I've cooked my way through all 264 recipes
in The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook!

September 19, 2010

Kousbariya (p. 370) and Ligurian Spinach with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts (p. 335)

Kousbariya is Lebanese Fish Baked in a Tomato-Cilantro Sauce, and was the perfect chance for me to use the grouper fillets that I cut on Friday. I lightly dusted the fish with flour and placed them into a skillet that had been pre-heated with olive oil, so that the oil was almost steaming.  I fried the fish for a couple of minutes on each side and then removed it from the oil.


I wiped the frying oil out of the pan and added in fresh oil  to sauté the onion and garlic in. Once they were soft, I added in tomatoes that had been seeded and chopped, and continued to simmer until the sauce had thickened. Then I just stirred in cumin, cilantro, and salt and pepper.


The fish went into an oven dish and I poured the sauce on top of it to cook for about 20 minutes.


I loved that the fish was both lightly fried and baked; it was perfectly flaky and delicious. I had this for lunch yesterday and loved it.

With this, I made a spinach side. I've never cooked spinach before -- I always just eat in raw in a salad. Luckily, it's super easy to cook. Wash it thoroughly and then put it in a pan with only the water clinging to the leaves. This took 5 to 10 minutes before my spinach had cooked down, at which point I drained the spinach and chopped it coarsely.

Cover the golden raisins in very hot water to plump them up. Sauté pine nuts in olive oil until they are light brown and then remove them with a slotted spoon. Add in the garlic and onion and sauté them until they're soft. Then toss all your ingredients together into the pan -- the spinach, drained raisins, and pine nuts. Add in salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg, stir everything together, and serve. 



I still prefer raw spinach, but this was good, mostly because it just tastes like pine nuts and golden raisins, both of which I love.

onion -- $1.24
tomato -- $1.23
Total Cost of Kousbariya: $2.47 (the cost of the grouper fillets is reflected in the fish stock I made earlier this week)

spinach -- $2.99
golden raisins -- $2.99
Total Cost of Ligurian Spinach with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts: $5.98

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by! Love, Katrina.