Our “farm box,” as Ernie calls it, arrived this afternoon. It also had salad greens (whisked away to the refrigerator a.s.a.p.), kiwis (given away to neighbor who LUVS kiwis and gets a smaller, kiwi-less box), and a paper bag I guessed what was in and hid for after dinner.
At the suggestion of our kiwi-loving neighbor, I made a spring vegetable couscous (or, as my mom often calls it, “coucou”–yes, she pronounces it like the iconic Swiss clock; no, I don’t know why). I used the big, Israeli style couscous (are you hearing “cuckoo” in your head when you read that like I am?) cooked in chicken broth, added shelled English peas, chopped snap peas, and the fava beans I garnered from the 14 pods in our box. We topped the whole thing with chopped spring onion tossed with olive oil, lemon juice and zest, and chopped cilantro. Very tasty. Needed… something. Perhaps that feta cheese the kiwi-lover suggested adding and I forgot about until just this moment? Yes! That’s it! Next time I’ll pay attention and write up amounts and times and other recipe-like details. (Or, feel free to experiment yourself and report back.)
That paper bag I squirreled away? Beautiful, luscious, brilliantly red strawberries. Have I already discussed my dislike of strawberries? Yeah. I don’t like ‘em. Not at all. Not even when they’re really good. These were beautiful, though. And they smelled a lot. I can only assume they would smell great to people who actually would like to ingest a strawberry. A fact borne out by Ernie’s avid consumption of all 10 strawberries. My dashing husband just let him go at it and forsook all claim to any berries. What a martyr.
Ernie doesn’t like to smile for pictures anymore. His new mode is either to run away when a camera appears or to stare glumly into the lens and look directly into your soul until you run away. I got this shot with maternal teasing. It wasn’t right, but it had to be done. Now the grandparents have something to show their friends when they look at the internets.
The Dinner Files :: The Green continues | 30-Apr-08 at 11:10 am | Permalink
[...] main course was my attempt to fix the spring vegetable couscous (cuckoo!) I made last week. Sadly, I must try again (yes, I’m secretly pleased because even [...]
The Dinner Files :: Finally! Spring cuckoo! | 03-May-08 at 2:54 pm | Permalink
[...] I perfected the spring vegetable couscous (cuckoo!) that has haunted me lo! these many days. We ate it with grilled peppers and spicy Italian sausage [...]
The Dinner Files :: The local thing | 08-Jun-08 at 10:48 am | Permalink
[...] better with pepper. I don’t know why the cauliflower mix was dubbed “cous cous” (cuckoo!), but that’s another pet peeve entirely. A big deal was made of the fact that the chef [...]
The Dinner Files :: Summer…stew? | 30-Jun-08 at 8:28 am | Permalink
[...] made the mistake of referring to it, briefly, during the cooking process as “couscous” (cuckoo!), because I used the spice mix I made to make a most delectable dish inspired by Algerian [...]