Couscous Tomato (Pico de Gallo) and Zucchini Salad

Last week was Holy Week, and that meant a long Holiday. I went away for a few days, and I was in charge of the lunch time salad. Rather than doing the old lettuce-tomato combo, I wanted to try something that would go well with grilled steak, using Pico de Gallo and would be fresh as well as filing. So, here is a Guatemalan version of a Couscous Tomato and Zucchinni Salad.

Additional to the zucchini, I added Pico de Gallo and Queso Fresco. Pico de Gallo is a fresh, uncooked salsa made from chopped tomato, white onion, lime juice or apple cider vinegar and fresh cilantro (coriander leaf). And for the Queso Fresco, it’s a Guatemalan-Mexican farmer’s cheese, but you can find this cheese at any US Walmart from the Cacique brand.

This salad was a huge success! Some of our friends haven’t had couscous before, and they were pleased. This is a crowd friendly recipe, giving about 12 big servings and it’s best served chilled.

Kitty

Cous Cous Tomato (Pico de Gallo) and Zucchini Salad

A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Serves 12

Ingredients
2 cups of couscous, uncooked
3 cups of water
1 cup of vegetable or chicken stock
1 zucchini
1 bell pepper
1 1/2 cups Pico de Gallo, strained – recipe follows
1/2 Queso Fresco (farmer’s cheese), diced
Olive Oil, for serving

Directions:

First, prepare the couscous. Bring 3 cups of water and 1 cup of vegetable stock to a boil. Remove from heat.
Add couscous. Cover the pot and leave it for 8 min. Fluff it with a fork.
Remove the couscous from the pot and transfer into a big bowl. Let it cool down for about 15 minutes.
After the couscous cools, chop the zucchini and bell pepper. Add to the couscous. Mix a bit.
Add the Pico de Gallo and diced Queso Fresco. If you don’t find Queso Fresco, you can substitute it with Feta Cheese. Mix well.
Keep in the fridge until it’s time to serve. This salad is best cool.
Serve with a drizzle of olive il.

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients
4 large plum tomatoes
1 medium sized white onion
1 cup of chopped cilantro, about half a bunch
1 tablespoon of salt
Juice of 2 limes

Directions:

Dice tomatoes and onion. Chop cilantro.
Put all ingredients in a bowl.
Season with salt and the lime juice. Mix up.

03:06 PM
1 Comment
- Couscous, pico de gallo, salad, summer salad, Tomato, zucchini
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Roasted Tomato Sauce

Oh this gorgeous red. We’ve had this recipe in the back burner for a couple of weeks now. After a few days of being away from the kitchen – and an overflow of Roma tomatoes – I dived into the kitchen for an entire day. After I baked the Zebra Bundt Cake, I was wondering what to do with all those tomatoes, and then it hit me… Roasted Tomato Sauce! I have been playing with the idea of a mash-up between Tortilla Soup and Red Wine… in a sauce.

This recipe came together as I was cooking. With 25 tomatoes, I had to increase what I usually put into the sauce. You’ll think that adding only one red bell pepper to the sauce is too little… It was huge! If you only have medium-sized bell peppers, feel free to increase it to 2 or 3. If you don’t want to add the wine to the recipe, use beef stock instead. Beef stock has the depth of red wine and it’s more flavorful than chicken or vegetable stock. After you add the beef stock, taste and adjust your seasonings.

This sauce is great for pasta, as a Pizza or Bruschetta base. It can stay refrigerated for up to 8 days. If you freeze it should keep longer, just make sure to thaw it in the fridge rather than on the counter!

Kitty

Roasted Tomato Sauce

A Foodies’ Kitchen Original Recipe
Yield: 4 cups
Good for up to 1 week

Ingredients
25 Roma tomatoes, halved
1 medium-sized onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, finely diced
1 big red bell pepper, cut open (or 2 medium-sized ones)
1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 tablespoons for sautéing
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon of finely chopped oregano
1 tablespoon of finely chopped thyme leaves
1 cup red wine

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350ºF.
Apply non-stick spray to two cookie sheets. Place tomato and bell peppers cut side up.
Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of olive oil, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme and oregano.
Roast the tomatoes for 45 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325ºF and roast for another 45 minutes.
Increase the temperature to 400ºF and roast another 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and remove the garlic and onions from the tomatoes and bell peppers, just set them aside on the pans.
Transfer the tomatoes to a blender, and give it a few pulses until the tomatoes puree.
Take your roasted bell peppers and cut them just enough (not finely or you’ll get a paste).
In a very large skillet, add remaining olive oil. When hot, add the onions and bell peppers.
Add the tomato puree to the skillet and stir.
Add red wine, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 5 minutes.
Taste and season if needed.
Remove from heat, and use as needed.

TFK Grilled Cheeseburgers

It’s grilling season! This is a great opportunity for me to share our homemade grilled burger recipe with you. We got together with our group of friends to take advantage of the beautiful weather we had been having in Guatemala before the rainy season began, one of them – Felipe- has a great little grill in his backyard so it was the perfect setting. Friends, food, sun, beer. Plus, I would get to try out the recipes from my new cookbook : Bobby Flay’s Burgers, Fries and Shakes.
It rained.

To entertain ourselves while the rain passed, we had a few beers and a couple of drinks…or more, and listened to music. Fortunately, the rain did pass (as well as the afternoon) and we headed outside to start grilling our prepared burger patties and vegetables. I don’t have a lot of pics like we normally do for our posts, I couldn’t get a good photo of food outdoors and at night!

Anyway, the recipe I chose for the burger patties ended up being a mixture of Bobby Flay’s tips and Saveur’s hamburger edition ingredient recommendations. I added some bread crumbs, an egg, worcestershire sauce and a few spices to my ground beef and ground pork mixture. I made a 70% beef – 30% pork combination for my patties, I just like the flavor the burgers get from pork. And also, I didn’t get lean beef. I bought 80% ground beef. When you’re grilling, you want a little fat in there for flavor. We used a lot of additions for this, which… not to toot our own horns, but we assembled a damn good burger. It had caramelized onions (thanks, Edith!), bacon, pickles, chipotle mayonnaise, a choice of monterrey jack or swiss cheese, the works!

So gather your family or friends and heat up the grill! You’ll have a great time and I guarantee everyone will love them. We served them with oven roasted fries and to finish it off, we treated our friends with Strawberry Peach Vodka Collins Poptails.

TFK Grilled Cheeseburgers

Recipe adapted from Bobby Flay and Saveur
Yields: 5 hamburgers (almost 6 oz each)

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef (you can mix 1 1/2 lb beef and 1/2 lb ground pork)
1 1/2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 egg lightly beaten
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons of herbed bread crumbs

5 Hamburger buns

Additons:
Romaine lettuce
Tomatoes, thinly sliced
Swiss Cheese, sliced
Monterrey Jack Cheese, sliced
Caramelized Onions
Crisp Bacon strips
Pickles, sliced
Chipotle Mayonnaise
Ketchup
Dijon mustard

Procedure:

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together. Don’t overwork the meat, mix everything until it is well combined. (If you pack the meat too much and overwork it, it can cause the burger to become mealy and overly dense.
Divide meat into 5 equal pieces. You can use a scale to make sure you have an average of 6 oz patties. I find that 8oz is a bit too much, but it’s up to you. If you prefer a thicker patty, go for 8oz. Also, be aware of the circumference of your bun. The burgers will shrink a little while cooking.
Thick burger patties tend to puff up in the middle while they cook. Making a depression in the top of the patty using the back of a measuring spoon helps the burger hold its shape.
You can prepare the meat patties ahead of time, by stacking them between pieces of wax paper. Keep refrigerated and well sealed up to one day.
When grilling time comes: Heat coals in a charcoal grill until they glow bright orange and ash over. Brush the burgers with oil. Grill them until golden brown and slightly charred on the first side, about 3 minutes. Flip the burgers over. Cook until golden brown and slightly charred on the second side, about 4 minutes for medium rare.

For Assembly:

Lightly brown the sides of the hamburger buns, which will help them from getting soggy.
I have a system for assembling my hamburgers to help them from falling apart: The first thing that goes on the bread are 2 lettuce leaves, then the hamburger patty, followed by your choice of cheese, tomato, bacon, caramelized onions and pickles. I prefer to squeeze mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard right on top instead of spreading it on the top bun.
Devour.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!