Welcome to our new spot! Cup-A Cup-A is becoming Community Table!  It was time for a new look to our blog (it was getting stale) and it needed an upgrade.  And we are so happy to have found our way to this clean, fresh start!

Here’s a little of the back-story.  I turned 45 in February and decided that for my birthday I really wanted to hold a small SUMMIT.  Now, a summit in my mind is a meeting-of-the-minds, a team meeting, where you get input from people about areas in your life in which you need insight. I loved turning 40 and while I wasn’t sad to turn 45, it was sobering to think about being on the “descent” of life- with more than half of my life in the past…if, that is, I live until old age.  I needed to hear from a small group of people in my life who are WISE and SAFE and KNOW ME really well and CAN SPEAK into these things. (I highly recommend this to all of you.)  I feel like a birthday is one of the few times that you can unashamedly ask people to gather around and talk about you!

One of the topics of the Summit was my blog.  I really want to give more time to it, though it sometimes is hard to find.  But whenever I take time to post a blog, it feels so fun to do something creative.   The feedback about the blog was: “Your blog needs a face lift!”, “Move to a different platform- it’s hard to search on your blog from my phone and I need that to be easy since I am usually standing in the grocery looking for a recipe!”, “What if you expanded your blog beyond food to hospitality, since you allude to that a lot?”, “How do you feel about changing the name of your blog?”, “How can you and Dave collaborate more in this?”

And THIS is the fruit of that conversation.  Dave’s wood-working business is Community Tables (plural) and so we thought it would be fitting to name the blog Community Table. Much of the food that is prepared in our kitchen is for the express purpose of community building! And I’m hoping with this linked name, it will sync up these hobbies of ours.

At the Summit we made one of my favorite dishes- King Kong Couscous.  My favorite restaurant in Nashville for many years was the Silly Goose. I loved the vibe of the restaurant and everything on the menu was fresh, creative, tasty, beautiful and affordable. I went for a birthday meal (lunch or dinner) every year for many years until it closed.  I was so very sad about it’s closure.  I have been wanting to make this special, flavor-explosive dish since then and we decided to make it for the summit.  It was delicious! I made it with my family the next week and they devoured it too. (See recipe and photos below.)

Thank you to all of those who have faithfully journeyed with me through the years, and welcome to those who are just joining us.  Our goal is to share our tried & true, tested & approved, approachable yet delicious recipes with you! Welcome to our table!

Julie & Dave

King Kong Couscous

(serves 5-6)

Ingredients:

Couscous
4 cups cooked plain couscous
1 1/2 cups diced avocado
1 cup roasted & salted cashew pieces, coarsely chopped
2 1/2 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped mint
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. toasted sesame oil
1 tbsp. grated fresh ginger (as fine as possible)
salt, to taste

Shrimp

1/4 cup red curry paste
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
24 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. ground coriander
2 tbsp. kosher salt

sesame seeds and cashews, for garnish
sriracha, to taste

Directions:

1. Mix all the couscous ingredients until well combined.
2. Mix the curry paste and coconut with a whisk until well combined. Set aside.
3. Toss the shrimp with enough coconut curry mixture to coat, (but not too much because you don’t want to contaminate more that you have to), and season on both sides with the cumin, coriander, and salt. Stove top grill or broil the shrimp until done, 3-4 minutes.
4. To serve, divide couscous mixture onto serving plates and arrange the shrimp around or on top of each plate. Garnish with remaining coconut curry, sesame seeds, cashews, and a drizzle of sriracha for spice.

Recipe borrowed from: Nashville Chef’s Table: Extraordinary Recipes from Music City
by Stephanie Stewart-Howard
formerly on the menu at Silly Goose