Meditteranean Influenced Summer Cuisine

Among the things that I like to do: I LOVE to cook. I started from a very young age helping my mother in the kitchen. My first dish was overcooked pasta that had caked over in the pan. I'm proud to say I'm a little bit better than that nowadays. In high school, my mom would let me cook whatever I wanted once a week or at least a few times a month. I made savory cornbread, attempted scones, even a souffle. While some were successful, other attempts were less glamorous. I enjoy experimentation in the kitchen: taking a basic approach and making my own recipe with whatever I have in the fridge. I find that it is a much more creative exploration if you challenge yourself to only what you have already. With that note, I bring you my new creation that I loved so much I wanted to write about it.

This past week, my friend had a BBQ where he made masala BBQ chicken. I incorporated leftover chicken, but you can really use whatever protein you want. For the main course: I made roasted summer squash and mushrooms with a chicken couscous. I made poached pear with a whiskey cream sauce.

Ingredients (main course): 

• Summer squash, sliced
• Mushrooms, washed and quartered
• Italian herb blend
• minced garlic clove
• oil 
• red chilli powder 
• chopped fresh basil
• any kind of couscous you like ( I used Israeli Pearl Couscous)
• cumin seeds
• black pepper
• lime juice
•  little bit of butter (can omit) 
• chopped leftover chicken

Ingredients for Poached Pears in Whiskey cream sauce: 

• One pear. peeled, cored, and quartered
• whiskey, one shot
• amaretto liquor, a dash
• pinch of the following: dried lavender, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon seeds
• a dash of honey (about a teaspoon)

First, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. I tossed the squash and mushrooms in a quick marinade. The marinade was oil (about a tablespoon), chilli powder (add as much or as little as you'd like), some black pepper, salt, and minced garlic. Once I tossed the veggies well, I spread them on a baking sheet. To reduce cleanup, I lined the sheet with aluminum foil. The veggies baked for about 15 minutes or until golden. While they were baking, I heated a saucepan with a small amount of oil. To it, I added couscous, cumin seeds and Italian herb blend. I toasted it for a few minutes before adding chilli powder since I like spicy food. I added the chopped chicken at this point and toasted it for a minute more. Then, I added a little butter and some water and brought the couscous to a boil. When the water almost entirely evaporated, I took it off the heat and added chopped basil and lime juice.

For dessert, I only had fruit so I had to be creative. I decided first to roast the pears, but I didn't want to wait 30 minutes. In retrospect, I should've just roasted it because the pears would've came out crispy and a little bit more caramelized natural sugars. I instead decided to cook the pears in a whiskey based sauce. To make the sauce, I added some amaretto liquor and a shot of whiskey to a small base of butter. I whisked in some honey. To flavor the sauce, I added cinnamon, cardamon, cloves,  and dried lavender flowers.  I added the pears and let it simmer in the sauce. After about ten minutes, everything had reduced and become sweet. I took it off the heat, added about three tablespoons (or a really big dash) of vanilla soy milk. I garnished with some fresh basil.

Its really simple and delightful for the summer heat.