Quick and easy couscous fish cakes

Have you ever felt completely uninspired in the kitchen?

Ever asked yourself "what am I ever going to make for lunch??", "what I am going to do with a half a cup of couscous?!" or "why oh why did I buy 5 lbs of frozen fish?!?"

Well I have... And this recipe is what came out :D

Not only does it use freezer and pantry items, but you can even make it into a 3-in-1 serving it with cooked veggies leftover.

Oh, and it's healthy too!



INGREDIENTS (yields about 12 patties):
- 4 frozen flounder filets, thawed and drained (you can use any fish you like, this just happens to be what I had in my freezer)
- 3 frozen haddock filets, thawed and drained. Make sure to squeeze out any residual liquid or the patty mixture will be too moist.
- 1/2 cup leftover cooked couscous (or any cooked grains or cereals like quinoa, grits, rice, barley. Mashed potatoes will work too)
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs (or dry instant oats, regular breadcrumbs, crushed saltines, AP flour, basically anything to adjust moisture of the patty mix)
- salt, pepper, dried thyme (or any seasoning you feel like)
- the juice of half a lemon
- 1 clove of garlic
- olive oil for cooking


RECIPE:
- put the fish filets in a food processor and pulse-puree until almost smooth

Note: I like my fish cakes to still have a few pieces of fish for texture
- season with salt, pepper, lemon juice, grated garlic and crushed thyme and pulse quickly once more

- transfer the fish mixture in a bowl and add the cooked couscous and half of the panko. Mix well using your hands and adjust the moisture level with panko until satisfied

- form 12 flat round patties

- heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan and cook the patties over medium heat until golden and crispy (about 3 minutes on each side)

- serve with any veggie side you like. I served my fish cakes with a side of chilled Bohémienne (a ratatouille-like eggplant and tomato stew) and a slice of lemon.

- Bon app!

Preserved lemons and olives chicken Tajine (Moroccan chicken stew)

Soooo.... the rationale behind my cooking this dish, you'll ask?

Very simple: two summers ago, I made salted preserved lemons (I don't have a specific recipe on this blog, but you can find plenty online :) it's fairly simple: lemons, salt, water and a bay leaf ) just for the fun of it. Now, two years later, the lemons were crowding my fridge and I had no idea what to do with them...

The second thing is that as a single person, it is rather expensive to cook nice food, just for me. So I'm always on the lookout for recipes that will feed me for a long time (i.e. that keep well, freeze well, etc...), that are (relatively) healthy and don't cost me an arm!

As I was browsing through the supermarket the other day, there was a super sale on chicken thighs. I bought a pack of 10 (TEN!), and had the idea of a tajine to use up both that bulk of poultry and my lemons :) The moment I got back home, I googled chicken tajine recipes, and found this one, which I then tweaked and adapted into: TA-DA!


INGREDIENTS (for 5 people, or 1 with TONS of leftovers!):
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 10 chicken thighs (skin on, bone in)
- 2 onions, diced
- 4 cloves of garlic, grated
- 1/2 inch fresh ginger, grated
- 2 preserved lemons, quartered
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
- water (about 8 cups)
- 2 tsp ras el hanout (morrocan spice blend, click here for the recipe)
- 1 jar of pitted green olives, drained
- salt, pepper


RECIPE (about 2 hours from start to finish):
- heat the olive oil over high heat, put the chicken skin side down first and turn until golden on all sides. Reserve the chicken on a plate until later. Work in batches, so as not to cool the pan with too many pieces of chicken at a time.

- remove most of the rendered fat, but keep about 2 tbsp. Add the onions and cook until soft (about 2 minutes)

- add the garlic, ginger, lemons, cilantro, spices, salt and pepper and a cup of the water. Mix well.

- put the chicken back in the pan, and add water so that it comes right below the top of the chicken pieces.

- cover and simmer for 40 minutes on very low heat (lowest setting possible before it turns off!)

- after 40 minutes, add the olives, cover again and let simmer for 20 minutes

- after 20 minutes, remove the lid, put the chicken pieces on a plate and reduce the sauce on medium-high heat until it thickens. Stir often so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan.

- after 15-20 minutes, put the chicken pieces back into the pot and reheat gently over low heat (about 10 minutes)

- serve piping hot over couscous

- Enjoy!