My garden is bountiful so far this year, and many of my home-cooked meals begin with me spreading out my harvest on the counter and chopping up a little of everything for an impromptu, no-recipe vegetable sauté, salad, or pasta meal. But when I’m not making dinner at home these days, I’m usually making it aboard our sailboat, the Blue Mule, where my range of options becomes more limited. One of the beauties of the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon is that you can approach it as garden-to-table meal or as a pantry-focused one that fits neatly in a cooler and kitchen box on the water or in a campground.

As I teach in my Fine Dining: Front Country workshop, the key to making such a veggie-heavy meal in the galley or at the campsite is to choose vegetables that travel well. Whole carrots, onions, and garlic can tumble around as the boat surfs waves or the car bounces down gravel roads, and they’ll still look and taste great at dinnertime. I pack small zucchini, so I don’t have a partial one left with an exposed cut edge that’s more susceptible to damage. I also tuck zukes and other tender vegetables into a plastic storage box that fits inside my ice chest and minimizes their bumping and bruising—and their direct exposure to melting ice.

Learn more about easy dinners and get the complete recipe for Chickpea Vegetable Skillet with Couscous and Feta in my column.

Make it, share it.
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Twice as Tasty

When I make this veggie skillet at home, I might keep things as simple as I do on the water or give it the Twice as Tasty treatment. Here are just a few of the recipes on the blog that make delicious upgrades for this skillet meal. You can find more in the recipe index.

• Pour-Over Cinnamon Couscous: I developed this technique of pouring boiling water over instant couscous, rather than cooking it on the stovetop, to use when I’m off the grid, but it works so well that I use it at home too. Whether I’m serving it under a main dish or in a fresh salad, I upgrade plain couscous with a little butter, cinnamon, and salt.
• Roasted Garlic: I usually have a whole head or two of grilled or roasted garlic in my refrigerator to use for hummus and just about any recipe that calls for fresh cloves. Its mellow, slightly smoky flavor comes through even with all of the other vegetables in this dish.
• Brined and Seasoned Pot Beans: The texture and flavor of dried beans that are brined and cooked on the stovetop stands out from canned versions. I often cook chickpeas in plain water so that they’re more versatile in cold salads or as Zesty Baked Chickpea Snacks, but seasoned ones are delicious in this recipe.
• Chermoula: You can sometimes find jars of chermoula at Asian markets, but it’s so easy to make and tastes fresher. It also freezes well, so you can make a big batch to use year-round. Just follow my recipe for Chermoula-Yogurt Dip and leave out the yogurt.
• Tomato Peel Powder: This is my go-to substitute for tomato paste. Many canning recipes call for blanched and peeled tomatoes. I spread the removed skins on dehydrator trays, dry them until crisp, and then grind them into a powder. Use the same volume as tomato paste, perhaps adding a little extra water if the sauce seems too dry.
• Dry-Salted Feta: If I had to choose one homemade ingredient for this veggie skillet, it would be feta cheese. It’s not the easiest upgrade, but it’s one of the tastiest, and I often make a batch just to enhance a particular meal. If you’re buying feta, choose a version in salt brine rather than a plastic-wrapped block or container of crumbles, both of which have so little flavor I’d rather skip the cheese.

You can learn more about making cheese in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.