It has been almost a month since my last Cooking with Emily post. She spent the last 2 weeks of July with her grandparents & two of her cousins taking swimming lessons, sight seeing and just being a kid. She passed her level 4 swimming and had a great time, despite a few minor bouts of homesickness and one nasty tumble off her bike (no more damage than some road rash, but she milked it for all it was worth!) She did do some cooking at Grandma's. she and her cousin made a shrimp dish with cheddar biscuits one night, and she helped me make fish tacos one evening when I was there for supper.
She was home for a day and a half before she was off to camp for a week, something she looks forward to each year. As always we were scarcely on the road for home the following Friday and she was initiating a conversation about which camp she would like to attend next year. I'm pleased she loves it so, if still a little surprised, since my own experiences with sleep away camp were not so delightful. It was nothing torture for painfully shy child who wanted nothing more than to be let alone with her book and her thoughts. In any case, it only proves how different we really are.
We are slowly returning to routine and some semblance of normalcy. Monday morning Emily dove into the cookbooks to find something to make for supper. Her first choice was bison ribs, which I vetoed, not only because we have no bison ribs (and I didn't want to buy beef ribs) but, much as she likes ribs the last couple of times we've made them she has not eaten them.
Some pouting and several pages later she found a recipe for Spicy Beef with Couscous. It appeared easy enough, although I did have some trepidation, because she has generally rejected curry seasoned dishes as "tasting funny" (although she will inhale Butter Chicken and other Indian dishes-go figure.)
I made a quick trip to the grocery store (so much for not shopping again) for squash and to bolster our store of couscous. I checked the internet for a recipe for Garam Masala, and yes, I did have all the needed spices, it was a quick mix in the kitchen.
After a trip back to camp for a bag of forgotten clothing - I really do need to teach the child how to pack- we had a couple of hours to relax, or in my case, fold laundry, before starting supper. At four I thought I would do a little prep work for Emily, chopping the onion, peeling and dicing the squash and mincing the ginger & garlic. She insisted she could indeed chop the onion, and did (nothing like pride to get things done) with only one distressed trip to the sink to rinse her hands in an attempt to stave off the tears. She fretted that "real" cooks don't cry chopping onions, a thought I wasted no time in disabusing her of. We had rinsed the onion well in cold water, which does help, but her height has her much nearer the cutting board, and her inexperience probably still has her pushing her glasses up with her hands-which just doesn't mix well with chopping onions.
I peeled and diced half a butternut squash for her, and minced a small piece of fresh ginger, then left her to cook. She browned the onion in a little oil then she stirred in the ginger, garlic and the spices I had measured out for her, then added a package of ground bison. She browned the meat before adding the squash, along with some frozen peas and chicken stock. I suggested she cover the pan for a while and lower the heat, giving the squash a little more time to cook, and prepare her couscous when it was almost tender, as couscous takes barely 5 minutes to cook. The aroma in the kitchen was delightful, rich and spicy, I found I was really looking forward to tasting this dish. Often what she prepares are things I have made before, so the anticipation is quite different.
She balked a little about adding raisins to the couscous since she doesn't like them, but I told her the sweetness was a nice compliment to the spicy flavour of the meat. As we were serving ourselves she asked if curry was spicy. I told her that some are, but the curry powder we had used was quite mild. I had to laugh to myself as she complained that she LIKED spicy food, and wanted spicy. That's my girl!
Dinner was very good, just the right blend of spice, despite Emily's protestations. She added soy sauce to her couscous and picked out the raisins...no accounting for taste still. She tried the squash, and declared it tasted like carrots. Not quite, but I do think carrots could be substituted for squash if necessary.
Spicy Beef with Couscous
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 onion, chopped 1 small yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2" chunks
2 garlic cloves, minced 1 cup chicken broth
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger 1 cup frozen peas
1 pound lean ground beef 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro, chopped*
1 tablespoon curry powder 1 cup plain couscous
1 teaspoon Garam Masala spice mix** 1/2 cup golden raisins
In a large skillet heat oil and cook onion until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and ginger, cook another minute.
Stir in ground beef and cook, breaking up meat, until meat is no longer pink. Stir in curry powder, garam masala and salt, cook 30 seconds. Add squash and cook 2 minutes.
Stir in broth and peas, cook until slightly thickened and flavours blend. You may need to reduce the heat, cover and allow the squash to cook through at this point. We used a butternut squash that took about 10 minutes to become tender.
Stir in cilantro.
Meanwhile prepare couscous as the label directs, but add the raisins with the water. Fluff couscous with a fork and serve with the beef mixture.
*I am not fond of cilantro and would have eliminated it altogether, but this dismayed my rule following protege, so I chopped up about a 1/4 cup of fresh parsley instead
** Rather than purchase another bottle of expensive spice, knowing I had the various components already in the pantry I made my own Garam Masala as follows:
Combine: 1 tablespoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Store in a sealed container
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