Moroccan Green Bean Stew with Couscous, Homemade Harissa and Greek Yogurt

One of my favorite iPhone aps is Stitcher which allows you to listen to just about any podcast that is in existence whenever you like. It's great to be able to pause and pick back up the podcast on the go, especially when you want to write down one of the mouth-watering on-the-fly recipes that Ms. Lynne Rossetto Kasper gives to her callers each week during The Splendid Table, like this one she gave to the reluctant vegan from the Herb Society of America last week. Let me tell you, it is SO freaking good!

This dish is good warm or at room temperature, and it's the sort of thing that begs to be topped with fresh herbs. Thanks to Stitcher, I was able to pause, rewind, transcribe the recipe, and re-check it as I cooked. This turned out to be one of the best things I have made in a while.

Moroccan Green Bean Stew with Couscous, Homemade Harissa and Yogurt (Serves 4)

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 lbs. trimmed Green Beans
1 lg onion chopped
Lots of garlic (which in my book is 5-6 cloves)
1 basket cherry tomatoes smashed
1 can chickpeas (optional) or 1/2 lb carrot sticks or any other vegetable of your liking
1 bottle white wine

Fresh Herbs:
Basil, Thyme, Mint, Cilantro

Spices:
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 1/2 tbsp. Allspice

Several Cloves
1 tsp Nutmeg
Lots of Black Pepper
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Sweet Paprika

Take a big skillet, film it with olive oil and cook the green beans and onion until they are starting to brown. Add chopped garlic, and then add chopped fresh Thyme and Basil. Blend all the spices in a coffee grinder or crush with mortar and pestle and add to the pot.

Let this cook for 2-3 minutes, and then add 1 cup white wine (or veg broth)

Let the wine cook down, and then again add 1 cup white wine (or veg broth)

Add tomatoes, chickpeas, carrots etc and then cover beans with liquid of your choice (more wine or veg broth) and cook until beans are almost melting, and liquid has cooked down to create a stew.

Serve over couscous along with a side of Greek Yogurt and Homemade Harissa (recipe follows) and you have a feast fit for the Queen of Morocco!

Homemade Harissa Recipe:

I made this in a pinch the other day as I cannot find Harissa in the markets here little old Moab. It is my new favorite condiment!

You will need:

• 1/2 can tomato paste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 dried ancho chile, or fresh jalapeno, whatever chili you have on hand

Blend in a food processor and enjoy!

Cantaloupe Soup Recipe FAIL

It's 100 degrees today in Castle Valley, and I need something sweet and something cold to keep me from melting. Luckily, I stumbled on to this recipe today while listening to The Splendid Table. Let's see how it turns out...

• 1 cantaloupe
• zest from 1 lime
• 1/4 tsp fish sauce
• 1 jalapeno minced
• fresh mint

set aside a few chunks of cantaloupe for serving, and add puree the first four ingredients. add reserved chunks of cantaloupe, garnish with mint and enjoy!

you can also drink this soup with a shot of vodka and ice. YUM!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPDATE:

This recipe did not go over so well in our house. Maybe try it with watermellon instead? Either that, or this type of thing demands to be prepared with a Vitamix. It tasted like a pulpy cold pile of savory-sweet strangeness. Maybe it's an acquired taste? I may never know...

KZMU Playlist: 420 Edition

Depeche Mode - Flexible - MP3

The Cure - Lullabye - CD

Beach Boys - When I Grow Up To Be A Man - MP3

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up - MP3

Belle & Sebastian - CD

the Jets - Crush On You - LP

Panda Bear - Bros - LP

John Prine - Illegal Smile - CD

Ray Charles - Let's Go Get Stoned - CD

Rick James - Mary Jane - MP3

Sonic Youth - Diamond Sea - CD

Elvis Costello - Brilliant Mistake - LP

Love & Rockets - Cassette

Bob Marley - Adam and Eve - CD

Alan Toussaint - Southern Nights - MP3

Gene Vincent - Be Bop A Lula - MP3

The Band - Ophelia - CD <3

Moby Grape - Aint That A Shame - LP

Ace of Cups - Music - MP3

Stevie Wonder - Lately - LP

Chris Bell - I Am The Cosmos - LP

The Smith's - Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want - LP

George Harrison - Beware The Darkness - LP

Radiohead - Knives Out - 12"

Santo & Johnny - Sleepwalk - MP3

Bjork - Undo - CD

Bill Haley & His Comets - See You Later Alligator - MP3

Delicate Arch Hijinx

Our friend (and best man) James came to visit this week. We had a lovely time cooking, drinking some delicious IPAs and Dickel, eating rocky mountain oysters, and star gazing.We took James to Delicate Arch and the skies were filled with overcast white, which made for some surreal shots that day.

"S"

Is this the arch?

When we arrived at Delicate Arch, it was real crowded (as is normally the case) so we decided to hike further over to view the arch from the south side. You typically see shots taken from the North as shown above, with the La Sal's in the distance. 

Can you find James?

No sun = no shadows = looks fake

Delicate Arch from the side

Can you find James?

Best Buds

Backyard Pics

My 2nd KZMU Playlist :D

I had my 2nd show on KZMU today, and it was a great success if I do say so myself...

Otis Redding - Love Man
Roy Orbison - Workin for the Man
Helen Banks - Hazy Day
Brian Eno - St. Elmos Fire
Morrissey - Suedehead
Dum Dum Girls - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Billy Joel - Vienna
Why? - Darla (whoops, there was an F bomb thrown in there. Shh, don't tell!)
John Prine - Dear Abbey
Dwight Twilley - Sincerely
De Barge - I like It
Carlo - Ghost Man
Nick Lowe - So It Goes
Big Brother and the Holding Company - Easy Rider
Ray Charles - Night and Day
George Harrison - Isn't It A Pitty
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah

*~*~*Astrology Report *~*~*

Pretenders - Don't Get Me Wrong
Grateful Dead - Til the Morning Comes
The Princess + The Warrior Soundtrack (f'k up - played this instead of the turntable, but it worked out)
Husky Rescue - Sweet Little Kitten
Will Oldham - (Some song whose name I can't remember)
Them - Would You, Could You
Graham Nash - I Used to Be A King
Gerry Rafferty - Right Down the Line
Led Zeppelin - Goin to California
Townes Van Zandt - Poncho and Lefty
Moody Blues - Go Now

Leapin Lizards!!

Spring has arrived here in Castle Valley and we have finally started to let the cats out during the day. This has been great for the most part except that it turns out Sabrina is quite the hunter. For those of you who've never had a cat, let me explain something. When cats kill things like mice (yay) or birds (boo) they like to bring them back to you as a gift or an offering of some sort. There are several theories as to why they do this, my favorite being they are trying to teach us how to hunt. (Aw how sweet!)

I used to find these giant Silence-of-the-Lambs-sized moths and the occasional Katydid in my old apartment. There was also the time when Prince brought in a half-alive baby bird which I had to put out of it's misery (traumatizing.)

However, Sabrina has taken this to a whole new level of gross.

It started when we woke to find a few tail-less, motionless baby lizards on the porch (poor things.) Then we found one in the living room a few mornings later. Soon, this progressed to the day I went outside to find two dead lizards and Sabrina laying next to them with a lizard-arm hanging from her lip. EEEW!!

But it doesn't stop there. In the last week I have found two live lizards in the house with their tails chewed off (don’t worry, they grow back right?) Yesterday she killed one that was probably 5-6 inches long. Sabrina is a little gal so this lizard was almost half her body length. Haha! The latest in the lizard killing spree was just this morning when she brought another 5-6 inch lizard into the house... alive. I was screaming and jumping on the futon quicker than you can say "LEAPIN LIZARDS!"

Next thing you know she will be killing iguanas or something. Or she would if there were any here to kill. I hope she’s not effecting the ecosystem of this place too much. Man!