Author: Deborah M

As I mentioned over on the Fabulous Foodie Facebook group, today (May 16) is Coquille St Jacques Day.

If this is the kind of thing that gets you cookin’ to get cookin’ – by all mean, go forth and seize the scallops. Me, I’ll be over here prepping for tomorrow – which is Cherry Cobbler Day.  Prepping for Cherry Cobbler Day is about as easy a prep as you can get. You need only an hour (10 minutes prep, 45-50 minutes cooking) and a measly 3 ingredients.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 stick butter (slightly softened)
• 1 can cherry pie filling

Optional Flourishes

• chopped pecans (or nut of your choice)
• extra bits of butter

Preparation

• Cut one stick of butter into the cake mix, then press and crumble them together until you get a sort of rubble. Some bits bigger than others, nothing too uniform. This is a rustic kind of thing.
• Spread the pie filling (undrained!) over the bottom of a the baking dish. Sprinkle cake mix/butter rubble over the pie filling until it’s completely covered. Then if you opted for the optional flourishes, sprinkle the chopped nuts lightly over the rubble and dot the top of the whole thing with small pieces of butter.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes – you’re shooting for a golden toasty brown across the top

And that’s it. Let it cool. It’s outstanding at room temp or out of the fridge the next day. If serving fresh and warm, put some vanilla ice cream on top. If your house is anything like my house, you’ll want to check on the pie a few times while it cools. Not because the PIE is likely to develop problems but because certain members of the household will pick chunks of topping off and eat it.

Variations

• topping – there are a lot of very similar recipes that skip the whole crumbling/pressing thing entirely. They call for the cake mix to be poured and spread over the filling and then melted butter poured over that. I’ve seen and tasted that variation and it’s quite not a bad way to go but I love the texture of the rubble topping so it’s my version of choice. That said, there have been times when I have melted the butter a bit before crumbling it together with the cake mix. I think I thought it would save time. It really doesn’t.
• filling – it doesn’t have to be cherry. It works well with apple, peach, blueberry, etc. If you want a taller cobbler (or have a really deep dish) use two cans of pie filling.

Enjoy! And if you’re still in a pie mood, check out Musings on Great American Pie Month

I can’t believe I never posted this here but apparently I never have. As someone has just asked for it, I take this opportunity to rectify the situation.

Couscous for a Crowd (Serves 6-8)

Ingredients

• 2 c giant couscous
• 1.5 c fresh mint, roughly shredded or chopped
  
• 1 c sliced almonds, toasted ⁽¹⁾
• 1 c dried cranberries ⁽²⁾
  
• zest of 1 orange
• juice of 1 orange
• dash of lemon juice ⁽³⁾
  
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

Cook the couscous according to package instructions.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat thoroughly. Then scatter some mint across the top and cover with a tea towel until couscous has cooled to room temp. Once the couscous has cooled, remove the tea towel and take larger pieces of wilted mint off top, then combine couscous, mint, almonds, cranberries, orange zest, and orange juice in a bowl.  Drizzle with additional olive oil (enough so that the couscous isn’t sticky) and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

This is one of those infinitely flexible things where you can add pretty much anything or mess with proportions to your hearts content and you’ll still end up with something yummy. And make extra ’cause it lasts in the fridge for a week and you’ll be snacking on it for days. Make a meal out of it and use up leftovers by adding some shredded cooked chicken.

(1) I leave these out sometimes – depends on who’s coming over and/or my mood. They do add a nice crunch in an otherwise not so crunch dish but I wouldn’t recommend other nuts. For some reason almonds work far better than others

(2) I sometimes add dried apricots as well. Whatever dried fruit you like, add.

(3) Depends on how much juice you get out of the orange and how sweet it is. If it’s too sweet for you after a good mix, add a dash of lemon juice to balance it. Or lime. Lime works the same magic.