Ginny and Juan’s Balsamic Showdown: Juan’s Creation

I know you have been waiting for the revealing of Juan’s Balsamic Creation… without further delay… My boyfriend, Juan…

Our showdown came about a few weeks ago when I was visiting Ginny in Chicago. She was roasting garlic, and I casually mentioned my own technique. She looked at me quizzically and said that after over a year of dating, she had never known I could cook. “Drat!” I thought, “Now I’ll have to make her something!” No, I am kidding, of course. One of the drawbacks of a long distance relationship is that cooking is not something you discuss everyday, even if you’re dating a girl with a food blog. But since I lost our last round of mini-golf and I’m on the hook to cook a three course meal for her anyway, I figured we could give this showdown a shot.

I don’t consider myself a culinary expert by any means, but I realized fairly early in college that I was going to need to learn to cook if I was going to survive on items with actual vitamin and mineral contents. Over the years, I started making myself some foods that satisfied my requirements. Dinner must: (a) be healthy and tasted good, (b) use as few dishes as possible, and (c) make enough for several days’ worth of lunches for work over the week. I usually follow recipes pretty rigidly, but this time I decided to rig one up myself. The experience was certainly a new one. After getting some advice a few co-workers, I threw a tabouleh dish together:

- couscous
- ginny and juan’s awesome balsamic vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- kalmata olives
- parsley (from the garden, but frozen)
- chick peas
- black pepper

I used more oil than I expected (I tend to use very little) and also sprinkled in some of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes. I also tend to err on the side of too much parsley. It turned out very tasty though. In the picture, it’s served with some grilled chicken, which added a good balance of lean protein to the dish. And, of course, there was enough left over for several days worth of lunches at work. Best of all, it only used two dishes!

So, now you have seen both dishes: Ginny’s Fig- Balsamic Ricotta Cheesecake and Juan’s Balsamic Tabouleh. Please vote for your favorite by leaving a comment below.

Filed under Balsamic, Chicken |