Blue Eye With Powders - My Adventures in Molecular Gastronomy

Apologies for the sporadic holiday posting! I am writing this in advance of us heading off for a week or so, but I couldn't bear to miss the Daring Kitchen deadline for this month's amazing challange.

Molecular gastronomy has had a somewhat murky reputation in Sydney built on non-descript foams and flosses and excesses. Only a couple of places here do it with any degree of success, and even those don't get it right all the time (a couple of hideaous courses in otherwise good meals spring to mind). But in its conception, molecular gastronomy is about using science, and unorthodox kitchen methods to harness and present flavours. I read with awe and amazement about some of the top international restaurants cooking in this way, and I am fascinated (if you are interested check out the fantastic Alinea At Home blog). So when Sketchy from Sketchy's Kitchen set this month's Daring Kitchen challenge to be a molecular gastronomy choice from The Alinea cookbook by Grant Achatz, I was very excited to give it a go. Although when I mentioned to friends they might like to come and try it, some said they would rather stick forks in their eyes... so I made this for my more adventurous family.

I cooked the meal pretty much as per Sketchy's modified recipe below, although I substituted Blue Eye Cod (which is actually a trevalla) for the skate. The first step is to create the powders. I do not have a dehydrating machine, and I initially tried using the microwave, but I found my best option was my oven which drops to about 75C. The microwave seemed to make my ingredients sweaty, while the oven left everything feeling crisp and crumbly like an autumn leaf. I did all six powders in the recipe in three batches (lemon, capers and onion were in the oven together), then the dried milk powder and then the herbs. The lemon, capers and onion took the longest (probably about three or so hours), while the milk powder was pretty quick (about half an hour). Then each powder was ground in my coffee grinder, bottled up and put aside until needed.

Making the beurre monte emulsion for poaching was a new technique for me, but one I will definitely use again. The fish emerged incredibly moist and tender, and the beans were lovely and tasty. I also went with the banana fan under the beans and fish, despite being a little skeptical, and bizarrely it works very well. Because there is so much going on taste-wise from the powders, the banana was more a textural presence and a sweet note rather than being distinctly "banana-y". My favourite powders were the capers and the onions, as well as the burnt butter powder on the fish.

As a dish, I really loved this and will definitely cook it again (I have enough of the powders left to have another go without too much work). I loved playing with the pretty powders on the plate and the interplay of the flavours. And if clean plates are an indication of a meal enjoyed, it was a succes for my guests / guinea pigs as well.

Skate, Traditional Flavors Powdered - with changes
from the Alinea Cookbook by Grant Achatz

4 skate wings (or other white fish fillets)
* Beurre monte
* 300g fresh green beans
sea salt/kosher salt
1 banana
454g butter - 4 sticks
300g lemons
5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet (I didn't use)
150g coriander
150g parsley
100g dried banana chips
300g spray dried cream powder (or powdered milk)
100g cup minced red onion
200g capers (brined, not oil)

* For green beans, slice each beans into very thin rounds (2 mm)

* Beurre Monte - 454g butter (4 sticks, 1 pound) cubed and cold, 60g water. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the butter 1 cube at a time. This should from an emulsion. Keep this heated, but under 195 degrees. The emulsion will not break - this is your poaching liquid.

Powders - prepare ahead of time
caper / onion
lemon powder
cilantro/parsley powder
'brown butter' powder

Powders
Once dried, all powders should be pulsed in a coffee grinder/cspice mill/morter and pestle then passed through a chinois or fine mesh strainer.

Citrus powder
300g lemons
1000g simple syrup
5g citric acid/vitamin c tablet

Zest 300g of lemons (10.6 oz), remove the pith from the zest and poach in the simple syrup three times. Dry with paper towels and move to a dehydrating tray. 130 for 12 hours. Pulse the zest in a coffee grinder, pass through chinois, and mix with citric acid/vitamin C powder.

If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 8 to 10 minutes at medium powder. Once dried, follow the other instructions.

Cilantro (coriander)/parsley powder
150g cilantro (coriander)
150g parsley

Blanch the parsley in boiling saltwater for 1 second, submerge the leaves in ice water for 3 minutes. Dry on paper towels and place on dehydrator tray. 130 for 12 hours. Grind and pass through chinois.

If you do not have a dehydrator, place in microwave for 30 seconds, turn over leaves and microwave for another thirty seconds. They should be dry by now, pulse in coffee grinder, pass through chinois and reserve.

Onion powder
100g cup minced red onions

dehydrator - 130 for 12 hours
microwave at medium power for 20 minutes.

Pulse in grinder, pass through chinois

Caper powder
200g capers (get the ones packed in brine/vinegar)

Run the capers under cold water for two minutes to remove some of the brine.
Dry on paper towels and dehydrate for 12 hours at 130 degrees.
Microwave instructions are unclear. Dry them as much a possible with paper towels, the microwave on medium for 1 minute. Check the moisture content and stir them. repeat for 30 second intervals until they are dry. If you use this method, pleas post the time needed to dry the capers.

Once dry, pulse and sift the powder. Mix it with the onion powder.

Brown Butter powder
100g Dried banana chips (unsweetened if possible - many are coated in honey - the freeze dried ones would be brilliant)
300g spray dried cream powder

If you cannot find the cream powder, you can substitute Bob's red mill non fat dry milk powder, or even carnation instant milk powder. The substitutions will alter the flavor a little, but you will still get the general idea.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, sift the cream powder into a fine layer on a silpat or on parchment. Bake for 4 minutes, then remove for heat. If it bakes for too long, it will burn. Be very cautious with all powders in the oven. They all go from browned to burnt in a few seconds.
Grind the banana chips in a coffee grinder and mix with the toasted cream powder. Pass this through a chinois or fine mesh strainer and reserve.

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* For green beans, slice each beans into very thin rounds (2 mm)
* Beurre Monte - 454g butter (4 sticks, 1 pound) cubed and cold, 60g water. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the butter 1 cube at a time. This should from an emulsion. Keep this heated, but under 195 degrees. The emulsion will not break - this is your poaching liquid.

Skate
Prepare the skate - 50G v shaped cuts are recommended
Bring 100g water, 100g beurre monte, and green bean rounds to a boil over high heat. Cook until the water has evaporated (about 3 minutes), when the pan is almost dry, remove it from heat and season with 3g salt

Bring 300g water and 300g beurre monte to simmer over medium heat, add skate wings and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove the pan from heat and flip the wing over and let rest in pan for two more minutes. Transfer to warming tray lined with parchment and season with 5 grams of fine sea salt.

Plating
Take the tip of a small spoon and make a small mound of the citrus powder, the onion-caper powder, and the cilantro parsley-powder. Swirl these around in a hurricane type pattern. I found that it is easier, and you get finer lines if you lightly shake the plate to flatten out the mounds, then swirl the spoon through it to get the pattern.

Peel the remaining banana into very think slices (3mm) fan three slices on the plate, place green beans on top and place skate wing portion on top. On the tall edge, sprinkle the brown butter powder.

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Substitutions
The Skate can be replaced with flounder or cod.
If you can get skate that is not 'prepared' IE - Skinned- get the fish monger to prepare it for you.

The powdered cream can be omitted completely, just replace it with more banana powder, or pineapple powder. Possibly non dairy creamer, but I have NO idea what would happen if you tried to brown it.

The poaching liquid is pretty much butter - it could be replaced with other poaching methods. Water, wine, bay leaf, garlic clove, pepper, etc. Try to go easy on the salt in the liquid if you use a replacement.

Pasta Salad With Sun Dried Tomatoes

I can remember making my first pasta salad, at around the same time I discovered sun dried tomatoes. It was a recipe from one of the old Vogue Entertaining cookbooks, and used multi-coloured fettucine. The sun dried tomatoes were a revelation for me - I can still clearly remember the surprise of the intense burst of taste delivered by something that looked like a shrivelled up hibiscus flower. It was oily, salty, tangy, pungent, and incredibly more-ish. Suddenly sundried tomatoes were turning up in pastas, salads, sandwiches and quiches everywhere (ah yes the 80s). But then, after a few years, we moved on to semi-dried tomatoes, olives and then to goats cheese, and the sun-dried tomatoes moved back a bit on the deli shelves.

This recipe reminded me why I loved sun-dried tomatoes in the first place. It was full of flavour, and is the sort of side dish that would stand up well to a marinated steak or a BBQ, without being swamped by the other flavours. Make sure you use the fusilli rather than any other pasta because the spirals seem to grab the dressing and hold it close, so no bite is bland. I substituted baby bocconcini for the mozarella as it is a little lighter, and I like the shape of the balls. I also reduced it to about 250g, which was plenty of cheese for me. And my supermarket was out of green basil but had purple basil, so I used that - I like the dark tones it gave the salad, less colourful but more dramatic than green, and the taste is the same. I also skipped the oil in the pasta water as I don't believe it is useful. Just make sure you stir your pasta as it goes into the water and every couple of minutes while it is cooking and it won't stick.

This salad was the first July pick for the Barefoot Bloggers and came from Cat of Delta Whiskey. Drop by her blog, she always has something worth reading to share. The Barefoot Bloggers are a far flung group who are cooking their way through the opus of Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. Join us twice a month for something completely delicious. Thanks Cat - you brought back some great memories.

Pasta With Sun-Dried Tomatoes
adapted from "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" by Ina Garten

250g fusilli (spirals) pasta
500g ripe tomatoes, medium-diced
3/4 cup good black olives, such as kalamata, pitted and diced
500g fresh mozzarella, medium-diced (I used 250g baby bocconcini instead)
6 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped

For the dressing:

5 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons good olive oil
1 garlic clove, diced
1 teaspoon capers, drained (I used salted, just rinse them well and then use)
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 cup packed basil leaves, julienned

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water with a splash of oil to keep it from sticking together (I left out the oil). Boil for 12 minutes, or according to the directions on the package. Drain well and allow to cool. Place the pasta in a bowl and add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and chopped sun-dried tomatoes.

For the dressing, combine the sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, capers, salt, and pepper in a food processor until almost smooth.

Pour the dressing over the pasta, sprinkle with the Parmesan and basil, and toss well.

Cheesy Chicken Lasagna

It is amazing how much one good meal can do for your general well-being. Life has felt a little grim around here lately. Then last night, came a restorative dinner out with some of my closest girlfriends: good food, a glass or two of wine and non-stop chat about lives, loves, books, kids, plus everything important and frivolous in our lives. It was the perfect mid-winter balm, and has left me feeling very blessed to have such lovely friends around me. An evening that left me feeling nurtured both by the food and the company and today, the world feels a much warmer place.....

This lasagna is definitely good warming winter food. To me, lasagna looks like an unmade bed, and I mean that in a good way. Relaxed, warm, comforting, soft, easy. This recipe has been calling to me from a recent issue of Gourmet magazine. It was the second part of a "four meals from two chickens" feature, but because I jumped in at step 2, I bought a pre-cooked BBQ chicken, and just stripped off the skin and pulled out the bones to get enough cooked shredded chicken (in fact, I used more than the recipe called for). The recipe is not too involved - just make the white sauce, keep half plain then mix in the chicken and mushrooms to the other half. Layer the sauces and noodles and bake. My only change was using cheddar instead of gruyere, because one of the girls is a bit unenthusiastic about cheese and gruyere is a bit too pungent for her. I think that may have been a mistake - I would love to make this again with the gruyere for an even cheesier taste. Maybe I'll convince her?

Cheesy Chicken and Mushroom Lasagne (serves 4)
from Gourmet, March 2009

300g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 roast chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded (about 2 1/4 cups),
3 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
12 Barilla no-boil egg lasagne noodles
1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyère

Preheat oven to 210C with rack in middle.
Cook mushrooms, garlic, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper in oil and 1 Tbsp butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are softened, about 3 minutes. Add wine and simmer briskly 2 minutes. Transfer mushroom mixture to a large bowl and stir in chicken. (Set aside saucepan.)

Bring milk to a bare simmer in another saucepan. Melt remaining 4 Tbsp butter in the large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook to make a roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Add hot milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Add thyme, 3/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and divide the mixture, reserving 1 cup sauce separately. Stir parmesan into the remaining sauce, then stir into mushroom filling.

Pour half of reserved plain sauce into a 20cm squre baking pan, spreading evenly to coat bottom. Add 3 lasagne sheets, overlapping slightly, and one third of mushroom filling, spreading evenly, then sprinkle one fourth of Gruyère over top. Repeat 2 times. Top with remaining 3 lasagne sheets and remaining plain sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with remaining Gruyère.

Cover with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top of lasagne but sealing all around edge, and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes more. Let lasagne stand 10 minutes before serving.

Really Gorgeous Green Pea Risotto

Provided both are cooked well, where does the line lie between restaurant food and home food? I am talking about taste, not presentation, as obviously restaurants have the edge in presentation. If you were going to consider it as an equation, where D=Dinner, C=Cooking and P=Presentation, a meal at home is pretty much D = C, whereas in a restaurant, D = C + P. I have no problems with this - when I am cooking at home, I rarely have the time or inclination to make food look like it is athletically springing out of the plate (but a restaurant that didn't bother would irritate me).

So, looking purely at taste, where does the gap lie between home food and restaurant food? The scientific conclusion I have come to on the basis of this risotto is the number of ingredients and processes. The resulting dish was really good in a "oh my god, this tastes like something you would eat at Machiavelli" kind of way (or maybe at Fifteen if you are in Melbourne?). But you do need to devote a bit of love to it. There are spices to toast, then pound in a mortar and pestle, then make the risotto, stirring, stirring, stirring, then peas to cook and pound, before it all gets mixed together. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely, and it will definitely get served again at a winter dinner party. If I was serving it to the kids again, I would probably leave out the fennel seeds - they give a lovely background flavour but the kids found it a bit much. For a weeknight, however, I would still go to the Bill Granger oven-baked risotto, which does not have the finesse of this one, but is a lot less labour intensive.

Pea Risotto

adapted from Italian Local by Tobie Puttock

1 litre chicken stock (or vegetable stock)

2 tbl olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

2 sticks celery finely chopped

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 small dried red chilli

large pinch of white pepper

200g arborio rice

100ml white wine

50g butter

1 cup freshly podded peas (I cheated and used frozen peas)

1/4 cup parmesan

2 stalks mint

2 stalks continental parsley

8 slices crisped prosciutto (to serve if desired)

1/2 cup goats curd (to serve if desired)

Bring the stock to the boil in a small saucepan, then drop the heat and keep it at a low simmer. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add onion, celery and garlic, and saute until soft but not browned (about 10 mins). Pound the fennel seeds, chilli and pepper to a fine powder with a mortar and pestle, then add to the saucepan, and continue to saute for another 5 mins.

Add the rice and saute for 10 mins more, or until the grains are translucent. Once they are translucent, increase the heat to medium and add a glass of wine. Stir the rice until all the wine has been absorbed, then add the stock, one ladle at a time. Stir constantly and await for all the liquid to be absorbed before adding the next ladle. Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to the boil, and blanch the peas for 2 mins, then drain.

When all the stock has been added and the risotto is looking creamy, add the butter, remove from the heat and cover with a lid. Let the rice sit for 5 mins.

Pound the peas with a mortar and pestle until smooth. Stir the parmesan into the rice and season to taste. Stir in the crushed peas, mint and parsley, and spoon onto plates. Top with prosciutto or goats cheese if using.

Roasted Chicken - Comfort Food Par Excellence

If I don't know what to cook for dinner, I tend to fall back on roast chicken. It is easy, it is delicious and the leftovers make for killer sandwiches the next day. I also find the smell of roasting chicken incredibly comforting, and comforting is something I am valuing highly at the moment. Work continues on the rear of our house to repair the hideous termite damage we discovered a month or two ago, and we are all feeling a little despondent. Dust. Noise. Mess. Expense. Strange men in the house. More expense. More noise. More mess. Not fun. (If you are interested, take a look at the sad and sorry photo at the bottom of this post, showing a ruler sliding into one of our eaten beams).

So when Donna Hay sent me a roast chicken recipe to "make Mum's day" (I had fun writing that but it is not as exciting as you might imagine; I subscribe to her emails), I knew I had to give it a whirl. The recipe is very simple - just peel and slice potatoes and lemon, toss with oil, bake for half and hour, top with chicken marylands, bake for another 20-25 mins and you are done. I liked the recipe, but thought it could be improved on a little, at least for my family. The slices of potato that cooked next to the lemon came out too intensely flavoured for my kids, although the rest of the potato was gloriously tasty from the chicken drippings (I prefer the lemon inside the chicken cavity for more subtle flavouring). Also, the marylands weren't browned enough for my liking so I popped them under the grill for about a minute to give them something like the chicken equivalent of a spray-tan. A few days later, with Donna's original as the starting point, I decided to remake the recipe to my own taste, as a simpler comfort food version. It was really lovely, with the added bonus of the potatoes and carrots cooking together with the chicken, so most of the meal is cooked out of the one pan. Less washing up, plus an hour for doing other things while it all cooks, and the carrots and potatoes become incredibly tasty. (You can see pics of both attempts above.)

And if you feel like trying something a little more exotic, here is Kylie Kwong's Radical Roast Chicken.

Roasted Chicken and Vegetables

adapted from Donna Hay

1kg sebago (starchy) potatoes, peeled and sliced

4 carrots, peeled and cut into batons (or slices or whatever)

1 lemon, halved

2 tbls olive oil

1 whole chicken

sea salt flakes

Preheat oven to 200ºC. Place lemon inside the chicken cavity. Place potato, carrots and 2 tablespoons oil in a bowl and toss to coat. Layer in a dish and top with the chicken. Sprinkle with sea salt. Roast for 1 hour or until golden and cooked through (a large chicken may take 1 hr and 10 mins).

I served the chicken and vegetables with a green salad, and some corn (corn and chicken are a great match).

And here is part of our eaten walls, once the plasterboard was stripped off. I feel sad just looking at it.... ouch....

"My Favourite Salmon" - Roasted With Crumbs

There seems to be some consensus in the medical profession that eating salmon regularly is a good thing. Health benefits claimed for salmon include everything from the high levels of essential fatty acids it contains (which help maintain our immune and circulatory systems as well as reducing the risk of arterial blood clots) and helping eliminate dry eye syndrome and possibly reducing the risk of sunburn (?! ). It even turns up in longevity diets, along with dark chocolate and red wine. But forgetting about the health benefits, I love salmon for two very good few reasons:

- it makes for a very fast dinner and

- the kids like it, possibly because fresh salmon does not have the same sort of "fishy" smell as some other fishes, and is easy to eat.

I made this salmon the other night, at least partly because I had a stale lump of bread that I wanted to use up, and these crumbs were a perfect use of bread too good to throw out. Even though I was serving this to the kids, I kept in the chilli (it was a very mild chilli and I chopped it very finely) and the capers. Both just gave some background depth of flavour, but no really strong tastes. In fact, my elder daughter declared half way through the meal that this was definitely her favourite ever salmon dish. Incidentally, I forgot to buy tarragon, so if you're not keen on herbs or don't like the slightly aniseed-y flavour of tarragon, you can leave it out. The recipe is still great without it. It comes from Tobie Puttock's book "Italian Local" and is the second fantastic thing I have made from this book. He is definitely batting 2 for 2 so far, and I still have a few more things bookmarked to try out.

Roast Salmon With Crispy Pangrattato Crumbs

adaped from "Italian Local" by Tobie Puttock

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 chilli, seeded and finely chopped*

1 tbl extra virgin olive oil

4 x 1 cm thick slices of ciabatta or other good bread, crusts removed and roughly chopped then blitzed in a food processor until they are crumbs

1/4 cup salted capers, rinsed and chopped finely

2 tbl chopped flat leaf parsley

a small handful of chopped tarragon (I forgot this !)

4 x 200g salmon fillets, boned with skin on

Heat the oven to 220C. For the pangrattato crumbs, combine garlic, chilli and olive oil. Place the bread crumbs in a dry frypan over medium heat, stirring often until the crumbs are very crispy. Add the chopped capers and fry for 5 minutes then add the garlic and chilli oil and cook for another five minutes. Remove the crumbs to some paper towels to drain for 5 minutes, then add parsley and tarragon and season to taste.

Season salmon fillets with salt and pepper. Heat a large ovenproof frypan over high heat then add the salmon, skin side down and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, scatter the crumbs over he top, then roast in the oven for 3-4 minutes for medium rare fish, or longer if you prefer your salmon well-done. When the salmon is ready, squeeze over some lemon juice.

I served this with some steamed green beans and some cherry tomatoes.

*the easiest way to seed a chilli is slice it in half lengthways with a knife and fork. Then holding it still with the fork, scrape the seeds out with a teaspoon. This spares you the irritation of getting hot chilli on your hands.

Superfast Honey Lamb Skewers With Almond Couscous

As every parent knows, the early evening is when the most stressful time squeeze of the day occurs. Before I had kids, it didn't really matter if we didn't eat dinner till after 9pm. But once you have kids, there is definite pressure to get the meal on the table by a reasonable hour - whatever that may be - depending on the age and stage of your kids. Somewhere between 6-7pm is regarded as reasonable around here. Not sure why. If you are a working parent, and not getting home till about six, or you have been out at some after school activity, the squeeze is even harder. If you haven't yet worked out what is for dinner, harder still. And don't imagine your only focus is dinner. If your life is at all like mine, you will also find yourself:

- suggesting the children to do their homework

- feeding the dog

- looking for the netball skirt

- putting on a load of washing

- hanging out some drying

- reminding the kids to do their homework

- unloading the dishwasher

- signing permission notes for school

- answering the telephone and trying not to swear at some poor call centre guy in India

- attempting to find the chequebook

- yelling at the kids to do their homework

This recipe is for those nights. Buy some narrow backstraps of lamb (look out for them on special because they can be hellaciously expensive). Cut each strap into 4 or 5 pieces and thread them onto skewers. The kids might even help with the threading if the homework is done. Mix up honey, lemon rind and rosemary (if your kids hate herbs, go lightly on the rosemary or leave it out altogether). Brush the marinade onto the skewers, whack them under the grill, and they are ready in a couple of minutes. Served with couscous that also takes 5 minutes, and whatever vegies you have on hand, and it makes a delightful meal. If you want to be fancy, you can even toss some toasted almonds through the couscous and serve the lamb with some greek yoghurt as a sauce. But probably you just want to sit down.

This recipe comes from the 20 minute section of "Food Fast" by Donna Hay. I especially like Donna Hay in general, and this book in particular for recipes for my most frantic nights. And

I think she is being generous with the 20 mins - if you tried you could get it down to about 15 minutes at the most. (Incidentally, this fed two adults and two kids; if you are big eaters, you may want more lamb).

Honey Lamb Kebabs

from "Food Fast" by Donna Hay

500g lean lamb loin or fillets or backstraps

2 tbl honey

2 tsps grated lemon rind (with a rasp grater, you can do this in less than a minute)

1 tbl rosemary leaves

Black pepper to taste

Cut lamb into cubes and thread onto skewers. Combine honey, lemon, rosemary and pepper. Spread onto kebabs, then grill them for 1-2 mins each side.

Couscous:

1 cup instant couscous

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbl good olive oil

toasted almonds, to serve

Heat stock in a small saucepan to boiling. Tip in the couscous, remove saucepan from heat and cover. Let sit for five minutes. Fluff up couscous by raking with a fork. Stir through olive oil. Mix in almonds and serve.