Clean the Pantry Salad

First things first: I have a wee bit of virtual housekeeping to take care of. If you look to the right of this post, you'll see a whole bunch of fun stuff, some of which could use a little explaining. As you might notice, Red Ramekin is now a featured publisher on Foodbuzz. Honestly, I have no idea a) how we became a "featured publisher," or b) what a "featured publisher" actually is. But it seems cool, and Foodbuzz itself is a pretty cool website. Think Facebook, but yummier. The site connects a whole bunch of foodies from around the world, and bloggers can submit recipes, photos, restaurant reviews, and blog posts to the site. You can "vote" for your favorite items to give them more "buzz" ... or something like that. If you want to "vote" for me, click the button!

Next, of course, is the Daring Bakers stuff, which I've already explained. If you want to see other Daring Bakers, though, click on the Daring Bakers Blogroll. Then comes the newest addition to the extraneous stuff: Food Blog Search. Food Blog Search is actually a really great search engine that runs through Google. You can search over 2000 blogs (Red Ramekin is one of them!) for recipes, ideas, or whatever. And to think...you thought Epicurious was nifty! So last year.

Way down below is the Foodie Blogroll, which is being continually updated with new food blogs. Tasty!

Ok, so now that the virtual housekeeping is out of the way, how about some real housekeeping? And by housekeeping, I of course mean pantry cleaning. Jonathan and I are moving in a few weeks, which has inspired me to go on a pantry-emptying rampage. I don't mean tossing things in the trash, either. We're talking about ways to make dinner out of that handful of lentils in the back of the cabinet, or how to bake a cake using a half-cup of blue cornmeal, a forgotten bag of dried apricots, and a baggie-full of anise seeds (all things that happen to be in the cabinet at this very moment).


I hate throwing away food, but I'm not psyched about transporting all of those dried grains and other foodstuffs to the new apartment, even if it is only a few miles away from 20 Ellery. As a result, we have officially entered the pantry cleaning days, during which I plan to use up as much stuff and purchase as little stuff as is humanly possible. This may be as close as I get to Top Chef, so I plan to enjoy the challenge.

In fact, I enjoyed the challenge very much the other night, when I came up with a surprisingly tasty kamut salad. Before I go into the joys of pronouncing the word "kamut," I will say that the nature of this challenge is such that it becomes harder with time. This salad benefited from a rather healthy variety of pantry-stuffs, including a jar of artichoke hearts, some rogue pine nuts, a chunk of feta, and a gaggle of capers. I'm not sure I want to think about what my options will be come May 20, but for now they aren't so bad.


But back to the kamut - pronounced kuh-MOOT. Kamut is an heirloom variety of wheat, characterized by having significantly larger grains (berries) and being higher in protein than traditional hard or soft wheat. We can discuss my bulk bin addiction at some other time, but for now suffice it say that we have lots of baggies with lots of nearly indistinguishable whole grains to keep us occupied for a while. One of these was full of whole kamut grains, so I decided to give them a soak and make something with them.

I'm pretty proud of myself for having used up so many ingredients, and for making something that was so tasty, to boot. The pine nuts in this salad were an unenthusiastic add-in, but were actually the perfect savory touch to this slightly acid-heavy salad. The roasted tomatoes and artichoke hearts added some great color, texture, and vegetable-ness to the mix, and the feta tied it all together. To top it all off, there was a suspicious-looking half onion hanging out in the fridge, so I diced that up, roasted it with the tomatoes, and tossed it in for some flavor. And what else? The capers were...capers. No complaints on that front. A little vinegar, olive oil, and seasoning, and this clean-the-pantry salad was born.


I'll include a (loose) recipe for the salad here, but the spirit of the dish is really using things that are taking up space in the cupboard. To follow this recipe, then, you may actually have to not follow it all....it's pretty meta.

A note about kamut, and other non-polished whole grains: these are not the things of 30-minute meals. They require a leisurely soak (I soaked the kamut for about 24 hours), and then a leisurely simmer (1 1/2 - 2 hours). I cooked the kamut in an excess of liquid so that I could let it simmer all afternoon without my having to worry about my liquid evaporating. Even after all of that cooking though, the grains still had a nice bite to them. I'm pretty sure you could cook them forever and they'd still be "al dente." But just think of all of the fiber you'll be eating! So here's my loose recipe. Use it for ideas or inspiration, or, if you aren't planning a move in the next month, use it to make this tasty salad.

Clean the Pantry Kamut Salad

1 c. kamut grains, soaked for a day
about 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
half a medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, smashed with the back of a knife
handful of capers
1 small jar of artichoke hearts (drained and rinsed if they are "marinated")
large handful of toasted pine nuts
small chunk of feta cheese, crumbled
about 2 tbs. olive oil
splash of balsamic vinegar
generous salt, pepper, and seasonings
additional olive oil, salt, and pepper for roasting onion and tomatoes

Directions:
Soak kamut for a long, long time. Once soaked, cook kamut for a long, long time, in about 6 c. of salted water or broth. After about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, kamut should be toothsome, but not hard. Drain kamut and remove to a large bowl. Meanwhile, roast the tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast or broil until tomatoes and garlic are just starting to blister, about 10 minutes under the broiler. Add vegetables to the kamut, and then add the artichokes, capers, pine nuts, and feta. Stir to combine, and then season with oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and spices to taste.

Daring Slackers!

Oh yay! That time of month again - the Daring Bakers strike again, and the culinary blogosphere is dotted with all manner of adorable frozen cheesecake pops. The pops were this month's challenge, hosted by Deborah, of Taste and Tell, and Elle, of Feeding My Enthusiasms.

I was delighted as I did my usual food-blogs-of-the-world tour yesterday evening, as I had the chance to see some lovely photos and some insanely detailed cheesecake-pop decorations. Alas, this month's challenge wasn't meant to be over here at Red Ramekin, and I didn't get around to participating.

It's not that I didn't want to try the pops, but honestly, all of that chilling, freezing, tempering, beating, dunking and drying - not to mention the FIVE, yes FIVE (5), packages of cream cheese required for the recipe - made me into a Daring Slacker this month. Besides, cheesecake just doesn't really do it for me. I have a sweet tooth to write home about, but I'd rather sink it into something like cookies, brownies, cake, or ice cream than cheesecake. Next month I promise to make something spectacular, though.

In the meantime, I encourage you to check out some of the creations of my fellow Daring Bakers: Jen, as always, serves up the most impressively-photographed pops, with some biting wit on the side. Peabody's pops are so ridiculously cute they should be illegal. And then there's Tartelette, who takes decorating to a whole new level. It's probably better that I sat this one out; there is no way I was taking the time to put rainbow-colored sprinkles and cautious little drizzles on things I wasn't even excited about eating.

That's not to say that I haven't been concocting sweet treats of my own design lately. Jonathan and I made frozen yogurt in the ice cream maker (astonishingly, our first batch of fro yo!) not once, but twice. The first time I used mostly full-fat Fage Greek yogurt, which, in taste and in nutritional profile is shockingly similar to sour cream. Hmmm....all I can say is that those probiotic cultures better be pretty damn healthy...

The second time around, I used non-fat Fage. Still yummy, but not quite as, um, creamy as the first time around. Definitely delicious enough to make again, though, and maybe next time it'll stick around long enough for a photo!

The more interesting dish, though, was my submission to this month's Royal Foodie Joust, another blog event hosted by my totally blog-eriffic e-friend, Jenn (aka the Leftover Queen). The premise of the Foodie Joust is this: each month, last month's winner chooses three ingredients, which have to be used in a creative recipe. Bloggers vote for the most creative/delicious entry. I've been wanting to participate in this event for a while, because I love creating a good recipe now and then, and this month I finally got around to it. The ingredients this month were mango, cardamom, and brown sugar. Um, delicious? Obvio.


I decided on a mango-sticky rice variant, and created a bruleed, cardamom-scented brown sticky rice with fresh mango slices. I wanted to keep the mango fresh, because we've been lucky enough to find some unbelievably delicious Mexican mangoes at Whole Foods recently. I've also been itching to try sweet brown sticky rice, which seems to be nutritionally indistinguishable from regular old brown rice, but is much more delicate and ever-so-slightly sweet.

Some friends came over on Thursday night, and mercifully helped us to devour the yogurt and the mango-rice number. Some nuked and juicy frozen blueberries were the perfect complement both to the yogurt and the mango sticky rice.


A real recipe isn't necessary for the mango sticky rice, but here is a brief description of how to recreate it: Prepare sweet brown sticky rice in a rice cooker, using a 2:1 water:rice ratio. Add about 6 green cardamom pods to the rice and water before cooking. Once cooked, allow to cool. Place about 1/4 c. cooked rice in each well of a muffin tin, and sprinkle tops generously with brown sugar. Place under the broiler until caramelized and bubbly (this happens quickly!). Allow to cool, then remove each rice patty to a plate. Top with freshly sliced mango and your choice of other toppings: whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream, thawed frozen blueberries, etc.


I loved the combination of the spiced rice and juicy mango, and have since realized that this "dessert" is actually much healthier than the typical American breakfast. The only added sugar is the sprinkling of brown sugar on the rice, and it includes both whole grains and fresh fruit. Get where I'm going with this one? Serve it for dessert, or brunch, or breakfast...in any case, it is definitely worth a try. The cooked rice also keeps pretty well, so make some the day before you plan to serve the dessert to save yourself some prep time. Hey, I may be a Daring Slacker, but nobody who ate this was complaining.

Farro Soup (Book Review)

A while ago, Mia picked up a copy of Deborah Madison's "Vegetable Soups." It's a beautiful book, with lots of vibrant, colorful pictures, and lots of recipes for vegetable soups. I like soup a lot, and I especially like making vegetable soups, because they're easy, they look good, and they're delicious. They require no particular skills, and they're basically impossible to mess up. Plus, I like chopping vegetables, which is usually required in large quantity.

The first soup that we chose to make from the book (and which we have re-made several times) is the summer version of the farro soup. We had just bought some farro in California for half the price that Whole Foods in Cambridge charges, so we were eager to make something with farro. In addition, the winter version of farro soup in the book is basically the same as the summer version sans tomatoes - why leave out the tomatoes when you can add them?

As in all of the vegetable soups I have made, you begin this one by chopping up an onion, carrots, and celery and sauteing them in olive oil. Then you add tomato paste and fry it for a little while. Next comes tomatoes, then water and pre-soaked farro. At the very end, you add a can of chickpeas. Deborah insists that, unless the chickpeas are organic, you should dispose of the liquid, but I consider that to be, if not pretentiously green, at least overly cautious. Then again, I don't wash my produce carefully, and I strongly prefer charcoal grills, so maybe I'm just asking for trouble.

As usual with soup, the most important thing is to make sure there is enough salt in it. Luckily, if there isn't enough salt, the solution is quick and easy - add more. The same is true with other seasonings. Mark Bittman had a recent post that suggests that the timing of salt addition is not nearly as important as people think, and I trust Mark Bittman, so I don't worry too much about under-salting the soup at first.

As you can see from the pictures, the tomatoes give the broth a nice red color, and the various vegetables give lots of pleasing contrast. The soup is best served warm, of course, but when we make a gallon of it, Mia and I usually can't resist taking it out of the fridge and gorging on it cold right out of the used yogurt containers that serve as our Tupperware. It never lasts very long.

Grrrrr(anola)

I've been toying with the idea of making my own granola for a while now. It just seems so....me. What could possibly be more exhilarating than taking an ubiquitous grocery item and health-ifying it (i.e. cutting fat and sugar and experimenting with some wacky tastes)?

I had a little time on my hand this past week, so I decided to give it a go. I'll start off by saying that granola, while incredibly delicious, usually doesn't make it into my breakfast rotation. I'm an oatmeal kind of gal, and although some people get a little grossed out by the whole hot and runny porridge thing, I lap it up. Literally. The runnier and porridgier the better. But back to granola. The truth about it is that granola, though loaded with healthy stuff (oats, flax, nuts, fruit) is usually also loaded with sugar and fat (that's why it's so delicious!). I'm not on a fat-free sugar-free granola crusade, but when I eat it, I would like to know what - and in what proportions - goes into it. Hence homemade granola.

I've found over the past few days that granola can be a bit frustrating. Let me give you a quick rundown of the granola making process: Mix dry ingredients (grains, nuts, seeds), mix wet ingredients (sugar, syrup, fat, fruit puree), and pour wet over dry, moistening everything. Spread mixture on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until dried and crisp. Add dried fruit. Most recipes are pretty standard, and while many leave out the oil and butter or substitute something for it (egg whites, for example), almost all of them still have a lot of sugar. That means I've had to do some experimenting...some rounds of which have been more successful than others.


So far I've learned a few things. The first is that it's fun to add a lot of stuff to the dry part of the granola. Instead of doing straight rolled oats, I've been doing a combination of oat, barley, rye, and wheat flakes (sold as a dry mix for hot cereal). I've also been tossing in some Kashi 7 Grain puffed cereal, in addition to wheat bran, wheat germ, almonds, flax seeds, pepitas, and even sesame seeds. I know what you're thinking - I'm crazy.

The second is that it takes more than you might think to actually make granola with flavor. In other words, granola is loaded with sugar for a reason: crunchy-toasted rolled oat flakes are a bit, well, bland on their own. This is where my main challenge lies: coming up with a good recipe that yields flavorful, if not too sweet, granola.

The first batch I made was based on this recipe, which calls for applesauce as a fat substitute and flavor-enhancer. I added pepitas, almonds, and sesame, which worked quite well. I also sprinkled a lot of cinnamon and ground ginger on this batch - I've discovered that spices and extracts (vanilla, almond) are essential for a flavorful granola. This batch was tasty, but the flavors were pretty standard, and I wanted to expand my granola horizons.

The next batch was blueberry-ish: I used some blueberry-pomegranate juice as the base for the syrup, and tossed in a few frozen blueberries, as well. This batch, sadly, was mostly flavorless - not nearly enough sugar, although a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon and cardamom salvaged it mid-way through baking.


Ok, so the experimentation continues...I haven't hit the granola jackpot yet, but I sure am trying. I did make a rather tasty creation today: peanut butter-banana granola, which gets its sweet-salty flavor from the peanut butter. I still have a few more ideas in mind, so bear with me as I search for the perfect recipe to share...wish me luck, and try to keep in mind the quantity of mediocre granola I've been consuming in an effort get to the bottom of this culinary challenge.

More Rice-less Risotto: Farrotto with Rosemary-Scented Squash and Balsamic-Glazed Cipolline Onions

Wow, that was a mouthful. I mentioned a few posts ago that we were fortunate enough to host a small dinner gathering last week in Jonathan's apartment. There were just four of us: Jonathan and I and two lovely guests, but it was certainly occasion enough to spend a little time preparing the menu, do some rare day-ahead planning, and even purchase a novelty item or two (this time it was goat's milk, with which we made cardamom ice cream).

Planning for the dinner reminded me how much I love, well, planning for things like this. I can spend hours dreamily shuffling through menu ideas in my mind, formulating little mental shopping lists, and searching for inspiration in cookbooks and on the blogosphere. So that's exactly what I did.

My only constraint was that this was to be a vegetarian meal, which really isn't much of a constraint for me, since I'm happy to cook and eat vegetarian-ly much of the time. In planning the menu, I decided pretty early on in the game that the protein of the meal was going to be a frittata. I can't say enough about the frittata. It really is one of the most versatile dishes in my repertoire, and it can be classy, casual, chock full of fancy stuff, chock full of crap you found in the back of your fridge, brunch, lunch, dinner, 2am snack...so yes, it is versatile. Oh yeah, it also is really yummy.

I also knew I wanted a salad. I mean come on, that's pretty basic. But I needed something else, too. Something carb-y, something filling but not too heavy, something novel and fancy but not too involved. I was toying with the idea of making a panade, which is essentially a savory bread pudding that uses stock for the liquid and lots of cheese and vegetables. It seemed too heavy, though. I discovered it in my brand new Zuni Cafe cookbook, which, while incredible, suffers from the restaurant cookbook fate of having lots of recipes that, frankly, will never make an appearance in my kitchen.

Flipping through the rest of the book, though, I saw a recipe for farrotto - a risotto-like dish made with Italian farro instead of rice. Having recently discovered farro (a whole grain similar to spelt), Jonathan and I are rather obsessed with it. Sure, it's a "whole grain," but it has a wonderful, light, wheaty flavor and al dente texture that make it much more pleasant than, say, wheat berries. Not that I don't like wheat berries.

That glimpse of the title of the recipe was all the inspiration I needed. The Zuni recipe calls for some herbs and other ingredients, but I just took the farrotto idea and ran with it. Right to Whole Foods, where I picked up some fresh rosemary, butternut squash, and cute little cipolline onions. And thus this long-winded recipe was born.

Some notes on the recipe: I opted for red wine instead of the traditional white wine in this recipe, because I thought the red would stand up to the strong flavors of the dish: rosemary, vinegar, squash. I also made this a "rosemary-scented" recipe because I really don't like the texture of rosemary in my food. I like just a hint of the pine-y taste, so I infused a sprig or two in some olive oil and coated the squash in it before roasting. And about that roasting - it seems time consuming, but it really makes for outstanding and subtle flavors. This can easily be done a day in advance, as can braising the onions. I used an Epicurious recipe as a guideline for braising the onions, so I won't include that step here. My version went a little like this, though: boil and peel the onions, saute them (whole) in some oil, add vinegar, wine, and stock, and simmer until soft and sauce has reduced. Finally, save some of the onion-braising sauce to drizzle over the farrotto. Yum.

Farrotto with Rosemary-Scented Squash and Balsamic-Glazed Cipolline Onions

1 c. uncooked farro
2 c. butternut squash, in very small dice
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 c. + 1 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. butter
4-5 garlic cloves
3 shallots or 1 small onion
1/2 c. red wine
3-4 c. vegetable or light chicken stock
salt and pepper, to taste
a few tablespoons of grated cheese (I used goat cheese and parmesan)
balsamic-glazed cipolline onions

Infuse olive oil and roast squash: heat 1/4 c. oil in a small skillet and add a sprig or two of rosemary and 2 lightly crushed (but still whole) garlic cloves. Oil shouldn't smoke, but should just barely bubble around the edges. Swirl pan and remove from heat. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, dice squash into small cubes and preheat oven to 400 degrees. When oil has cooled, drizzle it over the squash. Add salt and pepper and roast until tender, about 25 min. Set aside or refrigerate.
Make farrotto: Finely chop garlic and onion/shallots. Set stock over low heat to simmer - it must be hot when you add it to your farrotto. Heat remaining oil and butter in a heavy-bottomed pan and saute until soft, but not browned. Season with salt and pepper. Add farro and stir to coat in the oil. After a minute or two, add the wine, stirring, until almost absorbed. At this point, continue making the farrotto like any risotto: add ladlefuls of hot stock and stir until almost absorbed. The farro takes about 20-25 minutes to reach the al dente stage. Just before it's finished cooking, add the squash and a handful or two of cheese. Stir until completely heated through and combined. Serve immediately, and top each dish with a cipolline onion and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. Revel in the praise of your guests.

Yes, I know, it seems long. It really isn't so hard though - I was preparing it after a glass and a half of wine (trust me, this is not trivial) and it came out just beautifully. It really is best right off of the stove, when it is still a bit soupy and the broth is thick and starchy, but it makes great leftovers, too. Just reheat with a bit more stock.

And in case you were wondering what the whole menu was:

Butter lettuce, fennel, and watercress salad with blood oranges and kalamata olives
Farrotto (duh)
Wild mushroom and leek frittata with goat cheese and pan-roasted cherry tomatoes
Goat's milk cardamom ice cream with sugar-crusted almonds
Almond and anise biscotti

Leeky Lemon Risotto

Risotto is one of those dishes that I always wanted to try, but never had an excuse to make. It is just rich enough (rice, butter, cheese) and time-consuming enough (so much stirring!), that I would always reserve it for a special occasion. But alas, when any such occasion arose, I never thought of it. My tale is one of culinary opportunities squandered...

Until now. Browsing a few new cookbooks, I discovered a couple of different recipes for risotto. Not just any risotto, though: barley risotto. Instead of using arborio rice, these recipes called for barley, which satisfies my requirement of eating lots of delicious whole grains. Mmmmm, whole grains!

So, I put an end to the flip-flopping that would often occur in the rice and grain aisle of Whole Foods, and hit the bulk bins for some barley. Tonight, we were going to have risotto.

The risotto I made was inspired by a few different recipes; a couple for barley risotto, and one for regular risotto. I wanted something full of flavor and with a little vegetable to boot, and that is how Leeky Lemon Risotto was born. The risotto came out beautifully, and the barley was perfect. It has more character than arborio, but the flavor and toothsomeness of it fit well with the other flavors in the dish. Hot out of the pan, it was filling, creamy, and rich - without actually being that creamy or rich. We had it with swordfish, which was a lovely complement, but it could also be a meal in itself, especially if you add some chopped chicken or shrimp.

A few notes on making the risotto: Barley is a whole grain, and takes a bit more time than regular arborio rice to cook. Ours took about 40 minutes, and yes, almost constant stirring and checking is necessary during this time. Like arborio, though, barley becomes very starchy when cooked, which lends this dish the creaminess found in traditional risottos. Although I haven't tried making risotto with brown rice or other grains, I would guess that barley is closest to the real deal, at least in terms of texture. The great thing about any risotto is that you can add just about anything you want (or whatever you happen to have in the fridge). Herbs are especially easy to substitute. We used fresh tarragon in our risotto, but thyme, chervil, parsley, or basil would also be delicious. Here is my recipe:

Leeky Lemon Risotto

4-6 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. white wine
1 c. pearled barley
1 large leek (white part only), chopped
2 shallots, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. butter
1-2 tbs. lemon juice
grated zest of 1 lemon
1-2 tbs. chopped fresh herbs
2/3 c. frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat oil and butter in a medium-large saucepan. Add shallot, garlic, and leeks, and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, heat stock in a pot and keep at a gentle simmer.
Add barley to saucepan, stirring to coat with oil, and saute for another 2-3 minutes, until barley is shiny.
Add white wine, stirring until almost completely absorbed.
Now the fun part: start adding hot stock to the barley. Add by the ladle-ful, stirring to incorporate. When stock has almost been absorbed, add another ladle-ful. Repeat until barley is just about cooked. Barley should be tender, but not completely mushy. This process should take about 30-40 minutes. Patience.
When barley is just about cooked through, add frozen peas, stirring until they are heated through.
Finally, add your seasonings: lemon juice, zest, herbs, and a dash more salt and pepper. If you want a slightly richer risotto, stir in some butter, a splash of cream, or some grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

A Question From My Sister

An aspiring foodie herself, my sister Emma came to me last night in search of some culinary advice. I was pleased with this request, not only because it presented me with a challenge and future blog post, but also because when I still lived at home 3 or so years ago, Emma could barely make herself a bowl of cereal. My, how she's grown! Her question is as follows:

The other night, I made whole wheat cous cous with a little butter, salt, and cumin, then served it with sauteed onions, peppers, and broccoli, with plain yogurt on the side. It was good, but a bit bland. Can you suggest something to spice it up a bit?

Here are some general tips, and some specific ideas for this meal:

My first tip is to pick a flavor theme for this meal. When I'm throwing a bunch of veggies and grains together, I usually am thinking that it will have Indian-inspired spices, or Moroccan-ish flavors. This shouldn't hold you back by any means, but should give you some direction, and hopefully make the meal more interesting.

Next, I'd think about how to cook the grains in this recipe. I almost never cook grains without adding some seasonings. This adds depth of flavor and allows you to mix and match tastes without over-seasoning one element of the meal. When I make quinoa, for example, I usually start by sauteing some garlic and onion in the saucepan, and then adding the water and quinoa. Cous cous is a bit trickier, since you don't cook it in the same way you cook other grains - most recipes call for steeping the dry cous cous in hot water for about 5 minutes or so. However, feel free to add spices or crushed garlic to the steeping water. This will infuse the cous cous with whatever flavors happen to be tickling your taste buds. Another easy option is to steep in broth rather than water. Instant flavor, minimal effort.

Ok, so what to do with this recipe? I have a few suggestions:

Take the Mediterranean/Moroccan route: When cooking the cous cous, add a dash of cinnamon, cayenne, and cumin to the steeping liquid. Throw in a splash of good olive oil, too. You could even try some chopped green onions or other fresh herbs, if you have them on hand. Once the cous cous has steeped, try adding one or a few flavorful accents. I love garbanzo beans, raisins, and toasted pine nuts. The beans and pine nuts also add some protein to this meal.

Now for the veggies. I'd skip the broccoli in this case, since it doesn't really fit the Mediterranean flavor profile. If you still want something green, try sauteing some spinach with those onions. Add some garlic, cayenne, salt, pepper, and cumin, and you've got yourself a flavorful accompaniment for the cous cous. And what about the peppers? In my mind, nothing tops off a Mediterranean meal like roasted red peppers. Roast whole peppers over the burner of a gas stove, or pop them in a hot oven until skins are charred. Let them cool, and then remove the burned skins.

For the yogurt on the side: You could keep things simple by serving Greek-style yogurt with nothing added to it. The rest of the meal is flavorful enough that this is a good option. However, if you want to get fancy, you could try a tzatziki-like yogurt dish. Mix the plain yogurt with shredded cucumber, salt, pepper, and fresh garlic. Let it sit for a bit so the flavors can mingle before serving.

Try any or all of these steps, and see how it turns out. Of course, if you don't want Mediterranean influences, you could also try Indian: curry powder, garam masala, peas, raita-inspired yogurt, tomatoes, and cauliflower; or Latin American: cumin, garlic, chili powder, black beans, sauteed peppers and onions, low-fat sour cream, etc.

Hope this helps!