Something Schnitzel

jaynie (74)in WORLD OF XPILAR • 20 days ago

Chicken schnitzel is something which loads of people enjoy, and I am definitely one of them. But usually, when you get schnitzel, it's served in a pretty basic and somewhat boring manner - often with mashed potatoes and smothered in sauce of one kind or another. No disrespect to mash, because that is one of my true loves, lol, but I really wanted to enjoy some schnitzel, but creating a little bit of a different plate flavour wise.

I thought it would be nice to have roasted vegetables, a bit of couscous, and some fresh avocado with the schnitzel. For the veggies, I decided to do something different too - Normally, roasted veg are quite chunky, well - at least, in my house they are, haha! But back when Jude was in primary school, I learnt about a style of salad called Katzutz - a Hebrew term meaning chopped salad… soooooo, I decided to invent a new term and make some… wait for it… Katzutz roast veggies!! haha!

Even though I bought pre-chopped veggies, I still had to dice them even more to get the result I wanted. The pack had potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bell peppers, carrots, butternut squash, and red onions.

Schnitzel is often served with a slice of lemon to squeeze over the meat, so instead - I decided to try and mimic that flavour on the plate by seasoning the veg with freshly ground salt and pepper, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a generous amount of freshly cut lemon thyme from the garden as well as a few sprigs of rosemary and then lastly, a few dribbles of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.

I popped that into the oven at 250 degrees Celsius for approx. 30 minutes as it was a very large pack of roasting veg - my intention being to cook enough for two nights. I usually do that so I get a couple of nights off during the week... but if you are preparing for enough for one or two people and a single serving, the volume of veg would be less than half of this and would probably only take about 10 min in the oven at that temp - closer to the top of the oven so that you get the nice golden roasted edges on the veg.

While the roast veg were busy, I prepped the cous cous. I am not sure how many of you prepare your cous cous on the stove top... but if any of you do - I have to beg the question... WHY!!! haha! Cous cous is one of those incredibly tasty sides on a plate and so very easy to prepare, without even touching a pot.

All you need is a bowl with a lid (or some cling film if it does not have a lid), a kettle and obviously the cous cous. You add the same amount of water as cous cous. So, if you use a cup of dry cous cous, then you will add one cup of boiling water immediately after it has boiled.

Mix it with a fork and let it sit for about 30 seconds - it will soak up most of the water. Then add a bit of olive oil and mix it well, but quickly so it stays warm. Flatten it gently with a fork, cover it, and let it sit for at least 20 minutes.

A little trick I use with my couscous that people really like is… I add a bit of "rice spice" when I mix the dry couscous. It really just adds that little bit of extra flavour awesomeness!

When you're ready to serve the couscous, use a fork to separate it. Just scrape through it with the tips of the fork at first, then go in different directions until it's nice and crumbly and ready to eat!

It all tasted really great, had loads of flavour and made quite a nice change to how we normally serve schnitzel! I would be curious to know how other people serve their cous cous… feel free to share!