scenario. I could’ve sworn that today was the start of our local farmer’s market, it is three blocks away and totally awesome. Unfortunately, it wasn’t so instead we went to Wholefoods. I was bummed at first, already being a victim of “cookers block”, my term for a food blogger with writers block. I had a TVP (textured vegetable protein) incident on Thursday that had taken the wind out of my sails, I rarely prepare something that I deem inedible and I was slightly crushed that I couldn’t make it work. Anyway, I decided I would make a “confetti” cous cous salad, I had a bunch of Oregon bay shrimp at home and thought it would be great, while collecting my ingredients to be purchased I noticed Wholefoods had a sale on Local, wild, WA, whole sockeye for $5.99 a lb! I couldn’t pass that up so I purchased one and the fish monger even fileted it for free. My husband, never one to neglect the beer selection picked up the NWPA from Fort George, which just happens to be my favorite brewery….I have never had beer I didn’t like from them but I had yet to try the Tender loving empire NWPA, so we grabbed a four pack and headed on our way. I decided I would make a pistachio crusted sockeye with my whole wheat cous cous confetti salad and pair it with the easy drinking NWPA.
Salmon:
• 1 whole sockeye, fileted, I had to remove the pin bones from mine, but I got a helluva deal.
• 2 clove garlic, smashed
• A handful fresh flat leaf parsley
• Half a handful cilantro
• A few springs of basil
• Tsp salt
• Tsp pepper
• Tsp red pepper flake
• Handful of shelled pistachios
• Zest of one lemon
• 1 tbsp. capers
With a mortar and pestle, combine ingredients, mash with a lil’ olive oil until it reaches a pesto type texture. Put your “pesto” mixture on your fish.
Roast at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Serve with some lemon wedges.
Confetti cous cous
• 2 cups whole wheat cous cous, add a tbsp. of olive oil and cover all the dry cous cous with it, it give it a nice fluffy texture (this makes a ton….but can keep in the fridge for a week)
• 2 cups boiling water
• ½ tahini dressing (the recipe is included in my Asian Slaw recipe, check it out, or purchase the premade version at Wholefoods, totally acceptable)
• 1 cup Bay Shrimp, cooked
• ½ red pepper, diced small
• 1 shallot, diced small
• 2 cups baby spinach
• A handful sundried tomatoes
• ½ cup diced olives, your choice, I used a spicy Greek olive blend
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
In a large bowl, add dried cous cous and olive oil, mix around with fingers, when all are covered, add sundried tomatoes and chickpeas, add boiling water, set aside five minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add your other ingredients and combine, serve or refrigerate till ready to serve.
The dish ended up being great with the beer and my faith in humanity has once again been restored….not to mention we have had 6 days of sunshine in a row! Can’t complain….
My Award winning Beef souvlaki recipe, 2008 Utah State fair blue ribbon winner!
My family history includes a lot of souvlaki, one of my first memories is sitting on the prep table at my parents restaurant/lounge in Ogden, UT watching my Mom season huge tubs of cubed pork or turkey. My mom isn’t actually Greek, she married one, so her recipe was perhaps a bit unorthodox for most traditional recipes. My Mom never made souvlaki with beef, she made it with elk, deer, what have you for all our Utah hunter bar patrons who would bring in their recent kill and have my Mom fix it in her special way. When I told my Mom that I was going to enter the 2008 beef cook off with a souvlaki recipe, she thought I was nuts…but in true competitive spirit I did anyway…and you know what? I won…a $300 prize, my largest prize to date.
This recipe is really easy and I noticed today at Costco I found prime yes “PRIME” grade cap sirloin, which whenever they have it is my favorite thing! $7.99 a pound this sirloin is a bargain, keep in mind it usually requires a bit of trimming and they are usually not a consistent size…which is perfect cuz I will be cubing it! So let’s get this party starrted shall we?
2 lbs cubed sirloin
1/4 cup good quality soy sauce
juice of one lemon or lime…I had a lime
a few drizzles olive oil
2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon each sea salt, black pepper, granulated garlic (use two fresh cloves if you prefer)
2 Tablespoons flat leaf parsley
Mix in with the meat and marinate overnight or at least 30 minutes and skewer on bamboo skewers. I broiled mine in the oven for about five minutes, it was perfectly mid rare….you should never eat a prime cut more cooked then that…or don’t bother have a hamburger. HAHA! But seriously this is a very easy and delicious recipe, you can use this marinade on other meat as well, and I served my souvlaki with cous cous (seriously the easiest and tastiest starch out there) and some roasted asparagus since it is peak of asparagus season. If you use good ingredients you don’t need to be too fussy, just be straight forward and use good technique. Yassou!
