Thursday, November 18, 2004

First shot at Israeli Couscous



So, I bought some funny-looking couscous at the food fair the other day. It’s made out of semolina, but it’s big! It’s about the size of a pea, instead of the little nubbly grains that I’m used to. Pretty cool! Here’s an article on it:
http://www.acfchefs.org/trends/couscous.html

For dinner last night, the plan was to make bacon-wrapped salmon filets with couscous. So, I decided to try it with my new couscous – the results? So-so. Not perfect. Decent, but kind of sticky-doughy. I have to try an actual recipe next time. I boiled the grains in water, per the instructions I got when I bought it, and mixed with finely sliced red onions and yellow peppers lightly sautéed in oil, added a pinch of sugar, half a lemon and some lovely, lovely haba beans that my parents brought me from Spain. (These darlings are also called fava beans, and I think broad beans are the same thing. Not easily available here, but sold frozen in Spain. It’s pretty much the one bean or lentil that I do like. And I like it a lot.)

The salmon was perfect – this really is the simplest way to fix it, always yielding perfect results. Simply wrap a slice of salmon fillet with two slices of bacon, season, put in a hot frying pan with some olive oil, and fry for a couple of minutes on each side. The bacon makes a gorgeous, crispy, smoky package for the soft, succulent fish. Mmm!

No comments: