Couscous Salad and Merguez Sausages

Sometimes traveling to an exotic destination only takes a typical meal from another country and a lot of imagination. Since I don't lack imagination, the only thing I needed to feel like I was spending a summer day in the south of France was a typical Summer BBQ meal. A few days ago, a friend surprised me with this delicious diner: Merguez Sausages and a savory couscous salad (A.K.A Taboule) and I was overwhelemed with joy and gratitude.

A Merguez sausages is a spicy blend of lamb and beef with mediterranean seasoning, cilantro and harissa. They are hard to find in Los Angeles but most French people have their favorite spot they like to go to when they want to get their Merguez fix. However, if you've never tried them before and want to give them a try I would highly recommend: "Payless Internation Market" on Venice Bld and Westwood Ave (10817 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90034). This store is a little gem in West L.A, offering a variaty of Halal meat (don't plan on buying any pork there"), Feta cheese from various countries, and cheap but flavorful fruits and vegetables.

Unfortuinately, the stash of charcoal bricks and our supplies of gas were both gone and we had to grill the sausages on the stove instead of the BBQ, which was a bit of a disappointment but roasting the merguez in the oven for about 5-10 minutes after cooking them was a perfect way to get the sausages crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

We enjoyed this diner with some good wine, we had a digestive spliff and I was esctatic when I had the chance to eat the leftovers the day after.

Grilled Feta

There are times when the will to cook is overpowered by the lack of motivation....especially after a few joints. Our primal stoner instinct tells us to pick up the phone and call the closest pizza place for delivery, but as long as you have a few ingredients in your fridge you can make something good and somewhat healthy in less than five minutes (which can be less than the amount of time spent on the phone with the person taking the order).

After watching Hell's kitchen on TV, I got hungry and decided to cook during the commercial break. I grabbed a big firm tomato from the fridge and cut it up in slices, I then grabbed the big block of Feta cheese that I had bought a day earlier and sliced it in the middle. I covered the tomatoes with the two thin halves of feta cheese, drizzled some olive oil on top, added salt, black pepper, basil and thyme and threw it in the oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes (which is usually about two commercial breaks later). I resumed watching TV and 15 minutes dumber, I got up from the couch and turned the oven to "broil" for three more minutes. when the cheese is a little grilled at the top take it out and enjoy this easy dish with some fresh bread or some naan. Make sure you don't leave it too long though, or the yummy sauce at the bottom of the dish will be all gone.

Bacon Wrapped Tater Tots

Today I woke up wanting a good breakfast. However, when I opened my fridge and realized how empty it looked, preparing a fancy breakfast was out of the question. But I still wanted to be semi creative and I thought that wrapping my tater tots with bacon would be the best idea in the world. Of course, the fact that I had smoked a joint right before coming up with this creation only enhanced the false sense of achievement I was feeling from getting a new idea. The illusion that I had come up with something cool and original was later  crushed when I googled "bacon wrapped Tater tots" and hundreds of links came up. It was very good nonetheless and I made an omelet with feta cheese to go with it. Probably only because feta cheese looked good on the picture.