Inspired by Renoir: Roasted strawberry/arugula couscous + Greek lamb loukaniko

If you've never checked out Feasting On Art, you should do so immediately.  It really is one of the most inspired food blogs you'll find.  So when it's creator, Megan Fizell, posted a recipe contest, I was SO there.  The challenge?  To create a recipe inspired by Renoir's still life titled, very appropriately, Strawberries.  Creating recipes like this is the theme of Megan's blog and what makes it so wonderfully unique is her fantastic imagination.  I decided if I were to participate, I'd have to pull out all stops and leave caution at the door.  Thankfully, that's my favorite way to cook...

The inspiration: Renoir's Strawberries

I spent some time thinking about not just this painting, but the life of Renoir at the time of painting it, and the man himself.  This piece was done near the end of his career, a time when he abandoned elaborate design and focused on the simple and ruffled beauty of natural still lifes of roses and fruit.  There's a rustic and lush brightness in Strawberries.  Something in it makes me think of  a man that was content with his accomplishments and diving in to the simple pleasures within reach for us all, every day.

The PLC version of Strawberries

For me, the mention of Renoir recalls my Greek grandfather.  He loved the impressionists, as he loved good food.  He'd lived in Paris for years, worked in kitchens and as an apprentice tailor.  I remember him drawing shaky renditions of art he'd seen, then in his 80s, on scraps of paper and explained in frustrated broken English.  I also remember him bringing home loukaniko - a Greek sausage made with fennel seeds and orange rind.  So I thought making some for this would be perfect, made with ground lamb.  Seeing as I wanted to keep this simple, I wouldn't be going thru a full sausage-making process, however.  Just some simple patties seasoned the right way would do.

Of course, the loukaniko patties by themselves really don't show much Impressionist Era inspiration (brown lumps, not really art-worthy). I used couscous because it reminds me of the daubs of paint impressionists use, and of the pointillism works of the time.  I added the strawberries, roasted first to give them smokiness, and wild arugula to give it a nice peppery boost.  I used a Lebanese couscous I found at a grocer - it's the largest I've ever seen and I just couldn't pass it up.  Israeli couscous would work just as well, I'm sure, and be easier to find.

Recipe: Renoir's Roasted Strawberry and Arugula Couscous with Lamb Loukaniko 

What you need to get...

For the loukaniko patties...
1 pound ground lamb (other ground meats work as well)
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
The zest of one orange
A splash of red wine (1 tablespoon or so)
Red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds

For the couscous...
2 cups cooked Israeli couscous
1/2 cup shallots, sliced
2 cups wild arugula
1 cup hulled and halved strawberries
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

On the side... Greek-style yogurt

What to do with it all...

For the loukaniko, combine all the ingredients and form patties or links depending on your preference
I recommend broiling or pan frying on high heat (or grilling if available) until desired done-ness.  Set aside, loosely covered in tin foil until ready to use.  Reserve meat juice and fat to cook shallots. 

For the couscous, cook shallots on low heat either in meat juices from loukaniko or olive oil until translucent (4 -6 minutes)
Meanwhile, scatter strawberries in a cookie sheet with a lip, or onto tin foil (create a lip to catch juices) and place under broiler on highest setting.  Watch strawberries carefully and remove as soon as there is some blackening.  The time varies widely based on your broiler.  Remove and set aside until plating your finished dish.
When shallots are translucent, add your cooked couscous, arugula, lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Turn burner up to medium and toss.  Cook until heated thoroughly and arugula is slightly wilted (a couple of minutes).

Plate cous cous, top with loukaniko, strawberries and a dollop of yogurt!

Midweek Meals: Healthy, Quick Mediterranean Vegetable Saute

Vegetables are amazing.  In looking up nutritional content for the ingredients for a midweek meal, I learned some very nifty things about what I was eating...

Eggplant - Is a fabulous "diet" veggie.  It's low in fat and calories, high in thyroid-supporting manganese and a good source of fiber.  Another interesting thing about eggplant?  It has more nicotine than any other edible plant!  Though you'd have to eat a bushel of eggplant before you reached the concentration of nicotine found in just one cigarette, so it's probably not the best idea to light one up, sorry.

Cauliflower - Considered a "nutritionally dense" food, cauliflower is a happy place to find vitamin C and a host of phytochemicals to fight cancer.  There are also studies that show it may work as a estrogen regulator (due to indole-3-carbinol) and glucosinolates that could help your liver detoxify.  Happy news for pub crawlers!

Chickpeas (garbanzos) - A nice low-fat source of protien and fiber.  Tossing a can of these precooked babies into your veggies gives your 29% of your protien in every serving.


Green (or French) beans - Great for your bones as they contain 25% of your vitamin K in each serving (helps fight osteoperosis), and a good amount of calcium.  Many sources believe that green food sources of calcium are betterfor the body then dairy sources, too, by the way!  I know my favorite clinical professor way back when I was in school as a bodywork therapist always paraded that theory.

In 2010 I'm making efforts to revive an old way of eating that worked really well for me, but I just got away from.  On the weekdays, I would focus on vegetarian and seafood meals only and enjoy meat only on the weekends.  I always felt like I had great energy when I followed this with care.  The problem came in when I was too busy to make proper meals and ended up eating potato chip dinners.  Bad, bad!  That's where having some nice pre-planned recipes that I love come in handy.  For me, it's motivational to know why the foods I'm preparing are good for me, too, so I've been doing my research!

Essentially, these recipes are going into a sort of food journal for me to improve my eating habits.  In doing so, I figured why not share them with all of you, too?  I'm planning to add some recipes that are based on fun healthy foods lists (if such a thing can be called fun?) such as the recent New York Times article on The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating (thanks to Cheryl for printing that out for me!).

So what do you think?  Would you like to see more recipes like this one?  What are some of your favorite healthy foods to include in weekday meals? 

Recipe: Healthy Quick Medditerrean Vegetable Sautè

What you need...

1 can chickpeas
3 cups chopped eggplant
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 pound whole fresh green beans
3 cups chopped cauliflower florets
2/3 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon dry dill (or small bunch of chopped fresh)
1 tablespoon dry oregano (or small bunch chopped fresh)
1 tablespoon dry mint (or small bunch chopped fresh)
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 cup vegetable stock or water
Olive oil for sauteing
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do with it all...

• Heat (on medium) enough olive oil in a large heavy bottom sautè pan to coat it
• Add your onions and cauliflower florets and allow to sautè for 3 mins or until they get a fragrant
  
• Add eggplant, red pepper and green beans and cook for another 5 - 8 minutes on medium, stirring occassionally
• Add all the rest of your ingredients, toss/stir to combine and cook on medium-low until cauliflower is just fork tender (about 10 mins)
• Serve over rice!

Pursuits in baking - Easy Blueberry Lemon Bundt

So, I've decided to start baking more.  I've hesitant to bake much for years, limiting myself to just flipping thru baking and decorating books and vicariously making alterations and imagining the perfect, awe-inspring results.  The reality, I felt, would be much different.  Exploding muffin tins, caved cheesecakes and gravity-oppressed souffles haunt my dreams.

I'm not exactly sure why I have this primal fear of desserts.  Perhaps starting up now will reveal a repressed memory of a bananas foster gone wrong setting my pigtails a-flame as a child?  Or maybe in another life I was flattened by a rogue 50 lbs bag of flour that leapt from a high shelf at the General Store?  More likely it's a simple fear of failure... and the mess this will turn my kitchen into on a regular basis.

All of that being said, I'm excited to branch out into the baking world... and to be sharing it with all of you.  Hopefully they're be lots of fun to be had, and probably a disaster or two to laugh about.  I mean, seriously, look what I do when I just taking PICTURES of baked things.

I thought I'd start out with some baby steps here and explore a couple of recipes that almost require a cake mix.  I say "require" because I've learned the hard way that adding things willy-nilly to pre-set cake recipes can get you into lots of trouble.  Boxed cake mixes, besides being fool-proof, contain emulsifiers that allow you throw in additions without making much, if any, changes to the mix recipe.

So here is my first project.  Be sure to check out the wonderful Carol Egbert's site for another project I guest posted on rainbow cupcakes using all-natural color - it should be up soon!


Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Burst Bundt Cake

What you'll need...
One box vanilla or white cake mix (you can also use lemon if you really want lemony cake!)
PLUS
Whatever ingredients the cake mix calls for
1 cup of plain yogurt (you can also use blueberry yogurt to really up the blueberry flavor!)
1 cup frozen or fresh blueberries
1/2 cup water
The zest and juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon of turmeric (optional, for bright yellow color - don't worry, your cake won't taste like turmeric!)

Special equipment: 12 cup bundt pan, small sauce pan, hand blender or food processor

What to do with it all...

Preheat oven to temperature according to boxed mix for a bundt pan
Liberally grease your bundt pan 
Add blueberries and water to a small saucepan to simmer for 5 mins, or until thawed (if using frozen) then allow to cool
Mix all cake mix ingredients according to directions, folding in the cup of yogurt, lemon juice and zest and optional turmeric
Puree your blueberries using a hand blender or food processor/stand blender
Pour puree into your cake batter, but do not stir
Pour batter into your bundt pan and bake according to box instructions (your cake may take a little longer because of the additions)
Remove after baking and allow to cool before inverting and removing
Glaze with a simple syrup, honey or simply dust with powdered sugar!