August 17, 2015 Dinner – a steamed dinner; Couscous with Rock fish, and Chard

August 17, 2015 Dinner – a steamed dinner;  Couscous with Rock fish, and Chard

Today after my annual Medicare check-up at 9:15 I made a big shopping arch, starting at Sprouts, where I bought three filets of Rock Fish, two Italian sweet Sausage, about seven or eight brown mushrooms, a lb. of green beans, a pound of couscous, a bag of lemons, and more chocolate covered pecans.  I then bought light bulbs at Voss Lighting, then went to Office Depot for replacement ink cartridges for the printer, and finally went to Costco for a lunch of a Polish dog and a box of Xerox paper.  

I returned home at 12:30 and worked until 5:00.  I dozed and watched the news until Suzette arrived around 5:30.  I asked Suzette what she wanted for dinner and, as she was making her evening cocktail, she said, “We should eat the fresh fish, but I do not want to cook”.

I suggested making a one dish meal with couscous and the fish, sort of a Moroccan style dinner.  I looked for our Moroccan spices until I realized they were inaccessible in our basement due to the dry wallers’ scaffolding.  So, I went to the garden and picked a handful of chard leaves and about five or six sprigs of thyme.

I found a large Pyrex bowl that fit into the microwave and heated in it 2 Tbsp. of butter and 2 cups of water.  I then put 1 cup of couscous into the heated water and cooked it in the microwave for 2.33 minutes which was sufficient time to cook the couscous.  I then fluffed the couscous and laid the fish filets, a sliced clove of garlic, the thyme, and the de-stemmed and chopped chard on top of the couscous and the garnished the top of the chard with three slices of lemon and covered the top with Saran Wrap and cooked all the ingredients for an additional 7 or 8 minutes.  The result was a rather flaky couscous with a flakey fish filet and steamed chard.  I was amazed at how delicious it tasted.  We filled our plates and glasses with the PPI Torrontes from the Mendoza Valley of Argentina produced by Santiago Station (Total Wine $4.00/bottle).  The Torrontes was light, clean, and very pleasant.  A bit fruitier and less citrusy than Sauvignon Blanc. 

 

This type of one dish meal is typically Moroccan.  We enjoyed our simple meal in the garden, except Suzette is still trying to get the timers for the garden lights to work properly.

 We ate some PPI tiramisu with a sip of cognac for dessert and watched the local PBS station’s “Art in Albuquerque” program, which was based upon the large recent show on Albuquerque art at the Albuquerque Museum.

Bon Appetit