Winging it: Beef, couscous, and veggie sides

Many times, I don't have a particular dish in mind. I just wing it. I think of what I have in the kitchen and cook by ear. When I was a college student, much of it was basic: spaghetti, mac and cheese, chicken tenders with beans and rice, frozen pizza. But the older I get, the more refined my palate has evidently become. I tend to favor foods inspired by my varied cultural upbringing: Things that are regionally Asian, but also Pacific Islander. Later on, I discovered food from the Middle East, the Caribbean, and South America, thanks to the friendships I made in college. (I studied in Florida.) I didn't realize I was being served ethnic food at home until I left for college, where the nicest sit-down by us was a 24-hour American diner called Clocks. My roommate would always order the chicken-fried steak, and I'd get something forgettable...but I do remember their tasty fried okra.

However, I digress. Tonight, I prepared some grass-fed burger patties by seasoning it with sliced garlic, chopped scallions, garlic powder, black pepper, Himalayan rose salt, and a tablespoon of Pacific Red Hot chili paste. I flattened out the ground meat, sprinkled all those things on it, placed the tablespoon of pepper paste in the center and rolled the mixture around like Play-Doh, eventually forming two 8-oz patties.

I cooked each patty on the heated skillet that already had some garlic and chives cooking in a bit of coconut oil for flavor. When I was done cooking the patties, I placed one on a bed of Moroccan couscous from a box I found in the pantry. To round out my dinner plate, I sliced a white onion for some rings and placed blue cheese crumbles on top, with a serving of kkakdugi (Korean kimchee radish—rich in probiotics and fiber) and fresh vegetables as sides. 

The stars for tonight's dinner were the grass-fed ground beef, which tastes more delicious than regular ground beef and is better for me due to its CLA content and iron; the Moroccan couscous, because something so simple ends up so delicious with olive oil, salt, and butter; kkakdugi, which is cheap to buy a big jar of at any large Asian grocery store and is great-tasting and crunchy; and lastly, my jar of Pacific Red Hot chilli peppers from the small island of Rota, which was part of my latest care package from Guam.

I winged it. And I have leftovers.

Ta fañocho!