This was a dish I made while I was in France…since my dad was in the hospital, my mom and I just cooked simple meals because by 1pm we needed to be at the hospital. Tagines are wonderful if you don’t have to much time to eat but still want to enjoy a healthy and flavorful meal. Clay pot cooking is one of my favorites, and as soon as you try it, you will have a difficult time going back to a regular-pan cooking. It preserves all the aromas of each ingredient and infuses all the flavors together.

Like in papillotes, you can cook anything you like in tagines, just be creative, with a little audacity, and you’ll get a fabulous dish. A couple of years ago, it was not as easy to find a tagine claypot, but nowadays, most stores carry them (at least in California);  tagines are becoming more trendy, simply because it has traveled outside borders and everyone has discovered their health benefits, and still keeping amazing aromas.

I have seen many types of couscous in France (in France we call the actual grain semoule, couscous being the Algerian dish, made with vegetables, meat and semoule) different kinds of whole grains, such as kamut, quinoa, spelt, etc…since my mom had diabetes, I tried to make dishes that were good for her, or at least that did not aggravate her diabetes. This quinoa couscous is a perfect grain to go with any tagine. Of course people who don’t like squid can use other ingredients such as shrimps, or white fish. I kept the couscous simple with no major strong flavors, to really enjoy the tagine broth, couscous being a minor addition in this meal, necessary but secondary.

Ingredients for 3

• 1 lb squid
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 1/2 leeks, cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 lb fava bean, peeled
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp ras-el-hanout
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 inch ginger, grated
• salt and pepper

For the quinoa couscous

• 140 g quinoa semolina
• 1 tbs olive oil
• vegetable broth
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt
• cracked pepper

Preparation

For the tagine

Heat olive oil in tagine and brown the onions. Add leeks and cook for about 5 minutes. Add squid, and all other ingredients except for the fava beans. Mix all ingredients well. Bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook fava beans for three minutes. Remove from heat, drain and peel fava beans. 10 minutes before end of cooking time, add fava beans to the tagine, cover and let it cook for another 10 minutes. Sprinkle with fennel leaves or mint and serve with couscous.

For the quinoa couscous

Proceed like for a regular wheat couscous. Bring vegetable broth to a boil. Coat couscous with olive oil using your fingers. Add broth to the couscous, cover and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Using a fork, separate the grains, add lemon juice and cracked pepper. Adjust with salt if necessary. For broth quantity, I cover the couscous with 5mm of extra broth above couscous.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2011/03/ocean-tagine-tagine-with-squid-fava-beans-and-leeks-and-simple-pepper-quinoa-couscous/feed/ 10 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/12/did-you-say-comfort-saffron-rice-with-vegetables-and-squid-on-wilted-spinach/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=did-you-say-comfort-saffron-rice-with-vegetables-and-squid-on-wilted-spinach http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/12/did-you-say-comfort-saffron-rice-with-vegetables-and-squid-on-wilted-spinach/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:01:41 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=12646 Riz saffrané aux légumes et calamars sur épinards sautés

If you don’t like squid, you can use anything you like, such as shrimps, mussels, chicken, etc…I have a little weakness for strange things coming from the sea with tentacles, so you’ll find many recipes on this blog with squid, octopus, etc…

The rice was cooked like paella along with the vegetables and the broth, but it’s definitely not paella. It’s a simple dish that would fit in the category “comfort food” even though I don’t like to think of food as being comforting. It makes me feel that at some point, it replaces a friend and that is a strange perception. I don’t think there is a translation in French for “comfort food”, I would think the closest word would be “appaisant” or “calmant“, appeasing? calming?

The presentation is not that delicate, nor elegant, but it is indeed colorful. This is one of those dishes you really enjoy when you have a craving of rice, seafood and greens but also when you don’t have time to “take care” of your dish. It just cooks by itself with no surveillance.

In a week from today I will be on a flight to go home, let’s hope by then the bad weather will no longer be bad…so that means eating a lot of seafood. In France during the Christmas holidays, seafood is all over, crab, lobster, oysters, etc…and its the time of the year when seafood it’s the freshest.

Ingredients for 4

• 9.87 oz (or 280 g) basmati rice
• 1 lb squid, cleaned
• 2 shallots, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienne
• 2 zucchini, julienne
• 1 fennel, chopped
• 1 dose saffron
• 16 fl oz vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp paprika

For the spinach

• 2 bunches spinach
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• zest of 1 lemon
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Heat olive oil in a large pan. Add shallots and garlic, stir. Add vegetable julienne, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add saffron and stir. Add rice. Coat the rice with oil. Add broth where saffron had been infused. Then add squid. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cover with a lid and cook at low temperature for about 15-20 minutes.

For the spinach, heat olive oil in a pan, add garlic. Stir a little without burning the garlic, add washed and drained spinach. Adjust with salt and pepper. Cook until the spinach are soft.

Divide spinach in each dish and spoon over calamari-rice on top.

It looks like I am on some seafood addiction lately, I understand it can get boring for people not fond of seafood. I bought extra calamari when I made the stew to be able to use in some other dish.

That wonderful little cereal used here, barley is one of my favorites. What I love about barely is that it always remains firm, so you always get that crunchy and a very pleasant little chewy bite. I used pearl barley whose bran layer has been removed (vs. bran barley) its size doubles volume when cooked due to its high content in fibers. It contains a lot of minerals and vitamins therefore makes it a perfect nutritious and healthy grain with low glycemic index. Orzo in Italian means barely and not “orzo pasta”.

The consumption of barley goes back to Greek and Roman civilizations due to its nutritious properties, the easiness of its transportation and long preservation, it’s supposed to be one of the most ancient grain that can be retraced back to the Egyptians.

In Italy, Orzo is also used in making a drink mixture called “caffè d’orzo“, basically it’s a powder like coffee (you can either dissolve it in hot water like instant coffee or preapre it in a moka maker) and used like coffee with milk to be served for breakfast. Its consumption as a drink started in the XVIII e century among peasants and continued throughout the years. It was mostly a drink consumed by elderly and kids for its healing properties, it’s nowadays served “al bar” (coffee shop) like espresso and is even more expensive. I love my bowl of caffè d’orzo, sometimes that’s my dinner!

I love saffron barley as much as I love saffron risotto, sometimes I just like something that has a less creamy texture than risotto, more chewy and fluffy, so barley or farro are my first choices. You can make this dish with farro too, it has equally lots of great nutrients. This barley dish has tons of character with the presence of saffron and gives it a distinct Mediterranean flair. A simple and flavorful dish very easy to prepare, un ottimo primo piatto molto gustoso ma veloce da preparare!

Ingredients for 2

• 6.34 oz (or 180 g) barley
• 1/2 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 dose saffron
• vegetable broth
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/3 tsp paprika
• 5.20 oz (or 150 g) calamari, (either already cleaned or not)
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start preparing the barley like a risotto. In a pot, heat 1 tbs olive oil, then add shallot and brown. Infuse saffron in lukewarm broth. Add barley, coat with olive oil and progressively add broth, adjust with salt and pepper (I did not use white wine like in a traditional risotto nor parmesan) and proceed until barley is cooked. You want the barley to have absorbed all the liquid unlike in a risotto, the barley needs to be somehow “dry”.

In a pan, heat 1 tbs olive oil, add garlic and stir. Add calamari, paprika, salt and pepper and sauté at high heat until calamari are cooked but not rubbery and still tender. Reduce a little of the liquid, but keep some.

When barley is cooked, add to the calamari pan, and mix well until the juice has been absorbed by barley. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot.

I got a beautiful book for my birthday called Culina Mediterranea, the book must weight about 10 lb, is 4 inches thick, I can only read the book if it’s laying on a table, it’s too heavy to carry and impossible to be reading it in bed. This pavé (=rock) gathers the best recipes from some top chefs in the Mediterranean countries, such as Southern France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Marocco. There is not one recipe to throw away, they’re all so inviting, creative and delicious. I simply love that book, so from now on, I will dig maybe once every two weeks a recipe and just post it. This one is a recipe from Alain Carro who is a restaurateur in Provence. Do you know Alain Carro? Probably not, not sure he is famous in the US, but he is in France. He is not as popular as Alain Ducasse, Paul Bocuse or Joël Robuchon, but he still managed to get one star at the Michelin for his restaurant Le Castellaras located in Fayence. He himself got inspired for this dish by the creation of another famous chef Roger Vergé who lives close to Cannes.

I loved that recipe right away, I get tired of stuffed squid with crumbs, garlic and parsley, and this one was very appealing, the combination of artichokes, Pastis, white wine and squid convinced me to make it, and I knew it would be delicious. I don’t know about you, but most of the time, I know right away if I will like the recipe or not. I did not change anything to the recipe other than I used only olive oil instead of a combination of butter and olive oil. I am giving you the original recipe, you can substitute the butter with olive oil if you wish. Pastis adds a wonderful final touch of anis/fennel taste, and who can complain about the quantity of garlic? Certainly not me.

Squid remains a very popular dish in Mediterranean regions, and easy to prepare. My favorite part are the tentacles, they always remain a little hard on the bite but I love their texture. Artichokes we have in France are called “poivrade” and we eat the stem too, the are elongated and a little more purple that Californian artichokes. This dish has all the ingredients and flavors of Provencale cuisine. So if you want to take a trip to Provence, just start here.

Ingredients for 4

• 16 baby artichokes
• 1 lemon
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise in 1/4 inch think slices
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 chicken bouillon cube
• 1 1/4 baby squid
• 1/8 stick butter (or 10 g)

For the parsley butter

• 1/4 stick (or 20 g) butter
• 1 bunch parsley
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp Pastis or pernaud
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start with trimming the artichokes, remove the hard part, and the top of the leaves. Place artichokes in water with lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring.

Heat butter and olive oil in a pan, add squid for 1-2 minutes until firm and the water evaporated. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a skillet, add carrots, onions, garlic and bouquet garni (mixture of herbs, such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, etc…). Saute all the vegetables and bouquet garni for a few minutes, add salt and pepper.

Drain artichokes and add them to the pan of vegetables. Saute until the vegetables are golden brown. Sweat the vegetables on low heat for 15 minutes.

Deglaze the skillet with the white wine, and saute the vegetables for 5 minutes. Add bouillon cube and stir until it has dissolved.

Mix butter with parsley and garlic, add pastis. Add this mixture to the squid. Deglaze the pan with pastis. Season with salt and pepper and arrange in a plate, garnish with some chervil.