Talin’s Ultimate Couscous Salad Recipe

I would like to introduce to you a very healthy, flavorful, Couscous Salad recipe, which is full of essential nutrients, which will get your taste buds active and will want the whole salad bowl to yourself. Yes, it is that good! Couscous is one of my favorite things to add to vegetables, and add so much flavor with it. Excellent choice to serve at dinner parties, or regular dinners, for lunch, for dinner, anytime. Here is The Ultimate Couscous Salad Recipe.

Couscous Salad Recipe
Serves: 4 or more. depending on how much quantity you would like to prepare. play around with the amount of ingredients to your desire.

Ingredients…
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups pearl couscous
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 full cucumber, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 large tomato, diced…. preferably tomato on a vine…
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh herbs (any combination of fresh parsley, cilantro, arugula, basil, dill or mint)
• 1/3 cup raisins or more to your tasting
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted or not. you can just add them in.
• Freshly ground black pepper and salt

To Prepare follow these instructions…
1. In a large saucepan, bring about 2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of salt to a boil. Add couscous and cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Drain with a strainer — preferably thin holed strainer so the couscous will not fall through.

2. While the couscous cooks, in a small bowl, mix the oil, mustard, honey, lemon juice and zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

3. Add cooked and drained couscous to a large bowl, and then, pour dressing over warm couscous, mix well. Let it cool completely

4. After cooled completely, Add cucumber, tomato, herbs, raisins and walnuts to the couscous and stir. Taste for seasoning and add salt and/or pepper as needed.

5. Enjoy it when its cold – cover then refrigerate, about 1 hour. Better to eat cool…

Bon Apetit!

In The Kitchen With Stefano Faita

Recently, I discovered an incredible, wonderful and not to mention great looking chef on television on CBC. I was flipping through the channels one time and I really enjoy cooking shows, so I stopped on CBC’s channel while I saw this cooking show, and I saw that it was In The Kitchen with Stefano Faita, so I started to watch his cooking show, and I automatically knew it was a show I would like then I began to love it. I cannot wait to watch his show daily and especially, by the way Chef Stefano explains the way to cook food, incredibly easy methods, very tasty, full of flavour foods of which I like. I love to cook myself and I can tell that he is not afraid of adding a lot of flavour and he is always enthusiastic and excited when it comes to food.

This past week, I had the pleasure of speaking with Chef Stefano Faita during his chat that he had set up for his fans to ask him questions, and he gave me tips and tricks on what to do with stir fry when it becomes too liquidy, to always make sure my wok is hot and to make sure the liquid from the meat and vegetables dry out before putting in the soya sauce or whatever seasoning , and I had also asked him how to make pasta from scratch and he explained it to me thoroughly and I got to see his recipes and he answered me so quickly because it was an hour chat with him. He seems to be such a great person all around and I am so glad I got that moment to talk with him. I’d love to meet Chef Stefano Faita someday and enjoy his food that he makes with his magic chef hands. I am really impressed, and there are foods and ingredients that I never knew of until I learned them from Stefano. I enjoy chopping, dicing and the way he handles food. He is a natural.

I have learned so much about cooking from him that, I cannot wait to try his recipes at home to feed my family, friends and when people come over whether it’s for the holidays, occasions or for no reason, just to hang out with great company and great food in the mix, that will keep people coming back for more as Stefano says while he is cooking on Television.

You can catch In The Kitchen with Stefano Faita on CBC at 3:30pm Monday-Friday’s  in Canada or you can go to www.cbc.ca/inthekitchen to obtain more information, Stefano’s recipes, and where you can connect with him on Facebook, Twitter and more. You can also go to a taping of his show and be part of his audience. I wish Stefano Faita the best and May you continue working with those Magic Chef hands that you are so gifted with.

Talin’s Cauliflower Pilaf Rice Medley With Ground Beef

Hello, as you may or may not know, I love the kitchen and cooking and baking and here is the recipe for today.

What you need:

Half a cauliflower — Cauliflower must be washed, then cut up into bite sized pieces.

3 Cups of Parboiled Rice — Washed well of about 3-4 times —

3 tablespoons of Margarine Butter

1 Extra Lean or Lean Ground beef — about 1 cup full or 2 cups full

1 and a half teaspoon of Nutmeg

1 teaspoon of All Spice.

2 teaspoons of salt

A handful or two of each of —- Pine Nuts, Slivered Almonds, Walnuts in pieces. Not too small though, —-

3 Teaspoons of Olive Oil

————-

How to Prepare:

Take a large pot

First you cook the ground beef well done with the Margarine butter, then you add in the Nutmeg, Allspice, Salt after it is cooked thoroughly –

as the meat is cooking in a separate pan with the olive oil, you incorporate the pine nuts, slivered almonds and walnuts and get them to a golden brown. Do not let it burn. take it off the burner… KEEP THIS UNTIL THE END

then you go back to the meat, as you cook that take the washed cauliflower and distribute it evenly and do not mix with the meat….

then you put the washed rice over the cauliflower and spread it evenly — AGAIN DO NOT MIX

then you add the Finishing touch of the pine nuts, slivered almonds and walnuts —- AGAIN DO NOT MIX.

Then you take 6 and a half to 7 cups of water – put into the pot and let it come to a boil,

after it comes to a boil, put the pot cover and leave it slightly open about an inch or half an inch and put the stove onto medium and leave it cooking for about 10-15 minutes. depending how long the water fades. it can be more.

You don’t want the rice to be mushy. just make it al dente…..

BON APETIT!

Grocery Shopping – A Cool Story

The other day, I had gone Grocery Shopping in the meat produce section of the store and all of a sudden I was just talking to myself on cooking and finding new ways to cook chicken with different spices and herbs and sauces, and all of a sudden there were about 3 or 4 people who are women around me wondering what I was saying and they heard me talk to myself, then they started asking me questions, what do you do to cook chicken? What spices do you use? I said I use different spices and mix them together, then make my own sauce with the ingredients I buy. I said I usually cook chicken with a sweet and sour twist to it, and I make sure that I bathe my chicken in a lot of sauce, marinate it and all that. They said oh wow, that is great. They told me you must be an expert cook and you must do all the cooking in the house. I said, yes I do. I love to cook for my family and I enjoy creating new types of recipes and experimenting with flavours, spices, sauces, herbs, and more. We became instant friends and we took each others contact information and now we are in touch and share with each other our recipes, and soon we will be getting together for coffee to discuss our food preparations and more.

It is so amazing how people cross your path and especially from a grocery store, so Thank goodness I was talking to myself. I thought it was strange talking to myself while grocery shopping, but it was really cool to get my thoughts rolling and enjoying my time shopping. I love grocery shopping and I always look at prices and sales from the flyer.  They are very nice ladies and 2 of them were together shopping, the other one was just alone shopping, and we ended up having a 15-20 minute conversation by the meats about food, and everything. They love watching the food channel and they are avid cookers and love baking too. I am so happy to have found them as we share the same interests. You meet people where you least expect it, and its an ideal place to meet in a grocery store. A lot of people have asked me questions at the grocery store, but this one struck out the most. I wasn’t going to go shopping that day, but then I ended up doing so anyway, so I was glad I did.

So excited to get together with them. probably this coming week. lets see. Has it ever happened to you where you meet people in a grocery store or where you least expect it? Did you make friends with them? Do you enjoy meeting new people all the time? I was really happy with meeting them.

Stay Tuned For My Armenian/Middle Eastern Recipe Week Starting December 8 – 15, 2012

Hello everyone, due to popular demand and many people wanting to know about different types of food I eat, prepare and what my ethnic background eats, how it is prepared, what spices, herbs, among specific amounts to everything. I will be featuring an array and variety of Armenian and Middle Eastern foods that a lot of people are interested in. It is coming time to Christmas celebrations and gatherings with the family, and it is timely and it gets people to think about different recipes and create a new masterpiece in everything. So basically I will be writing and posting about different recipes that I have cooked myself, have learned from my family and friends, and basically what we love to eat with appetizers, deserts, dinner, breakfast, lunch, baking different cakes, pastries, salads, finger foods, meatballs, soups, among other delicious types of food. It will be quite exciting to me to share with the world my favourite Armenian and Middle Eastern Dishes. So stay tuned and get your taste buds ready for a new world in the culinary world and among everything else. Enjoy and have great Christmas and enjoy the holidays and every other day. 🙂

The Saffron Spice – A Documentary Watched

I was watching this extremely interesting documentary about the spice Saffron. I never knew how incredibly important this spice really was until I watched it on a special programming. These farmers when they go out to pick Saffron from the purplish flower they get this spice from, I never knew how important it was to them as they have safes to lock it up and some say its they’re life, its they’re livelihood. I couldn’t believe how much of an effect a spice has for people and its the way they make a living. Saffron comes from many countries like Morocco, Spain and other parts of the world. Saffron is extremely difficult to take out from the flower and its a long process from it being harvested and brought to their small villages where later the ladies and men pick them. Now the Saffron flower has a special season where they grow it and it is the most expensive spice in the world to date. The following links actually gives a little more information and description as to what I am talking about. There is just so much information on this beautiful spice that this is a big deal for some people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffron

http://www.saffron.com/what.html

Since learning about Saffron, I have a new profound respect and appreciation as I love to learn about interesting things like this and watch educational and wonderful shows that teach people about different things. I try to saturate myself with educational programs, documentaries, how things are made, and things that are worthwhile to watch on TV. I knew what saffron was because when I go to spice shops and supermarkets, they sell them there and they are so expensive and tonight when I watched the documentary, I finally knew the reason why this was such a valuable ingredient and resource of our life. I couldn’t believe how incredible and beautiful it really is. I just hope people around the world appreciate these spices and where it comes from. It is not easy to produce spices and in the same show they spoke about Vanilla as well and I just cannot believe how big of a process it is. We must learn to appreciate the spices we have and look at them closely and think that oh wow, these spices were harvested through hard work and how the earth’s resources are such a valuable thing and some try to preserve them as much as possible. We should be grateful for what we have in our pantries. Now although we may have the powdered kinds of some spices, but in the show I watched on TVO explained the real saffron from a fake and they did experiments from different saffrons from different countries and regions of the world. This was so interesting to me that I have to blog about it today. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before and I want to travel to Spain and Morocco and experience the Saffron harvesting myself and go to the villages and be with people whom take so much pride into it. What a beautiful thing.

Talin’s Chicken Marinade…

Whether it is Chicken Drumsticks, Chicken Legs, Chicken Leg Quarters, here is a marinade for you…
Chickens and Porks are meant to have a sweet and sour flavour to it but here I am to explain to you how to marinade good chicken…
1. Make sure the chicken is thawed out thoroughly. Wash the Chicken, Keep the Skin on, but wash out the other stuff all throughout, get into the outside bone areas and wash that red stuff… Make sure Chicken is washed in Luk-warm water.
After cooking you may take off the skin if you wish… It is recommended… The Skin is kept on to leave it tender during cooking….
— In a mixing bowl
2. Put 3 tablespoons of Dark Brown OR  Brown Sugar

3. 1 teaspoon of Allspice

4. cut and mash 3 cloves of Garlic with a garlic squeezer

5. 4-5 tablespoons of Soya Sauce

6. then Put about 5 tablespoons some Diana Sauce Rib and Chicken Sauce…

7. Mix them together..
DEPENDING ON how much chicken you have, you have to bathe all the chicken evenly with the marinade! SO Add or subtract any of the above as desired to make a great tasting Chicken!
—-
8. then put the mix onto the Chicken. Make sure every single part of the Chicken is marinated. — Keep Marinated for 1 hour…
9. Then Take a pan on a stove top or a machine skillet
10. 2 to 3 cups of water so that the Chicken will cook.. —
11… Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, then serve…  If you want to taste the sauce. it is recommended you taste the sauce after 35 minutes of cooking while keeping the lid closed. If more spices and sauces desired from any of them up top, then do so.
BON APETIT!