easy chicken thighs with couscous and spinach

This was so fast, and it's all so simple and delicious... and it was pretty cheap too.  A $2 package of chicken thighs from whole foods (our meat csa membership has lapsed... not sure how we feel about it), $5 worth of baby spinach, $1.25 worth of cous cous, and there's enough for two dinners tonight and a lunch tomorrow.  It was easy to make it all simultaneously too, I'll put a chronology at the end of the post.

for the Chicken:
-bone-in skin-on chicken thighs, trimmed of bigger fat pockets (sorry that's such a gross thing to say, but it's so worth it)
-your favorite spice rub (I had a cajun style mix Axel F's wonderful mother gave me, to which I added cumin, smoked paprika and a little allspice)
-salt and pepper
-oil

Pat the thighs dry and season generously on both sides with salt and pepper and your spice rub.  Leave them to marinate if you have time, I probably left them about 30 minutes (while I prepared other things).  Drizzle on just a little oil and make sure it coats both sides.

Line a sheet pan with oil and put a rack on top of the foil (if you have one, ok to skip it if not).  Put the thighs skin side down on the rack.

Preheat your broiler on high for at least 10 minutes, and make sure your oven rack is as close to the broiler as possible.  Put the chicken in, and let it broil for 5-7 minutes (until it takes on plenty of good color, even a little black in spots).  Flip the thighs over to skin side up, and broil another 5-8 minutes until the skin is crisp and dark brown, again a few black spots are great (my thighs were relatively small, so 5 minutes per side was plenty).

for the Spinach:
-3/4 to 1 pound baby spinach, nice and clean
-3-5 slices bacon (thick cut if possible, I love this kind for cooking with*), chopped
-3-5 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper

In a large frying pan, fry the bacon in just a little bit of olive oil until nice and crisp, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes (start it on high heat and then reduce to medium.  You can pause the proceedings here if the rest of the meal isn't ready, it comes together in about 2 more minutes from here on out.  Just before you're ready to eat, put the heat on high under the bacon and add the chopped garlic.  Stir around till you can smell it, about 30 seconds.  Add the spinach, season with salt and pepper and toss around until all the spinach wilts, another minute.  For an almost as delicious vegetarian version, just use more olive oil, fry the garlic briefly and add the spinach.  Even faster.

for the Couscous:
-2 cups couscous
-3 cups water or stock (I used some vegetable stock I had in the freezer)
-2 tsp salt
-3 tbsp butter
-1/4 cup chopped or sliced or slivered almonds

In a small saucepan, melt the butter.  Add the almonds, and let them cook together till the butter browns and the almonds turn deep golden.  Set aside.

In a large saucepan that has a fitted lid, combine the couscous, salt and water/stock.  Cover and bring to a boil over high heat.  Stir it once, turn off the heat, re-cover the pot, and let it sit for 10 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.

With a fork, fluff up the couscous.  Pour the browned butter and almonds on top, and stir gently to combine.

Chronology (probably 30 minutes from start to finish):
1. prep chicken and leave to marinate on the rack.
2. chop bacon and garlic.
3. start bacon crisping up in a big frying pan
4. start browning the butter with the almonds
5. preheat broiler to high
6. measure couscous and salt into big saucepan and add water/stock, bring to boil, etc
7. put the chicken under the broiler
8. add garlic to now-crisp bacon, then spinach, etc
9. turn chicken and cook till done, while you stir the butter/almonds into the couscous
11. eat

*I'm getting no money for this recommendation, I just thing Trader Joe's Bacon Ends and Pieces might be the world's best bacon product.  It's usually super thick meaty slices, and so cheap ($3 for a whole pound)!  It's not good for when you want to fry in slices for breakfast, but it's perfect for cooking a bit at a time into recipes, and one package is enough bacon for baconing up 3 or 4 different dishes.  It's great having it in the fridge for adding a little richness to a veggie pasta dish, or to make spaghetti carbonara, or a quiche, or anything bacon is good in (which is almost everything).

Mark Bittman Couscous casserole, veggie style

This recipe (from How to Cook Everything) is fairly easy, and the results smell and taste a lot like lasagna (yay!), but without the hassle of boiling/wrangling noodles or the long bake time.  The original recipe calls for sauteed ground meat, which you could do if you want, but the way I made it was all vegetables (plus chickpeas and cheese), and it was very filling and satisfying.  In the original Bittman recipe he implies that you can used cooked leftover... anything in this (meat or vegetable), and I'm inclined to agree.  Also he says it can be assembled up to a day in advance before baking, which is helpful. 

Ingredients:
4 cups of your favorite tomato sauce*
1/4 cup water or veggie stock
2-3 pounds of whatever veggies you like (2-3 pounds uncooked if you're going to roast them for this recipe, or about 3-4 cups of already cooked leftover veggies/beans/etc)
1 roasted pepper, seeded peeled and chopped (optional - I didn't have one, but it seems like it would be good)
1/2 cup couscous (whole wheat or regular) (I think you could substitute fine bulgur or quinoa if you are gluten free, without any adjustment to the recipe except maybe a slight increase in stock/water; or other heartier grains you'd want to par cook first, and maybe measure about 1-1 1/2 cups of cooked grains)
1/2 to 1 cup of cheese (I used feta and parmesan) (amount to taste and dictated by what you have on hand - goat cheese would be fun too I think, but feta and parmesan were a great combination)

First, preheat the oven to 400, and cut up your veggies (if you're not using up already-cooked leftover veggies) into smallish chunks or slices.  I used sliced zucchini and summer squash and a drained can of chickpeas.  You could use things like diced eggplant, winter squash, carrots, peas, any cooked beans, etc.  Whatever you choose, if it needs cooking, cut into small and roughly equal pieces, put it on a big baking sheet, drizzle with oil and salt and pepper, and roast till things start to brown, 10-15 minutes or so.  I think greens might be good in this - you could sautee (or blanch, drain/squeeze out) and chop chard, spinach, or kale and mix it in with the roasted veggies once they're out of the oven.

Heat your tomato sauce along with the stock or water in a large-ish saucepan until bubbling (I maybe used a bit more than 1/4 cup stock).  Stir in the roasted bell pepper if you have it and the couscous, stir, cover, and remove from the heat.  Reduce the oven temperature to 350.

Oil a 2 quart baking dish (not metal), and layer the couscous/tomato mixture alternating with the roasted veggies and cheese, till you fill the dish (if you're using leftover pre cooked vegetables, I'd recommend warming them up a bit before layering them, so they don't slow down the baking.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melty.  Cool a bit before serving.  This was great with a green salad on the side.

It also made delicious leftovers (the flavor might even improve!) with a fried egg and sriracha on top.

*easiest tomato sauce I make:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
as many garlic cloves as you like (4 or so), chopped
a 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
whatever seasoning you like (basil, oregano, parsley)
salt and pepper

fry the onion and garlic in oil until softened (you could chop a carrot very small for this too if you wanted).  Add the can of tomatoes and a little water if it seems thick.  Add herbs and salt and pepper to taste and simmer over medium low heat for 20 minutes.

EVEN EASIER: Trader Joe's sells 32 oz cans of Marinara Sauce which I was shocked to find is pretty decent tasting.  Actually, they sell several different kinds - look for the kind that has the shortest ingredient list (it's impressively short).

Hamburgers with Pork Belly and Tomato Jam

Elaine was over and we were making burgers.  And that seemed pretty boring so obviously the only thing to do is to take some left over pork belly (from a DELICIOUS dinner at Vee Vee in Jamaica Plain), fry it up and put it on top.  Diabolical?  Maybe.  Delicious?  Definitely.  So, the next time you have leftover pork belly in the fridge (all the time, right?) consider this.

Make your burgers as you would normally (I just mixed my meat with worcestershire sauce and salted and peppered the patties before cooking).  Fry burgers to your desired doneness (medium rare, obvy) and then quickly fry up your pork belly, just to warm it and give it a little crunch on the outside.  Toast some delicious sourdough, spread on some tomato jam (I make this recipe, so spicy and delicious) and top with burgers and pork belly.

I served these with a super simple salad and celery root which I cubed and roasted with butter, salt and pepper in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes to an hour until tender and golden brown.

thai red curry

This is so easy, it's shocking. You just have to buy a couple of things you might not have in your pantry right now, but then you'll have them in your pantry, and you'll be psyched because it means that you can make this kind of thing any time. And somehow curry (thai or otherwise) always feels special and delicious to me, even if I'm making it to use up some CSA vegetables...

things you need that you might not have:
thai red curry paste (or green if you want!)
fish sauce (nam pla)
coconut milk (canned, unsweetened, 14 oz)*

Other things you need:
brown sugar
oil (canola or similar)
some kind of protein, cut into small pieces if necessary (chicken or tofu, I used shrimp, Jenean has done sea scallops)
some vegetables (I had eggplant, red bell pepper, and green beans I cut up small and par boiled; you could use tomatoes, carrots, peas, onions, potatoes, bean sprouts, whatever you have and want to use up; you should probably pre-cook harder vegetables)
garlic, minced
ginger, peeled and grated
white or brown rice (ideally jasmine or basmati, all cooked up the way you like it)
basil and cilantro, if you've got it

In a bowl, mix 2 tbsp thai red curry paste, 2 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tsp brown sugar and 2 tbsp water.

In a large frying pan, heat some neutral oil like canola, a couple of tablespoons. Toss in your meat or tofu or seafood. When it has got a little color, remove it to a plate (err on the side of undercooking the seafood, because it goes back in the simmering sauce later; in fact, with shrimp you could probably just wait till the end and skip the first frying step).

Add a little more oil to the pan if it looks dry, and stir fry your vegetables. Add the garlic and ginger and let them fry with the vegetables till you can smell them. Add the curry paste mixture and the coconut milk. Stir to combine and bring the sauce to a simmer. Toss in the meat, scallops or tofu; if you're using shrimp, add it now. Let it all simmer together for about 5 minutes, or until the shrimp are pink, or your meat is cooked and heated through.

Serve over rice, with chopped fresh basil and/or cilantro. A squeeze of lime might be nice, if you like that kind of thing.
*Mark Bittman has a recipe for homemade coconut milk! It's also absurdly easy! You put a cup of unsweetened shredded coconut in a blender with 2 cups of hot water and let it sit for 20 minutes. Blend on high (working up gradually from low so the force doesn't bust the lid of the blender off) for 30 seconds or so. Strain into a bowl through cheesecloth (I use a flour-sack dishtowel) set in a strainer, squeezing on the solids - that's your coconut milk. You can return the solids to the blender and do it again with the same coconut and another 2 cups of hot water, letting it sit a little longer this time, and squeezing a little harder. Combine both batches to get a relatively thin coconut milk ideal for making curry, or skip the second pressing to have 2 cups of thicker coconut milk, more like canned. Keeps in the fridge for a couple of days. It separates as it cools, so you have to shake it up before using.