Joanne's Easy Bake: Simple Couscous Salad

Joanne's Easy Bake: Simple Couscous Salad: It was my first try at making couscous salad and I thought it would compliment my baked salmon, mixed beans salad and fresh spinach...

Simple Couscous Salad

It was my first try at making couscous salad and I thought it would compliment my baked salmon, mixed beans salad and fresh spinach salad with Caesar dressing. It did and was really refreshing and delicious. Couscous turned out to be Matthew's favorite. This recipe was adapted from Laura Vitale's. I added pickled banana ring peppers to add some heat to the bland taste. You may use any feta cheese but I chose to use goat milk feta in brine in this recipe.

Simple Couscous Salad

Ingredients

1 cup couscous

1 cup cold water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro (parsley)

2 tomatoes

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1 English cucumber

2 tablespoons chopped pickled banana ring peppers

Dash of freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup feta cheese

Method

1. Place couscous, water and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to boil in medium heat. Stir occasionally to prevent couscous sticking to pot. Once water is totally absorbed, turn off heat to low and cook for another 2 minutes. Then cover pot and turn off heat. Let couscous sit in the pot for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, transfer into and let cool in a large mixing bowl.

2. Wash and wipe dry all vegetables - cilantro, cucumber and tomatoes. Chopped cilantro and banana ring peppers finely; remove seeds from cucumber and tomatoes and cut lengthwise into 1/8" strips and then across into small cubes.

3. Place all cut and chopped vegetables into the mixing bowl with the couscous. Zest lemon and add the juice of lemon (please do not include the lemon seeds!). Add freshly ground black pepper and feta cheese. Toss and mix well. Add salt to taste if you would like it saltier.

Serve with your entree or other favorite side dishes. We served this for Christmas with the children's grandmother who likes something plain and simple. Enjoy!

Joanne's Easy Bake: Almond Butter Cookies

Joanne's Easy Bake: Almond Butter Cookies: Although Christmas and New Year are over, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year are just around the corner. I promised my sister-in-la...

Almond Butter Cookies

Although Christmas and New Year are over, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year are just around the corner. I promised my sister-in-law, Kar Yee, to upload this cookie recipe for her before Christmas, but couldn't make it in time. You might be able to find some time to make these rather easy butter cookies for guests who popped by and enjoy with coffee or tea. The best thing about this cookie dough is that you can do things in two stages. Get the dough prepared and freeze them until you are ready to bake them.

Equipment and things required

Electric stand mixer with paddle attachment

A Sturdy Spatula

2 Baking trays or cookie sheets

Parchment paper

Cookie cutters of various shapes

A rolling pin

Measuring cups and spoons

Wire rack

Mixing bowls

Basic Butter Cookie Dough

Ingredients

2 cups (1 pound) unsalted butter at room temperature

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

6 cups all-purpose flour (measure out using the scoop and level method)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoon salt

A little extra flour to flour your work surface

To make almond cookies, add

2 cups coarsely chopped toasted almonds

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

Method

Preheat oven to 350 F and line two cookie trays to alternate when baking.

1, Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a separate bowl and set aside until ready to use.

2. Place butter in the mixing bowl and cream butter starting from slow to medium speed until butter is softened.

3. Add sugar and beat on high speed until mixture is light and fluffy.

4. Beat in eggs, one at a time and scrape down sides of bowl each time before adding the next egg. Beat until all eggs are incorporated fully.

5. Add vanilla extract. (Add the pure almond extract together with the vanilla extract if making almond cookies).

6. Add sifted flour in three separate batches into the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until everything is well combined. It will form a sticky dough.

(To make almond cookies, add the coarsely chopped toasted almond after the flour mixture had been added and well combined). Run the mixer on low to combine the almonds to the dough.

7. Scrape the dough out of the mixing bowl onto a well floured work top and gather the dough together and form into a disc or a log. If dough is too soft and sticky to cut into shapes, refrigerate for a least 30 minutes before using. (At this point, if you do not wish to bake the cookies immediately, you may wrap the cookie dough with plastic wrap and place them in a freezer bag and freeze until you wish to bake them. Just bring it back to room temperature by first letting it defrosts completely in the fridge and leave it out at room temperature once defrosted).  

8. Take dough out from refrigerator and leave at room temperature for 10 minutes. Flatten dough to 1/ 8" with a rolling pin on a lightly floured work top and cut using your favorite cookie cutters. (Do not use too much flour on your work top).

9. Place each cookie onto a lined baking tray, spacing them out and bake until golden brown, approximately 15 - 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Then store in an air-tight container until ready to serve.

*You may wish to add 1/3 cup of desiccated coconut in addition to the almonds to your cookie dough. If you do, you will have to increase the sugar from 1-1/2 cups to 1-2/3 cups.

Happy chatting and dunking into your favorite cup of latte!