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Couscous
7-10 meal-size servings, or twice as many smaller servings. Omnivore,
vegetarian, and vegan variations. Preparation: 1-2 hours.
See gallery.
-
Equipment:
-
- Very large frying pan or big thick-bottomed pot for sautéeing
- Another large pot for collecting the ingredients after they are cooked
- A wooden spatula, chef's knife, vegetable peeler
- A 3-quart saucepan
-
Ingredients:
-
- 2 10oz boxes plain (original) couscous, e.g. Near East brand
- 4 cups chicken broth (but buy some extra)*
OR (vegetarian) 4 cups of apple cider.
- 1.5 or 2 pounds ground round**
OR (vegetarian) your favorite meat substitute, or nothing at all.
- 1 bunch broccoli rabe***
- 1 bunch fresh small carrots
- 4-5 small red potatoes
- 2 zucchinis about 1 inch in diameter
- 1 16oz jar of Mezzetta deli-sliced roasted red peppers
- fresh mushrooms
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- 2 or 3 lemons
- extra virgin olive oil
- white wine (cooking wine is ok)
_________________
*
Use a good kind of chicken broth, preferably natural and/or organic; the
canned supermarket brands taste awful and have lethal amounts of sodium.
For vegetarian couscous try something fruity like spiced apple cider.
You'll need one quart for cooking the couscous, plus some more for deglazing
the fyring pan, moistening the couscous at the end if it came out too dry,
and maybe for reheating.
**
You can also use chicken or ground turkey, but ground beef tastes better
after the first day. For vegetarian couscous use your favorite meat
substitute, such as Morningstar Farms breakfast sausages, something from
Beyond Meat, or nothing at all. WARNING: It's getting harder and harder to find ground beef
free of Pink Slime,
or chicken that hasn't been soaked in or injected with salt water and/or
waste byproducts and/or toxic chemicals such as ammonia and arsenic
(click here
and
here
and
here
for more information). Go to a Halal or Kosher butcher, a live poultry
market, or a supermarket that sells organic, natural meats or substitutes.
***
Broccolini
would be ideal but it's hard to find.
-
Couscous spices: (use a lot)
-
- Allspice
- Coriander
- Cinnamon
- Cumin
- Nutmeg
-
Other spices:
-
- Sazón Goya with Culantro and Achiote
- Fresh Mexican ancho chili powder
- Fresh-ground pepper
- Salt
-
Directions:
-
"Meat" means whatever kind of meat or vegetarian substitute you are
using. "Broth" means chicken broth or apple cider.
- Put olive oil in sauce pan, and then enough broth (normally 4 cups) for
two boxes of couscous, squeeze in some lemon juice. Add a few split cloves
of garlic, a chunk of ginger, and lots of couscous spices. Don't heat it
yet.
- Chop a lot of garlic and ginger in advance. Don't be shy about using
lots of garlic, ginger, and spices.
- Peel carrots, scrub potatoes. Chop into half-inch pieces.
- Scrub zucchini and cut into quarter-inch slices. If it's a fat
zucchini cut the slices into quarters.
- Slice mushrooms if whole.
- Clean the broccoli (if necessary) and chop the heads
and leaves into 1-2 inch pieces. If it's regular broccoli, discard the big
fat stem; if it's broccoli rabe or broccolini you can keep the stems.
- If you're using ground meat, mix meat with salt, pepper, couscous
spices, lemon juice, and chopped garlic and ginger, using your hands like
making meat loaf. If it's pieces of chicken sprinkle them Sazón Goya. If
it's soy sausages, they don't need any seasoning.
- Sautée the meat on high heat until it is almost fully cooked, removing
any juice that leaks out. If it's ground meat, break it up into small
pieces. When done, put it in the big collection pot.
- Sautée the vegetables separately with a little olive oil, ground pepper,
and Sazón Goya until not quite fully cooked -- each thing should still be a
bit hard, because it will cook some more later in the big pot:
- Potatoes and carrots together (brown them);
- Zucchini slices (brown them but don't let them get mushy);
- Mushrooms and some of the chopped garlic (with a little white wine if
you have it)
- After each vegetable is sautéed, put it in the big pot.
- Turn on the broth burner.
- While the broth is coming to a boil, sautée the broccoli stems briefly
in olive oil with thinly sliced garlic; then add the rest of the broccoli;
don't let the garlic burn or the broccoli get mushy. Hint: after sautéeing
for a minute, pour in some broth and/or wine and cover for maybe 20 seconds.
Empty the pan into the big pot.
- When broth is boiling, add couscous, mix, take off fire, cover, and let
sit 5 minutes (set timer).
- Drain the Mezzetta peppers, cut them up if necessary,
and add to the big pot.
- After 5 minutes add couscous to pot. Squeeze juice of 1-2 lemons over
it and mix it all together with the wooden spatula, being careful not to
break the ingredients. If it's dry after mixing, add a little more broth.
Taste, adjust spices, and let it cook a little longer if necessary (if you
do this you might get some concón
at the bottom, which is a special treat).
If you make too much to eat in a week, you can freeze some for later.
Let it cool completely before putting in containers; otherwise when you
freeze it the condensation will form a coating of ice and when you thaw
it, it'll be a bit watery.
- Very large frying pan or big thick-bottomed pot for sautéeing
- Another large pot for collecting the ingredients after they are cooked
- A wooden spatula, chef's knife, vegetable peeler
- A 3-quart saucepan
- 2 10oz boxes plain (original) couscous, e.g. Near East brand
- 4 cups chicken broth (but buy some extra)*
OR (vegetarian) 4 cups of apple cider. - 1.5 or 2 pounds ground round**
OR (vegetarian) your favorite meat substitute, or nothing at all. - 1 bunch broccoli rabe***
- 1 bunch fresh small carrots
- 4-5 small red potatoes
- 2 zucchinis about 1 inch in diameter
- 1 16oz jar of Mezzetta deli-sliced roasted red peppers
- fresh mushrooms
- garlic
- fresh ginger
- 2 or 3 lemons
- extra virgin olive oil
- white wine (cooking wine is ok)
| * | Use a good kind of chicken broth, preferably natural and/or organic; the canned supermarket brands taste awful and have lethal amounts of sodium. For vegetarian couscous try something fruity like spiced apple cider. You'll need one quart for cooking the couscous, plus some more for deglazing the fyring pan, moistening the couscous at the end if it came out too dry, and maybe for reheating. |
| ** | You can also use chicken or ground turkey, but ground beef tastes better after the first day. For vegetarian couscous use your favorite meat substitute, such as Morningstar Farms breakfast sausages, something from Beyond Meat, or nothing at all. WARNING: It's getting harder and harder to find ground beef free of Pink Slime, or chicken that hasn't been soaked in or injected with salt water and/or waste byproducts and/or toxic chemicals such as ammonia and arsenic (click here and here and here for more information). Go to a Halal or Kosher butcher, a live poultry market, or a supermarket that sells organic, natural meats or substitutes. |
| *** | Broccolini would be ideal but it's hard to find. |
- Allspice
- Coriander
- Cinnamon
- Cumin
- Nutmeg
- Sazón Goya with Culantro and Achiote
- Fresh Mexican ancho chili powder
- Fresh-ground pepper
- Salt
"Meat" means whatever kind of meat or vegetarian substitute you are
using. "Broth" means chicken broth or apple cider.
- Put olive oil in sauce pan, and then enough broth (normally 4 cups) for two boxes of couscous, squeeze in some lemon juice. Add a few split cloves of garlic, a chunk of ginger, and lots of couscous spices. Don't heat it yet.
- Chop a lot of garlic and ginger in advance. Don't be shy about using lots of garlic, ginger, and spices.
- Peel carrots, scrub potatoes. Chop into half-inch pieces.
- Scrub zucchini and cut into quarter-inch slices. If it's a fat zucchini cut the slices into quarters.
- Slice mushrooms if whole.
- Clean the broccoli (if necessary) and chop the heads and leaves into 1-2 inch pieces. If it's regular broccoli, discard the big fat stem; if it's broccoli rabe or broccolini you can keep the stems.
- If you're using ground meat, mix meat with salt, pepper, couscous spices, lemon juice, and chopped garlic and ginger, using your hands like making meat loaf. If it's pieces of chicken sprinkle them Sazón Goya. If it's soy sausages, they don't need any seasoning.
- Sautée the meat on high heat until it is almost fully cooked, removing any juice that leaks out. If it's ground meat, break it up into small pieces. When done, put it in the big collection pot.
- Sautée the vegetables separately with a little olive oil, ground pepper,
and Sazón Goya until not quite fully cooked -- each thing should still be a
bit hard, because it will cook some more later in the big pot:
- Potatoes and carrots together (brown them);
- Zucchini slices (brown them but don't let them get mushy);
- Mushrooms and some of the chopped garlic (with a little white wine if you have it)
- After each vegetable is sautéed, put it in the big pot.
- Turn on the broth burner.
- While the broth is coming to a boil, sautée the broccoli stems briefly in olive oil with thinly sliced garlic; then add the rest of the broccoli; don't let the garlic burn or the broccoli get mushy. Hint: after sautéeing for a minute, pour in some broth and/or wine and cover for maybe 20 seconds. Empty the pan into the big pot.
- When broth is boiling, add couscous, mix, take off fire, cover, and let sit 5 minutes (set timer).
- Drain the Mezzetta peppers, cut them up if necessary, and add to the big pot.
- After 5 minutes add couscous to pot. Squeeze juice of 1-2 lemons over it and mix it all together with the wooden spatula, being careful not to break the ingredients. If it's dry after mixing, add a little more broth. Taste, adjust spices, and let it cook a little longer if necessary (if you do this you might get some concón at the bottom, which is a special treat).
If you make too much to eat in a week, you can freeze some for later. Let it cool completely before putting in containers; otherwise when you freeze it the condensation will form a coating of ice and when you thaw it, it'll be a bit watery.