It is 7 pm, I’m rushing home from the gym in the freezing Wisconsin winter darkness. I am starving and counting the minutes until I am supposed to have dinner ready. I love this. I thrive on this. Work hard, run hard and then make my kitchen smell like street corner in Marrakesh.  Tonight’s menu for a long overdue friend date: Lemon Chicken and Moroccan Spiced Couscous.

I have had the good fortune to travel to Marrakesh to taste a true Moroccan chicken tagine.  It is a beautiful marriage, the gentle tang of preserved lemon rinds, all hint of sour bite coerced out from its flesh through long hours of marination- joined by  briny green olives no larger than a Dhiram  infuse the chicken with the very essence of the country.

Ok, I digress (and fly back in my mind to the square where it is common place to carry a monkey around for company).  Returning to Monday’s dinner, it was , I suppose a bastardization of Moroccan cuisine. Yet, for a weekday supper it makes full use of cumin, couscous and cucumber— all things that, when combines, do a damn fine job of bringing a little of the Middle East to Madison.

The recipe easy: chop, boil, spice, sauté.  Have these spices on hand you’re good to go.  The carrots and the cucumber are wonderful in the couscous, but peppers, jicama, radishes or whatever other fresh crunchy vegetable you have will do the trick.

Lemon Chicken with Moroccan Spiced Couscous

For the Couscous
1 10 oz box whole wheat couscous
2 cloves garlic, minced and divided
1 teaspoons cumin
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup raisins
1 cucumber sliced the long way into quarters (so you have long strips) then diced.
1 big red bell pepper, seeded and cut into ½ inch cubes
1 big carrot, peeled, quartered the long way and cut diced up
¼ cup lemon juice

For the Chicken
4 chicken boneless skinless chicken breasts
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 lemon
Salt and pepper

1 package spinach or arugula (optional)

Place chicken breasts a large ziplock bag and add salt, cumin, lemon juice and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Allow the chicken to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours in the fridge

Bring the chicken broth, spices, garlic and salt to a boil in a  large pot and add the couscous, stirring to break up clumps and remove from heat. toss the raisins across the top, cover and allow couscous to soften for about 10 minutes.  Transfer couscous to a large bowl and add vegetables. Season with the lemon juice, a dash of good olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Cover to keep warm and to soften the veggies.

Meanwhile, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pan on medium heat until hot but not smoking.  Toss chicken in the pan and saute until done, about 6 minutes per side, or more depending on thickness. Allow chicken to rest for 5-10 minutes.

Scatter greens over each plate, top with couscous and finish with a perfectly charred chicken breast. for a little decadence, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Eat and Enjoy.

This simple dinner tastes great on the way in and does good things for your health once it is there.  Very low fat, a good amount of fiber from the whole wheat and a straight shot of lean protein from the chicken. Cumin and turmeric can help aid digestion and tummy functions and just the mere scent of cinnamon may boost you brain function.  All parts of you body will love you after this meal.

Happy eating, stay warm.

Why make your own granola when it is so readily available and in so many varieties? Because it’s a new year, maybe you’re going to a “new you” and in truth, store bought yuppified granola (Bare Naked etc)* is laden with oil, fat and a heavy hitter in the pocket book department.

Save a buck and your gut by whipping up a batch of your own with whatever you have laying around the house. The basic concept is this: you need something sweet and a little sticky, you need some egg whites to help bind the oats together and then you needed the goodies—fruits, nut, spices.

Here is a good base recipe to get you started:

Maple Granola with Cranberries and Walnuts

• ½ cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup real maple syrup
• 2 large egg whites
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 cups old fashioned oats.
• 1 cup walnut halves, chopped if desired
• 1 cup dried cranberries or cherries

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees positioning two racks in the center. Pam two sided baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Heat sugar and syrup in a small heavy bottomed pot until sugar is dissolved. If the mixture sticks to the pot sides while you’re stirring, brush down with damp pastry brush. Set mixture aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. Add spices and vanilla and whisk a bit more. In a slow stream, add the sugar mixture, whisking as you go. When this scrumptious sauce has taken on some body, add the oats and stir to coat. Next, toss in the walnuts and stir to combine. Place oats on prepped baking sheets and pop them in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes then switch the cookie sheets, you want the granola to cook evenly. After another 10 minutes, stir to break up large lumps and add the dried fruit. Continue to cook for 15 more minutes. Depending on your oven and the size of the baking pans, the granola cook time will vary so keep your eye on it; you want it to be a golden brown color, but not any darker. It will tasted burned if you do.

* I’m not knocking these granolas entirely, they are delicious, no question about it.

500 Chicken. It could be 500 cloves of garlic; it could be 500 minutes of marinating, but no. 500 Chicken means firemen, frantic phone calls and the only way to accurately roast a bird. The number 500 is actually the temperature inside your oven just before the alarms start blaring- that’s you know the chicken is done.

Preparing a whole bird delivers a wonderful bonus gift every time: the glorious wishbone. Known in England as the Merrythought, the wishbone isn’t actually good luck itself, but only releases its fair favor when broken in two.  The person who wins the longer half in a face off is granted his or her wish. It is like a thumb war but you have the a shot at world peace.

I love this dish. I remember smelling the chicken roasting downstairs as I toiled away at my fifth grade homework on the second floor. The scent meant it was fall again, and we would continue to make this warming, comforting meal all winter. As the older (and wiser) sibling, I liked when the wishbone split exactly in half, which mean both Jake and I were granted our wishes.

Much like the legend of the wishbone, the perfect roast chicken is something of an enigma, often eluding the chef, coming out too dry or with an unwanted blackened skin. Not 500 chicken, provided you take it out of the oven before the fire engine rolls to the door. We eventually asked the volunteer team in Minneapolis if they would like to stay for dinner. They apparently had real emergencies on their hands. Boy did they missed out.

Famous 500 Chicken

1 roaster chicken (any size will work, cooking time must be adjusted accordingly

2 cloves garlic, peel and sliced in have horizontally

1 lemon sliced in half

1 onion sliced in half

1 bunch basil (optional)

Tons of Kosher Salt

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees!!**

Rinse the chicken and rub with sliced garlic. If you can handle it, place the sliced cloves under the skin of the chicken breasts. Do the same with a handful of basil leaves. If this doesn’t sound appealing to you, I don’t blame you, reserve herbs and garlic cloves. Now, salt the entire chicken, covering all surfaces. Place lemon and onion (and potentially unused garlic and basil) into the cavity of the bird and place wing side up on a v shaped wrack (or regular slatted rack) in a roasting pan.

Now put the bird in the oven and wait. I used a 2.5 lb’er and it took roughly 40 minutes including cooking. When a thermometer plunged into the breast reads 160, and the juices run clear from a small cut into the meat, the your ‘goose is cooked.” Remove it from the oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy with absolutely anything your heart desires.

**Truth be told, there is no reason your oven needs to be 500 degrees, and in fact that is a little extreme. I would recommend starting it at 375 for 10 minutes then increasing to 450, however, just leavening the oven at 450 will do the trick.

Happy eating everyone! This Monday is another movie night (500 chicken was the dish of choice along with White Russians of course for a screening of the Big Lebowski). I’m thinking of mussels next week, but you never know.

Over and out.

Disclaimer: This post should have gone up on Friday…but writing it on the way to Chicago for a weekend full of party….I was otherwise occupied and didn’t pull it off.  Keep reading because it is a truly delicious one this week.

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” is a politically incorrect statement.  In fact, its just plain wrong since I’m fairly convinced my heart and stomach are integrally connected. I don’t want discriminate in my cooking, however, the salty sweet love child that I cooked up before Christmas has “dude” written all over it.

Chocolate chip cookies with pecans and bacon– the recipe is a powerhouse and vaults the common CCC into haut cuisine territory.  In addition to its inherent deliciousness, the bacon acts as a flavor amplifier, much like vanilla.

I am only slightly embarrassed that I jumped on the Bacon Bandwagon, but at rate these cookies were devoured, there is clearly a good reason this food fad cropped up. Just in case you were curious, “Bacon mania” has its own Wikipedia page.

This cookie is the perfect companion to this weekend’s college football bowl games.  So drink your champagne tonight and when you need that big brunch tomorrow, (and maybe a bloody mary,) save some of the bacon for these bad boys.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans and Beacon Bits

Recipe adapted from Susan Russo for NPR

5 strips bacon (don’t you dare touch the reduced fat slices)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter softened at room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (may I suggest Ghirardelli?)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper

In a large, heavy bottomed pan, cook up that bacon, turning several times until browned and delicious, about 8 minutes.  Transfer to paper towels to drain and cool, then chop finely.

In a big bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars on high until pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla mixing until blended. Add the dry ingredients in 2 batches, beating until just incorporated and dough is uniform. Finally add the bacon, chocolate chips and pecans. Now (this is very important) taste it.

Plop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the prepared pans 2 to 3 inches apart. Bake for about 12 minutes, until edges are brown.

Cool and enjoy with milk. No, forget the milk, on New Years Day you’re going to want to enjoy these with a good dark beer.

On that note, Happy New Year, and Go Northwestern Wildcats!

Waking up this morning in the icy darkness of the Wisconsin dawn, I could hear my coffee pot humming, preparing my essential brew. I really wanted to curl up with a book and my drink and a scone…but instead I jumped in the car and headed to work….only to be distracted by writing a pasta recipe for New Years Eve.

On December 31^st our dinner needs to be carefully planned out: the correct balance of carbohydrates, proteins and fats to ensure the longevity of the evening. (And support our system during several hours of boozing).

Hunting for a tasty recipe, I found plenty of winter pastas fully of rich ingredients like boar sausage and fennel, goat cheese and pine nuts, but I found myself yearning for the bounty of the Dane county farmers market in August.

This is recipe is born out of my desire for color in the winter. It isn’t the carbon-footprint- friendly recipe, but sometimes one needs a little summer lovin.

Photo thanks to Lynne Bouchard

Happy Eating! And Happy New Year!

• 3 pounds gemellini or other small twisty pasta
• 4-5 yellow or green zucchini, sliced lengthwise into quarters and then into 1 inch pieces
• 2 lbs tomatoes, preferably cherry, divided.
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
• 2 bunches basil
• 3 lbs chicken breasts
• ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 hunk of good parm cheese
• Olive Oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced.
• 2 lemons
• Salt, pepper

Place a big ass pot of water to boil over medium heat and preheat the oven to 350.

Combine a good swig of olive oil, juice of one lemon, half the minced garlic and a pinch of garlic in a heavy duty plastic bag. Add chicken and marinate for 30 minutes.

While the chicken gets groovy, place zucchini and half the tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, salt and pepper and rest of the minced garlic. Roast until tender, about 15 minutes, depending on their size.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pan and add chicken. Turn after 5 minutes and sauté till done, about 8-12 minutes total. Remove chicken and allow to cool before slicing. Add ¼ cup water to the pan and scrape up any brown bits. Reserve reduced sauce.

While veggies roasts, chicken cooks and that water attempts to bubble, grate the parmesan cheese and chiffonade the basil. Chiffonade is a French term meaning “made of rags,” but when we cook it means that the herb or veggie in question is cut into long thin strips. To achieve this elegant look with a bunch of basil, stack the leaves, roll them together and slice into thin strips.

Quick! Check your veggies;.no one likes mushy veg. When the pasta finishes cooking according to the instructions on the package, drain and immediately add the fresh tomatoes, roasted vegetables with pan juices, chicken and pan sauce , and ¼ cup balsamic vinegar (add a little less at first and test it out.) Finally, add the cheese and basil and top with salt and pepper to taste or a dash of red pepper flakes if you like a little heat.

Enjoy with friends and a good bottle of dry chardonnay, or rioja.

It has been a while since I have typed my taste buds into words and posted. For this, I apologize. I have moved to a new city (Madison WI), crafted a grown up apartment (sort of) and started a new job. A job which pays for my meals when it travel, I might add.

For the average traveling Joe, free food would be a nice, but for me, this is an opportunity. I get to drop my penny pinching ways of college dining I was never very good at this anyway) and decide to order the fillet, so to speak.

My life is completely different than it was 6 months ago when my daily schedule involved studying the Latin American Politics and attending mid afternoon yoga classes followed. Now, I live in the working world and try to become a real human as much as possible. Indeed, my life got a makeover, and so will this blog.

I have a little disposable cash, a company credit card and an appetite. Let’s fly.

I promise to write about all things Wisconsin (the rumors are true, this really is the best cheese and the best beer around), but first, I have just returned from a week-long trip to Cincinnati where I worked myself to the bone, but also managed to eat a sea bass, a scallop and a mini burger all in one meal. 

Last Wednesday, I took myself on a date to Boca, a New American restaurant with Mediterranean and Italian influences.

Table for one! I said when I came through the door, and lucky for me, I got a spot at the “chef’s table.” This meant I was essentially dining in the kitchen. Eating alone is a personal experience; the flavors drive my thoughts as if each dish were an artful conversationalist, challenging my views of grilled frisee and the politics of over fishing.

Boca’s chef table over looks the 12 top range, wood fired oven, the square grilling station and the four men who made it all work. It was the hot seat, both literally and figuratively as I sweat ever so slightly beneath the oven’s heat and the questions from the Chicago-bred maitre’d. I still don’t have an answer to “what’s your best meal in the last six months?” question.

I ordered mainly on what looked good coming out of the kitchen. I knew right away that the tuna sashimi with tiny diced avocado and housemade ponzu sauce was happening. And then I witnessed the beauty of the hamburger slider with carmelly onions embedded in the meat that I knew this place was gastronomic therapy for the four straight 13 hour night shifts I had just completed.

Things started to get a little out of hand because this is what I ended up eating:

Granted, the Scallop was a little gift from the kitchen, but still. Ellie, indulge a little why don’t you.

There were two winners of the evening (besides myself simply for the privilege of eating), first, the slider. The meat and onion combination was silky and intoxicatingly meaty. Topped with strong cheddar on the classic, slight sweet hamburger bun, it was 2 square inches of heaven. The second winner was the seamless integration of bok choy, a traditional asian green into the Mediterranean themed sea bass. Held together with the buerre blanc, the dish capitalized on the bok choys eager character–each leaf soaking in the brininess from the yet at its core, maintaining its gentle spiciness that too often goes upraised in strip mall stir fries.

While there are no losers in a place like this, not dish can come in first place.  Boca’s signature scallop dish is very tasty, but their crown jewel, the caramelized Brussels sprouts don’t live up to the hype. It is a four hour process, they boasted to me.

That’s all well and good, but the butter overrode the vegetable’s character, which is a true shame especially during this season. Because scallops are naturally buttery and this dish needed the sprouts to bring a pungent or sharp counter point against the richness, or an additional ingredient to deliver a punch.

I left Boca in a full on food coma. The whole afternoon was really wonderful, I think i built the best Cincinnati date ever.  Start at the arboretum, then check out the sunset from the Cincinnati Art Institute’s white columned windows, wander around Mt Adams to take in the last rays of light before heading to Boca for a truly stellar meal.

After all of my adventuring, the prospect of waking the next morning at 4:30 AM was daunting, but at least I was fortified with good spirits, a wonderful staff and great flavors.

Thanks Cinci! See you in two weeks!