I got to sit down with Jason Wilson from Crush yesterday for (admittedly way more than) five minutes. He is a delight. His restaurant is a delight, His food is a delight. I can't rave enough about how lovely he is - and the space. I have been to Crush as a diner and throughly enjoyed the meal. I was invited to chat with him because of a project he's been working on with Near East Foods - the Couscous Caravan.
The Couscous Caravan is a caravan traveling around the Seattle neighborhoods bringing samples of two of Jason Wilson's five couscous recipes featuring Near East brand couscous. Kirstin and I got to sample one of them - heaven. The couscous was spiced with chipotle, filled with dried cherries, and topped with an amazing piece of pork tenderloin.
Each dish of the five was inspired by a Seattle neighborhood. The dish we tasted was inspired by SODO. The pork is cooked with a coffee crust and beer braise - evoking the two coffee roasters of the area and the massive number of small breweries. The spiciness of the dish reflects the spiciness of the area and the wild mustard greens were gathered locally, a representation of urban gardening.
I'll post the recipe tomorrow for the above dish - we are definitely having this for dinner this week! All five recipes will be available on my blog as the caravan tours Seattle - and three of the recipes are available at Crush. So make your reservations now - it's a small joint!
**Disclaimer - my recorder stopped working at some point during the interview, luckily I also took notes, but the answers are an abbreviated version **
What is your favorite thing to cook? Clearly, I realize you cook all day - but is there something that stands out?
My wife cooks "pop-eyes" where she cuts a hole out of the middle of a piece of toast then pops a poached egg in the hole and browns it in a pan with a little bacon grease. We keep it really simple at home although I'm learning that what we have on hand at our house is a little different than what most people keep around. My son (aged 4), for example, asked for octopus recently for lunch. So we went down to the market, bought some octopus, came home and braised it. It was an awesome lunch. We still make stuff like Mac & Cheese for him, but we make it from scratch.
Do you craft?
I do with my son. We tried to knit recently, that didn't go well. And we made pinewood derby cars recently, he's getting old enough to actually make the car now, which is cool.
Who do you most admire?
I don't want to be vanilla, but my wife. She's amazing.
Tell me a little about Couscous Caravan and your involvement.
The caravan is a way to take this inexpensive ingredient - that really easy to make - and show people some gourmet applications. Get them thinking about new ways to use couscous. I came on board to create five recipes - two are being showcased on the caravan and the other three are the 'gourmet' versions that are going to be available at Crush. All of the recipes were inspired by neighborhoods in Seattle since that's where the caravan would be headed.
Fun things I learned from Jason Wilson
:: For his appearance on Martha Stewart he cooked NINE dishes to show just one on air
:: When making couscous, start with stock or juice as the liquid instead of plain water. It infuses flavor from the start. One recommendation? Coconut water!
:: Use 1 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon liquid for one cup of couscous.
:: He's going to be at the James Beard house pretty soon cooking a "locavore" dinner with six other chefs.
:: The couscous dishes are going to be sampled at the Taste of Washington
:: Mondays at Crush they host cooking classes for a handful of people in the bar. I really want to do this - as soon as I talk Mr. Hedin into it. (oh, and it's not every Monday. Click the link for dates)
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