31 dishes, 31 days – I’m cooking my way through Melissa Clark‘s “No-Sweat Cooking” from the August issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray

Mike returned from Tales of the Cocktail yesterday, laden with swag and full of great stories. He was also feeling a little… shall we say fatigued from indulging in so much good food and drink during his week in New Orleans, and he asked that I plan out some light and healthful fare for the week.

Our Monday dinners are typically meatless, and this Herbed Tabbouleh Salad looked like just the sort of hearty but wholesome dish to help ease my guy back into post-pork-and-bourbon reality. I used my own homemade roasted red peppers, plus chickpeas that I had previously cooked from dried and portioned out (canned versions, are of course, just fine – I just have to do things my way). The salad itself was a breeze to put together, the bulgur needing just a quick soak in boiling water to soften, then a toss with the red pepper strips and chickpeas plus plenty of chopped parsley, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and some of our best olive oil. Mike liked it so much he ate the leftovers for lunch today, topped with a little leftover chicken I had cooked up while he was away. Another day, another winning low-fuss and sweat-free dish.

Get the recipe: Herbed Tabbouleh Salad

After a couple of pork-heavy dinners in a row, I was craving something a little lighter last night. I thought about the remaining fish filets I had stashed in the freezer a couple weeks back, and decided to plan something around one of them. I’m still swooning at the memory of the striped bass I had at La Laiterie last Friday night, so I thought it was perhaps too soon to cook it again at home. So it would be cod then – but how to prepare it?

I didn’t want to roast it again, and fried fish didn’t really appeal, so in the end, I decided to revisit a technique I don’t use often enough when cooking fish: poaching. To simplify things even more, I decided to forego the traditional court-bouillon and poach the fish in olive oil.

I divided the cod into three relatively equal pieces, seasoned them well with my favorite spiced sea salt, and nestled them in a small baking dish. I added enough extra virgin olive oil to cover them, then placed them in a preheated oven set to 260 – the lowest setting on our oven. I set a timer for 25 minutes and got to work on accompaniments: Simmons Farm spinach, sauteed with sliced shallot, some previously cooked chickpeas (you can, of course, substitute canned) added to the pan to warm through, and a Middle Eastern-inspired sauce of flat-leaf parsley, chives, mint, chile flakes, lemon and more olive oil.

The cod cooked up beautifully, with a silky, flaky texture and no hint of greasiness, and the chickpea-spinach combo was a hit as well. I was so impressed with the results I can’t wait to try this again with other varieties of seafood (Bomster scallops, I’m looking at you).

This was better than it had any right to be. Like many dishes I make, it evolved from a hastily scribbled note that looked more like a math problem than a recipe, an attempt to do something different with familiar ingredients.

I’m crazy for the deep green wrinkly variety of kale that goes by various names (Dinosaur, Tuscan, Lacinato). Whatever you call it, it’s darned tasty, and something I buy in quantity this time of year, but I tend to do the same old saute with it, or toss it into a soup.

I’m also a huge fan of chickpeas; my husband, not so much. He’ll eat them if they’re in a dish (or eat around them), but he was never really a fan – until now.

We’re both learning to love sweet potatoes. They’re just so good for you, but in most preparations they’re just *too* sweet for our tastes. Here, I decided to cube them and saute them in olive oil with a chopped shallot until they got nicely browned on the edges. Then my drained, cooked chickpeas went in, along with a huge clove of garlic, sliced, and once that was fragrant and golden, the chopped kale went on top. I tossed it through until it was bright green and wilted, then spooned the veggies into our bowls, topping each serving with (of course) a poached egg.

I didn’t have great expectations for this, but honestly? We loved it. The chickpeas were the unexpected star, rich and meaty tasting, with a wonderful texture far superior to canned. A little harissa added at the table took it over the top. This was a lovely and really satisfying fall meal, a great combination of colors and textures, and a surprising success.