Sunday, July 23, 2017

Tasty Delights-- Herb Couscous Patties #FancyAsHell #ButDelicious

This is a dish I NEVER would have made on my own. NEVER, yall.

But! It turned out to be surprisingly good. This was a GreenChef meal. They're like the HelloFresh ones I do. And a little more...foodie? I guess. Not quite the family comfort food that HelloFresh so often does.

Anywho. So this time it was Herb Couscous Patties. Sounds pretty good. I'm a fan of couscous, really. The odd part was the sauce. I'd originally thought it was a tomato sauce from the little web picture preview when I selected meals. It...was not.



Okay so ingredients are real easy.
Some greens, couscous, a little fruit and egg.


If you've not made couscous before it's insanely easy. Basically you boil water. Add the couscous. Reduce to simmer and cover for 5 minutes. And it's done. EASY.


While the couscous cooks make the herbed (erm, is that a word?! lol) the herb-ified bits? Eh. Egg, yogurt, some seasoning and parsley and green onion. Mix that all up.


Then add the couscous to your bowl of yogurt/herbs/egg. And mix.


Form into patties and fry for a few minutes on each side.


So. I kinda suck at this part. Half of mine were like WOOHOO Let's be a patty!


And the other half were like Fuck you, lady! lol

So my portion that wasn't for the pretty picture was basically just herb couscous on top of the greens. Yeah. Still tasty, though.


Now. While patties are cooking you make your sauce.
And this is where I was REALLY not certain about this dish.

But I was brave.

This is green apple, orange-honey apple cider, apricots and mustard seeds.


Bring it to a boil and then let simmer until it turns into a bit of a syrup.


Greens were next. How freaking gorgeous is this leaf. This was rainbow chard.
And totally new to me. I ended up really liking it!
And I'll use it again in dishes for sure.
I love the red veins in the leaves. Pretty, right?


You actually eat both parts. Strip the veins out and chop them into bite sized pieces. Then rough chop the leaves and the mustard green leaves (bottom of pic)


Saute some garlic with the rainbow chard stems.


Once those are tender add the rough chopped leaves and cook until wilted.
Reminded me of cooking spinach.


And then plate! And garnish with some pine nuts. And squeeze on some lemon juice.




Okay. Seriously. This is not a meal I would have ever even contemplated. It's a bit too fancy looking for me. But I enjoyed it. And while there were a number of steps they all went very quickly and since they didn't need much tending could be done at the same time.

So the apple/apricot sauce. It surprised me. It was very sweet and that's typically not something I like with my savory dishes. But it really paired well with the couscous and the greens. That savory sweet mix.
I did think it was a bit much topping for the amount of couscous. Probably could have used half a cup more of couscous to go with it but really..not bad. I'd also chop the apple smaller next time.

And, yes, I said next time. Because I will make this one again :)


If you'd like to try GreenChef this link SHOULD give you a few free meals to try it out. Hopefully :D

Herb Couscous Patties Recipe

Ingredients:

Whole-wheat couscous
1 Egg 
Parsley & scallion 
Greek yogurt
Lemon & garlic 
Dried apricots 
Orange-honey apple cider vinegar 
Rainbow chard & mustard greens 
Crushed red pepper flakes 
Pine nuts
1 small Granny Smith apple 
Yellow mustard seeds 

Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bring 1 ¼ cups lightly salted water to a boil in a medium pot. Add whole-wheat couscous; stir. Cover and remove from heat. Let rest 5 minutes (covered), or until water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork. Transfer couscous to a large bowl (rinse pot). Let cool 5 minutes. 
  • Finely chop dried apricots, dice apple into 1/2 inch pieces, de-stem parsley and medium chop leaves, thinly slice scallion on an angle. 
  • Bring to a boil apricots, apple, orange-honey apple cider, yellow mustard seeds and 1/2 cup water. Reduce heat to medium. Simmer 15-20 minutes until liquid reduces to a thick syrup. Remove from heat.
  • Crack egg into bowl with couscous. Season with about ¼ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Stir to combine. Add Greek yogurt, scallion, parsley, and about ½ tablespoon olive oil. Thoroughly mix then form 6-8 patties, about ½-inch thick.
  • Heat 1 ½ tablespoons cooking oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add four patties to hot pan. Cook 3-4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Transfer patties to a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining patties.
  • Remove center stems from mustard greens; discard. Roughly chop leaves. Remove center stems from rainbow chard. Slice stems into about ¼-inch pieces. Roughly chop leaves. Mince garlic. Quarter lemon.
  • Heat 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil in pan used for patties over medium heat. Add chard stems and garlic to hot pan. Cook 1-2 minutes, stirring often. Add mustard greens and chard leaves. Cook 3-4 minutes, or until tender, stirring occasionally. Squeeze juice from 1-2 lemon wedges over pan (avoid seeds). Add pine nuts. Salt and pepper to taste. Stir.
  • Divide greens between plates. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes to taste (or omit). Shingle herb-couscous patties over top. Spoon apple-apricot mostarda over patties. Serve remaining lemon wedges on the side.


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