I adapted this recipe from (yet again) something in the most recent issue of Real Simple. It's healthy, tasty, and best of all, takes maybe 10 minutes to make and only uses two dishes (one pan and a bowl). Sign me up!
Start out by making the couscous. This could hardly be easier - measure 1 c. of couscous into a glass bowl, boil 2 c. of water and then pour it over the couscous (that will make 4-6 servings worth). This needs to sit for about 10 minutes, so while it's cooking, you can make the actual dish.
Finely chop two cloves of garlic. Prepare your greens: two bunches of swiss chard, or collards, or kale, or whatever dark green you want. I had bought a bag of mixed "southern greens" from Trader Joe's, which was enormous. You can vary the amount of greens you put in, but go with more than you think - these cook down a LOT, so make sure you have enough that you have to cook it in two batches. :) Finally, drain a 15oz can of chickpeas.
Heat up 2-3 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan. Once the oil is hot, add your garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Once the garlic starts to brown, quickly add the chickpeas and as much of the greens as will fit in the pan, and stir it around a bit. You don't want to burn the garlic, so it's key to have the rest of the ingredients at hand The greens will cook faster if you cover the pan, but it's not absolutely necessary. Add 1/2 c. raisins (these really make the dish) and the rest of the greens. Once all the greens have cooked down, stir in 1/2 c. chopped almonds (the RS recipe calls for pine nuts, but I'm a grad student and pine nuts tend to be expensive. So, I use almonds. Sunflower seeds would be another good substitution.) And of course, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
By now, the couscous should have absorbed all the water and formed itself into a more or less solid brick. Use a fork to scrape it out all nice and fluffy like, and serve with the greens. If you don't want to do couscous, quinoa or even brown rice would work equally well.
Slightly off topic: I made the brownies from Kris's last post this weekend - using dark chocolate rather than milk - and they are positively sinful. Mmm.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Dark greens with chickpeas and couscous
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Butternut squash and chickpeas with cumin couscous
I found this delicious looking recipe in the latest issue of "Real Simple" - I know, it's not really a twenty-something magazine, but at least it's not Martha Stewart. Anyway, they suggest it as a side dish at Thanksgiving that is hearty enough to serve as a main dish for vegetarians. I'm not vegetarian but I do have a lot of veggie friends, and I tend to like Moroccan-inspired dishes, so I thought I'd give it a test run this weekend.
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash (~2 lbs)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, diced
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2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
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1 c. canned diced tomatoes
1 x 32 oz. container vegetable broth
1 x 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained
1/3 c. raisins (golden or dark)
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
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1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 c. couscous
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2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1/4 c. chopped almonds
Directions:
Peel and halve the squash. Remove the seeds and cut into ~1 inch chunks. Dice the onion and chop the garlic. You may want to measure out the spices into a small mise en place bowl at this point to save some scrambling later. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or very large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and cook for one minute. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, chickpeas, raisins and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, then uncover and cook 15-20 minutes until squash is tender and a lot of the liquid has boiled off.
After you've uncovered the squash mixture, boil 1 1/2 c. water with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. cumin. Stir in the couscous and remove from heat, let stand 5-10 minutes and fluff with a fork. Divide the couscous into individual portions (this recipe serves 6-8 people) and ladle the squash over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and almonds.
The verdict:
Very filling! I liked the flavors, which wasn't surprising, but the spices weren't nearly strong enough for my taste. I'd probably double them next time, and maybe leave out the parsley garnish entirely. The squash mixture came out really watery, which was kind of unfortunate since I'm sure a lot of the flavors wound up in the broth instead of on our plates. The dish needs a lot of liquid to cover the squash chunks and cook them properly, but it didn't boil off much. The only real fix I can think of is to cook the couscous in with the squash instead of cooking it separately, i.e., add the dry couscous once the squash is done cooking and let it absorb the liquid for ten minutes. Otherwise, though, thumbs up.
I'll probably come back and update this post if those changes help, but I might not be making it again for a while - the 6-8 servings are going to be providing me with lunch and dinner all week!
