I enjoy cooking. I don’t find it to be either a chore or an obligation. And because I enjoy cooking, cookbooks and kitchen tools make successful gifts and presents. I’ve gotten carving knives, gourmet olive oils and vinegars, and blog- and New Orleans- themed cookbooks from friends and family. On my 30th birthday, Caitlin made me a doughnut cake, with the additional gift of the doughnut cake pans that helped to bake that cake.
More recently, I received a tagine, …
Every so often, I like to treat myself to a steak. During the week, I often settle for a cold sandwich of almond-butter and jelly, chicken salad, or sliced turkey. Lunch is unabashedly dull. If I have the energy, I try to make something more exciting for dinner: fish, perhaps, or even arepas, the Venezuelan corn cakes that I recently discovered.
Fish and arepas are appealing because they are quick and easy to cook. But so is steak and so is couscous (provided I don’t make it more complicated than necessary). And unlike a broiling fish, there’s a certain pleasure in hearing the sizzle of the steak, as the hot iron meets the cool, raw side of the meat. After a quick flip and a few minutes in the oven, the steak is cooked, leaving you five minutes of eager anticipation, as the steak cools and cooks under its foil tent.
If you remember to marinate the …
Making the perfect couscous is kind of like doing laundry. It requires washing, drying, steaming, and sorting. Just boiling a pot of water is not going to cut it. The same way wrinkled sweat pants don’t quite compare with creased slacks, instant couscous has nothing on old-fashioned Moroccan-style couscous.
And just as dressing well takes effort, so does making the perfect couscous. But if you have the time, it is well worth the effort. You will need …
Not every couscous recipe has to be served with dinner. Seffa, a couscous sweetened with cinnamon, sugar, and rosewater, is one of the more common couscous-based desserts. This recipe …
Couscous is not a grain, as you might think, but a semolina paste. In fact, couscous is made from the same wheat semolina flour used to make commercial spaghetti.
Couscous originated in the Maghreb, today’s North Africa, and owes its origins to the Berbers, an indigenous people of the region. The Saracen conquest of Europe in the 7th and 8th Centuries is believed to have introduced the dish to the Western world.
Owing to its origins, couscous is often served …