Saturday, July 2, 2011

Easy Couscous

Couscous-an ancient North African now international greain-is deceptively simple, despite its continuous presence on extravagant menus at the best restaurants.

How to cook it:
1. Boil 2 cups of water.
2. Once boiled, remove from heat and pour 1 1/2 cups of raw couscous in. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Uncover and fluff couscous with a fork. The End!

There are a ton of varieties of couscous, but the three most common in our American grocery stores are When you season couscous, which you must do because plain couscous tastes like blah nothing, a Little goes a L-O-N-G way!

Some typical spices/ingredients to add:
garlic, roasted red pepper, salt & pepper, basil, oregano, spinach, mint, pine nuts, sliced almonds, currants/raisins, lemon, broccoli,

Some atypical spices/ingredients to add (I've either used these or seen them on fabulous menus):
Mushrooms, grilled pineapple, squash & zucchini, mandarin oranges, chorizo, asparagus, bacon.

A couscous to start with, which we served with mahi mahi...

Quick Couscous
*4 servings*
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups couscous
Dash of sea salt and pepper
Dash of garlic powder
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
4 small chopped mushrooms (or 1 can sliced mushrooms, drained)
4 basil leaves (or 2 teaspoons dried)

step one: Cook couscous as shown above (quick boil method). 

step two: Once couscous is cooked, add all other ingredients. (Note: Add salt after it is cooked, and not before...the saltiness will be at its peak after cooked and will keep you from oversalting overall.) Stir. Garnish with extra basil leaves and feta.

Enjoy your weekend, 4th of July, and time with those who make you smile.

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