Israeli Couscous
This recipe came together the way most of my dinners come together: I had an idea of what I wanted to make and then realized I only had half of the ingredients I thought I had, so I improvised. I initially wanted to make quinoa with lentils or chickpeas and vegetables, but I had no quinoa. While going through my container of grains I found some Israeli couscous that I bought a few weeks ago on a whim, and decided that would be the bulk of the dish. I had never cooked with it before, so I looked up some recipes to get ideas. One of the recipes I found had toasted pine nuts, which I happened to have on hand so I figured I’d throw some of those in. The cranberries came into play because I had some in my fridge from thanksgiving, so those were thrown in as well. I’d imagine dried cranberries would work fine in place of fresh though.
Israeli Couscous with Toasted Pine Nuts and Cranberries
Serves 2. You can probably double it without a problem. The vegetable amounts are approximate, the couscous and broth amounts are not.
- 1/4 cup chopped carrots
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 cup Israeli couscous
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth (or water)
- handful fresh cranberries (or dried, if you’re a wimp)
- handful baby spinach
Toasting Israeli Couscous
Saute the onions in a very small amount of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper until soft. Add the carrots, garlic, and pine nuts. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes over medium heat. Add couscous and toast for a few minutes, stirring frequently. Add the broth and cranberries and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the couscous is tender. Add baby spinach and salt and pepper. Serve hot or at room temperature.
I served mine hot with sauteed red bell pepper and soy curls, to round out the meal
