Mediterranean cooking is so healthful and easy, it's a wonder I don't do it more often. When a request came down the pipeline for a Greek meal, I jumped at the chance to put something together that would satisfy both of those things, and also dance on the palette (a little Hasapiko). Alas, fish kebobs and mint couscous was born.
This meal took about 30 minutes total to throw together, and about 10 minutes total to cook. The majority of the heavy-lifting was chopping up all of the beautiful vegetables and the fish, and a few things for the couscous. For those of you who haven't fallen in love with couscous yet, make that a weekend project. You can flavor it up by adding nearly anything you want, in this case, a bit of chopped mint, some pine nuts, parsley, garlic, and parmigiano reggiano cheese. Green olives were supposed to be included, but didn't actually make it into the dish. Είναι η ζωή, or "that's life" in Greek.
The point is, don't let foods you don't normally cook intimidate you. I adapted a recipe from Rachel Ray for this (most of the adaptation came from me forgetting to include stuff), but that's life in the kitchen. Trial by fire, just hopefully not too much of it. Here's the recipe if you're feeling ouzo adventurous this weekend:
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds halibut, cod or any firm, white fish fillets, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 3 lemons, juice of 2 1/2, 1/2 sliced, divided
- A few dashes of hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 20 fresh bay leaves
- 2 red bell peppers, chopped into large pieces
- 2 yellow bell peppers, chopped into large pieces
- 2 red onions, chopped into wedges
- 2 pints multi-colored grape tomatoes
- 1 1/2-2 cups chicken stock (amount according to couscous package directions)
- 1 box couscous (6-10 ounces)
- 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
- 1 cup parsley (a large handful), chopped
- 1 cup mint (a large handful), chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 4 pieces flatbread
For the yogurt dipping sauce:
- 1 cup Greek-style yogurt
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled and grated
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 tablespoon cumin
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
Note: you will need 7 metal skewers to prepare this recipe.
Preparation
1. Pre-heat the BBQ.2. Toss the fish into a large bowl with the juice from 2 1/2 lemons, hot sauce, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Skewer two pieces of fish onto a metal skewer, followed by a bay leaf. Repeat this process until the skewer is full, then repeat until all the fish is used up. You should have about three skewers of fish.
3. Thread the red and yellow pepper chunks and onion wedges, repeating every other veggie until the two skewers are full. Onto the remaining two skewers, thread the cherry tomatoes until they are used up.
4. Place the pepper-onion skewers on the grill. After 2 minutes, rotate them and place the fish skewers on. After 2 more minutes, rotate the pepper-onion and the fish skewers and place the tomatoes skewers on the grill. In another couple of minutes or so, check all of the skewers; they should be golden brown and tender. Remove them from the grill and reserve.
5. While the skewers are cooking, bring the chicken stock up to a boil. Add in the lemon slices, salt and freshly ground black pepper, then whisk in the couscous. Turn off the heat, cover and let sit, about 5 minutes.
6. You can do this in a food processor, or chop it up. Without a food processor, I opted for the chopping method. Chop the toasted pine nuts, parsley, mint, and garlic. Mix in the parmigiano reggiano cheese, and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup olive oil. Reserve
7. Make the yogurt dipping sauce: in a medium size mixing bowl, mix together the yogurt, cucumber, onion, lemon juice and zest, cumin, salt and freshly ground black pepper.
8. When the couscous is ready, fluff it with a fork, then stir in the pesto. Serve the skewers over the couscous with the yogurt dipping sauce and flatbread alongside.
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