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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Chickpea lentil couscous salad and sauteed spinach

A worknight when both of us got home around 7.30, early and lucky.

Sauteed Spinach

Seb wanted to saute spinach 'like you did it, because it was better' - what I did was really simple but I told him anyway and he did it.  We had a huge bag of baby spinach from the Haymarket which was actually in great nick, but spinach doesn't last forever (unless it is in those weird alien bags).

large bag of baby spinach, washed
6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
~2 tbsp olive oil
salt+pepper
nutmeg

Heat the oil in a large frying pan.  Add garlic and fry gently until softened and just starting to colour.  Add the (washed) spinach.  Move around gently until it is almost done (cover if you like), then add salt, pepper and some grated nutmeg to taste.  Cook until the spinach is completely wilted.


Chickpea, lentil and saffron couscous salad

Fancied some fibrous pulses.

From this recipe.

225g couscous / 112g wholewheat couscous
½ tsp saffron strands / 1/4 tsp saffron
Salt and black pepper
260ml boiling water / 130ml boiling water (+maybe 20ml more as it looked like v little)
150g cooked chickpeas (tinned are OK) / ~75g but really just a bag of frozen cooked ones defrosted
150g cooked Puy lentils / ~75g
80g dried cranberries / handful - end of a packet
1 red endive, cut into 1cm-thick slices / none- didn't have any
2 spring onions, thinly sliced / 1 spring onion
4 tbsp chopped mint  / 2 tbsp mint
3 tbsp chopped coriander / 1.5 tbsp
3 tbsp chopped parsley / 1.5 tbsp
Grated zest of 2 lemons / zest of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, crushed / 1/2 garlic clove
1 tsp nigella seeds
4 tbsp olive oil / 2 tbsp
Put the lentils on to cook (should take ~20-30min).  Put the couscous in a shallow bowl. Add the saffron and a pinch of salt to the boiling water, and pour this over the couscous to cover. Wrap the bowl in clingfilm and set aside for 15 minutes, so the couscous soaks up the liquid. Remove the clingfilm, fluff up the couscous with a fork, then set aside to cool down.  When ready, drain cooked lentils.
Transfer the cold couscous to a mixing bowl, add the chickpeas, lentils and cranberries, and toss. Add the (endive), spring onion, herbs, lemon zest, garlic and nigella seeds, stir gently to combine, then stir in olive oil and season to taste.
Serve this salad straight away, or chill it for up to 24 hours; the flavours actually improve over time. Before serving, bring back to room temperature and add more olive oil or seasoning as necessary.


Both were pretty simple and tasty.  The salad was good - perhaps a little dry?  Might add some lemon juice another time.   Am enjoying using a lot of fresh herbs - at the moment we have mint, basil, parsley, dill and coriander in the fridge, and I am getting better at adding them to a variety of things.
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