Couscous

[ellidew]

I was wondering what everyone else does with couscous.

Over the weekend I bought a box of whole wheat instant couscous and just added olive oil and parm cheese to it. It was good but I want to find other more interesting things to do with it.

[tlew12778]

I make tabbouleh.

I "cook" it, then top it with a sort of soup (Mid East style).

I make veggie burgers (most call for bulghur, if at all, but I use couscous instead).

In the summer, I toss it with chopped fresh veggies, EVOO, etc.

I think there is a thread for couscous recipes already.

[ellidew]

hmm, i did a search for coucous and nothing came up. I'll try again.

ETA: I searched again and this is the only couscous thread that pops up. If you know where another one is please post a link! TIA.

[flygirl]

I didn't see an actual couscous thread, but this (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/search.php?searchid=1421146) is what I got when I searched the forum :).

[Sevilla]

www.cookinglight.com has a bunch of good recipes using couscous. I usually use it in place of rice (and each recipe has different ways to season it and what other things to add so it coordinates with the rest of the recipe).

[Renrel]

We just use it instead of rice or noodles and prefer the Isreali style which has very large round grains. I do love the salad made with this stuff and cranberries that I find at whole foods. One day I will try and find the recipe.

[ysolde]

I use it in place of noodles in chicken soup. Yum.

[HGMorgann]

I chop up brocolli (Very fine so DD can't pick it out), sharp cheddar cheese and add some garlic and curry. Its actually a very popular toddler dish for our playgroups.

[LIZNKEITH]

Saute up some spinach, diced tomatoes, and chopped onion in some EVOO and serve it over couscous. This is one of my favorite lunches. Yum!

[lauren f s]

I love it mixed with any fresh veggies, herbs, EVOO, and parmesan cheese. My 3 year old LOVES it, too!

[janders6]

I saute lots of garlic, parsley, pine nuts and raisins in evoo and add to the couscous. Yum.

[emmjay]

Couscous is North African, so it is perfect with Moroccan-style foods. You can use a dutch oven or slow cooker to make a tagine with:

olive oil for sauteeing
1 lb chicken cut into pieces
1 or 2 potatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 diced onion
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
a variety of root vegetables - carrots, turnips, rutabega, parsnip, diced
1 can chickpeas or fava beans, drained and rinsed
salt to taste
a combo of spices like pepper, cumin, paprika, saffron, cinnamon, turmeric and ginger. I usually do about 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp each pepper, ginger, turmeric and paprika, maybe a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of saffron if I have any on hand.

Saute the chicken in olive oil over medium. Then throw everything except the spices into the crockpot and cook on low for ~8 hours until the veggies are tender. Or cook in the dutch oven either on the stove over low or in the oven at a fairly low temperature until the veggies are tender. Add the spices, and chicken stock if necessary to make it into a stew consistency. Then serve it on top of couscous.

You can find a recipe with better measurements online - just look for chicken tagine. Oh, a lot of tagines include raisins or chopped dried apricots, and slivered almonds. Anyway, it is delicious over couscous.

[melones]

I sautee thinly sliced red onion until limp and a little brown and then i add the red onion and some goat cheese and garlic pepper to the couscous.

[smilewithme]

On Saturday I made a box of couscous, the garlic flavor, and added frozen peas when I added the couscous to the boilding water. When I was ready to serve, I tossed in chopped mint from the garden, salt and pepper and it was so very yummy!

[EJM]

One of my favorite ways to use couscous is in a frittata for dinner with red pepper -- it was originally a Cooking Light recipe.

[IrishEyes]

My favorite recipe is to saute chicken in olive oil and minced garlic, then add a can of diced tomatoes and some chopped spinach. Serve that over couscous and add crumbled feta cheese. Comfort food for me!

[linda_loo]

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[Bloomwood]

This is great; there are so many ideas for couscous. I always buy the Near East brands, usually the roasted garlic one.

I saw Jamie Oliver - years ago, when he was the "hot" tv chef - roast all these yummy veggies and toss with fresh herbs and couscous and drizzle olive oil. I love it that way. It is also good to take as a salad on a summer day (which I think the episode was about).