Barefoot Bloggers: Curried Couscous

The latest "Barefoot Bloggers" recipe is from Ina's Barefoot Contessa cookbook and is another keeper! Thanks to Ellyn of Recipe Collector and Tester for selecting this easy and delicious recipe! It can easily be adapted to use anything you have in your refrigerator or pantry. (You could even substitute many different grains for the couscous!) I forgot to get both scallions and red onions at the store so I used the sweet onion I already had at home. I made the dressing as directed, using less salt, of course, and then made a little extra after I mixed it with the couscous. I think it needed it. This would be a great side dish for a summer picnic, BBQ, or just dinner at home.

CURRIED COUSCOUS
from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Serves 6

1 1/2 C couscous (I used half whole wheat couscous and half regular)
1 T unsalted butter
1 1/2 C boiling water
1/4 C plain yogurt
1/4 C good olive oil
1 t white wine vinegar
1 t curry powder
1/4 t ground turmeric
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1 t freshly ground black pepper
1/2 C small-diced carrots
1/2 C minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 C dried currants or raisins
1/4 C blanched, sliced almonds
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 C small-diced red onion



DIRECTIONS

Place the couscous in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour over the couscous. Cover tightly and allow the couscous to soak for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, curry powder, turmeric, salt, and pepper. Pour over the fluffed couscous, and mix well with a fork. Add the carrots, parsley, currants, almonds, scallions, and red onions, mix well, and season to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Cathy's Famous Vietnamese Spring Rolls

My fabulous manicurist (and so much more!) Cathy surprised me the other day when I went to get my nails spruced up. She told me she had bought me all the ingredients I needed to make her Vietnamese spring rolls. Not only had she bought me the ingredients, she also wrote up the recipe, took these photos, and made up a batch of the dipping sauce!! She bought me an extra bottle of hoisin sauce, a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce, mint, cucumbers, bean sprouts, rice paper, and some nameless Asian greens to try, too. You'd think at that point that she could have offered to come over to my house and just make them, but I don't want to seem TOO demanding. Oh, and she also did a fantastic job as usual on my nails. She's amazing! Cathy even rolled up a sample roll for me right there at the salon so I could see how much of each ingredient was used. She did everything but type up this post!

CATHY'S FAMOUS VIETNAMESE SPRING ROLLS

SPRING ROLL SAUCE

2 cups of water
1 1/2 cups of Hoisin Sauce
1/2 cup of peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
2-3 tablespoons of white vinegar
Sriracha hot sauce to add on when eating (optional)

SAUCE:

In a small saucepan add water, Hoisin sauce and peanut butter all at once. Over low heat, stir with a spoon until the peanut butter is nicely blended, then add the white vinegar. Turn off heat and set aside.

SPRING ROLL

1/2 pound of boneless chicken thigh or 1/2 pound of Sirloin pork end
1/2 pound of bean sprouts (open the bag and drain and rinse well)
1 cucumber (cut both ends off of cucumber, clean & cut in half and then into 1/4" thin slices-- about 3" length)
1 bunch of green leaf lettuce
1 bunch of fresh mint leaves
1 package of Rice papers
(Other ideas include--noodles--Asian rice noodles, cilantro, carrots, and as mentioned below, shrimp)

DIRECTIONS

NOTE: Cathy usually uses pork, but for those who don't like pork chicken works well too. I think shrimp would be good as well.

For pork: In a slow cooker add water and 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt, 3 gloves of garlic and maybe 8-10 peppercorns. Slow cook for 20-30 minutes. When meat gets tender, remove from slow cooker and rinse with cold water, then set aside for 5-10 minutes to keep the moisture inside meat. Then slice thinly and set on a plate. You can also bake this in an oven til done.

For chicken: Marinate chicken with 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt, bit of fresh ground pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder for about 15-30 minutes. You can grill your chicken or pan-fry your chicken. Cathy says "I like to pan-fry the chicken because this dish has a very clean taste so I don't mind pan-frying the chicken to keep the moisture and juice from the meat-- also when you pan-fry you can add on some fresh chopped garlic." Make sure the chicken is cooked well but not over-cooked, wait about 5-10 minutes after cooking for the meat to cool down, then slice 1/2" thick and set aside.

ROLLING SPRING ROLLS





In a big mixing bowl add warm water from the faucet to dip rice paper. Dip rice paper in water and then set on a big plate. On rice paper about 2" away from the edge of the rice paper--put 1/2 of a lettuce leaf or a little less, a few bean sprouts, a cucumber slice, 2 pieces of thin-sliced pork (or chicken or shrimp) and 2-3 leaves of fresh mint, (place all ingredients on top of each other and about 2" away from the edge of rice paper).



Now fold both sides of rice paper toward the center and try to cover the food, then start to roll as tightly as possible. Try not to have the rice paper dry out, it will stick to the plate. To help your work go faster use 2 plates for the rice paper while working on one and the other one has time to get soft and dry. Do not put your Spring Rolls on top or too close to each other, because rolls will be sticky and break when pull apart. Cathy usually uses clear plastic wrap to keep the rolls from drying out and sticking to each other.

Serve with dipping sauce and hot sauce on the side.




Cathy says "Have Fun Making Your Spring Rolls......!"

UPDATE: We made these spring rolls tonight using bean sprouts, lettuce, mint, cellophane noodles, cucumber, and shrimp. They were great! I mixed a LITTLE bit of the Sriracha sauce into the dipping sauce and it really cleaned out my sinuses--that stuff is HOT! Thank you Cathy!

Aunt Carole's Famous Jello

My Aunt Carole once arrived at our house with this fabulous jello mold.  Everybody makes fun of Jello--but everyone loves it.  Or, at least, they love THIS jello mold.  Or is it jello salad?  Maybe mold is the container?  And do you really want to eat something called mold?  Anyway, I make this for many events and it is always a big hit.  Aunt Carole's version calls for chopped walnuts but when I started making it my kids were too little for nuts so I list nuts as an optional ingredient.  It is, however, yummy WITH nuts.  Oh, and also WITHOUT nuts. 

AUNT CAROLE'S FAMOUS JELLO

1 6-oz pkg. lime Jello

2 C boiling water

1 pt. sour cream (I use LIGHT sour cream)

small jar maraschino cherries, drained and chopped

small can crushed pineapple, drained

1/2 C walnuts, chopped, optional

Using a whisk, mix Jello and boiling water until Jello is completely dissolved.  Add sour cream and whisk together until no white bit remain.  Add cherries, pineapple, and walnuts.  Pour into Jello mold that has been sprayed with Pam.  Refrigerate until solid and unmold.