Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew

We love soups and stews here, at Casa de Marji and Kevin. I haven't been cooking all that much lately, because Kevin has beenn working constantly, and it's difficult to cook and clean, when he isn't home for dinner. Yesterday, he has the afternoon off, so I decided to make something warm and toasty for us. This winter veggie stew is quite delicious. It involves a lot of chopping, but miraculously, it doesn't take all that long to prepare. We are not big fans of turnips here, so I just added more carrots, a green squash, and butternut squash to the mix. I'm sure that changed the flavor a little, but it was definitely to our liking! I was also able to use 2 ingredients that I rarely have a chance to break out. First of all, I used caraway seeds, which involved a mortar and pestle. I love being able to make use of my fun toys. Second, the recipe called for Harrissa, which I used in a lentil dal recipe a few months ago. It's a spicy, tangy, Moroccan condiment, that adds an excellent flavor to soups and stews. Anyway, this dish ended up being a really tasty, mellow blend of sweet (from the squash and honey), and a tangy, underlying spiciness from the harrissa. The cumin, caraway, and coriander made a really delicious, but subtle blend. We loved it - especially with the addition of whole wheat couscous. I will definitely be making this again. Hey, who knows? Maybe next time I'll go crazy and try the turnips... But probably not...

Maya wanted to use my "toy," so I gave her some allspice and coriander to crush. All night, she kept saying, "CRUSH! CRUSH!"

Toasted and crushed caraway seeds.


All aboard. One pot. Lots of veggies. Mmmmmm.

The finished product.


Bottom Line: Try this. It's the ultimate comfort food...
Kevin says: 4 OR 5 Bowls... So, 4.5!

Chickpea and Winter Vegetable Stew

Harissa is a fiery spice paste used in Moroccan cooking. Look for it at Middle Eastern markets. I got it at our local Co-op, in NH, but I think they probably sell it at Whole Foods. It's definitely worth buying!

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup squash mixture, 1/2 cup couscous, and 1 lemon wedge)


2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup (1/2-inch) slices leek (I found frozen, sliced leeks at Trader Joe's! Awesome find!)
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds, crushed
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3 2/3 cups veggie stock (I used Penzey's Veg Soup Base)
2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
1 cup (1/2-inch) slices carrot
3/4 cup (1-inch) cubed peeled Yukon gold potato
1 tablespoon harissa
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound turnips, peeled and each cut into 8 wedges (about 2 medium) (I used a zucchini, and also added more carrots and butternut squash, instead)
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (Meh. I omitted this one.)
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1 1/3 cups uncooked couscous (Try the whole wheat variety. Get it cheap at TJ's, or in the bulk bins at Whole Foods!)
8 lemon wedges (Omitted)

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and leek; sauté 5 minutes. Add coriander and next 4 ingredients (through garlic); cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add 3 cups Simple Vegetable Stock and the next 8 ingredients (through chickpeas); bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Stir in parsley and honey.

2. Remove 2/3 cup hot cooking liquid from squash mixture. Place cooking liquid and remaining 2/3 cup stock in a medium bowl. Stir in couscous. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges.

CALORIES 264 ; FAT 2.3g (sat 0.3g,mono 1g,poly 0.6g); CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 92mg; CARBOHYDRATE 54.5g; SODIUM 425mg; PROTEIN 8.3g; FIBER 7.5g; IRON 2.4mg

**5 Points, in case you're counting!

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2009

Barbecued Chicken with a Mustard Glaze and Curried Couscous Salad

You may have noticed that I cook a positively absurd amount of chicken, rice, and potatoes. Well, there is actually a reason for that. You see, I was a vegetarian for about 10 years. I was even a vegan for a couple of those 10 years, so I am very attached to vegetarian food. I love grains, vegetables, soy protein, etc. Several years ago, I went back to eating poultry once in a blue moon, but I haven't really gone any further. In fact, for a very long time, I wouldn't even eat poultry at home. I would reserve it for special occasions, when we would go out to dinner. As Kevin and I decided to start this blog, though, I agreed to start eating chicken at home. This is actually a big deal for me, so I am proud to be tasting the food I cook at home.

Kevin, on the other hand, is almost dairy free. He despises cheese, milk, butter, and cream, which definitely limits our mealtime goodies. If I can hide dairy in whatever I am cooking, it's fine, but there is no way to mask cheese. I've tried. He can tell. Anyway, I have gotten very creative in my cooking, but we are still somewhat limited. Hence, the chicken, the grains, and the potatoes.

Anyway, last night's dinner was thrown together very quickly, though, when I planned it, I assumed it was going to take forever to put together. The Barbecued Chicken came from a Cooking Light recipe. I have made it before, but not since coming into the possession of a grill pan. I really liked the flavor of the chicken, and it stayed juicy, and retained the flavor of the sauce. The Curried Couscous was a recipe from Ina Garten (a.k.a The Barefoot Contessa). My friend, Katie, made this recipe for book club once, and I loved it, so I decided to give it a try. The recipe calls for red onion and currants, neither of which I had on hand. I wanted to use raisins, but Kevin gave me the head-shake on that idea. I think it would have so much better with those 2 additions, because it would have added another dimension to the dish. It had a nice flavor - in fact, I really liked it, but there was something missing (um, perhaps onions and currants?). I would make this again - the right way. All in all, this was an easy meal, with a good, solid flavor, and it used a lot of things that I had on hand in the kitchen.





The Critique
Loved the chicken - very juicy, tasty well cooked and just overall great. 4 bowls



Cous cous - not the biggest fan of slightly warmed food. It was a little strange because the carrots were raw but the cous cous was cooked and it gave the entire meal a luke warm temperature. It kind of reminded me of food that was sitting in your car on a hot day that wasn't supposed to be warm. However, the next day, I reheated it (actually Marji reheated it for me) and fully warmed with the chicken cut up into pieces, it tasted delicious. 3 bowls.

"Pork Chops" with Mango Scallion Couscous and Grilled Zucchini

Call us Kosher (even though we're not), call us picky, call us snobby... but we still won't eat pork in our house. We never ate in my house, growing up, and for some reason, I can't get into it. That being said, I know it has been deemed, "The other white meat," so sometimes I pork recipes, but use chicken. I figure the flavors are probably similar. True or false? Someone enlighten me. Anyway, I found this simple recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray, and decided to try it in my new grill pan. Let me begin, by saying that I thought this was a relatively simple recipe, but for some reason, even the simplest recipes seem to turn my kitchen into a chaotic mess. Can I blame the kids? Anyway, Kevin was on "Third Call," meaning that he was home, but there was a small chance he'd get called into work. Well, in the heart of my mess-making, he was called in, Jonah woke up from a nap, and Maya needed a diaper change. Oy. Anyway, the end result of this recipe was just okay. I mean, I liked it, but it was rather plain. I didn't use the mango, because apparently, you can't judge a mango by its peel, and it was less than ideal when I cut into it. I used whole wheat couscous, and loved the flavor of the grilled scallions and zucchini, but I think the mango would have added a nice summer flavor to the dish. The chicken was pretty dry, which I think is a typical issue with grill pans. Anyone know how to remedy this? I'm open to ideas. Anyway, Kevin at this one reheated, when he got home from the hospital, and he found that it had gotten very dry, once put in the fridge. I think I'd make the couscous again, but the chicken was didn't really absorb the flavors particularly well, so I might opt for a stronger marinade next time.


This mango had such promise, but it lacked good texture and flavor on the inside. I'm new to the world of mangos, so I'll forgive this time!

Jonah's dinner.

Couscous looks so pretty, but it's a clean up challenge for sure.

I grilled the zucchini and scallions before cutting them. This is a great time saver, when it comes to flipping things on the grill.

Wrapping up Kevin's meal for later. Dinner is just not as much fun when he isn't around.


The Critique
The food was great when it came off the skillet. However, I ended up getting called back to work so that I was unable to really get a chance to enjoy the food. From what I ate, I really liked it. When I came home, the reheated chicken was a bit dry, which seems to be an ongoing theme with our reheated chicken. Being such a lover of leftovers, this is a big issue. Any suggestions on how to avoid having dry reheated chicken?

The flavor was a bit cajunny and not overseasoned at all. Really enjoyed it. Cous cous tends to be a pain in the butt to eat because if you use a fork, it gets all over the place and then its a beotch to clean up.

Chicken - 3 bowls
Cous cous - 3 bowls
Vegetables - 3 bowls

for all