May 31, 2013

This recipe is adapted from a recipe that Mardi from Sprout & Pea‘s mom gave to her. It can be made vegan if you replace the butter with olive oil!

Ingredients

– 1 cup Cous Cous (I used Moroccan cous cous)1 1/2 cups Vegetable Broth
– 2 Tbsp Butter (or 1 1/2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil if vegan)
– 1/3 cup Pistachios, shelled & toasted
– 1/2 cup Scallions, chopped
– 1/2 cup Dried Currants (soaked in hot water for 15 minutes)
– 1/4 cup Parsley, chopped
– 3 Tbsp fresh Lemon Juice
– 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Oil
– 2 tsp Cinnamon Salt & Pepper

Directions

Bring vegetable broth and butter (or olive oil) to a boil in a sauce pan. Add in couscous, stir and remove from heat. Let sit covered for 12-15 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add scallions, currants and pistachios and toss together. Season with salt and pepper. In a bowl, whisk lemon juice, olive oil and cinnamon together. Toss cous cous with dressing to coat. Season again if needed.


April 6, 2013

Last weekend I threw a dinner party at my apartment for six of my lovely friends. Work has become increasingly busy as we head into wedding & events season (I’ll be helping seven awesome couples get married and four teens get bar/bat mitzvahed over the next three months), so I wanted to get people together for one last hurrah until I have more free time again in July. I made a giant feast of Mediterranean & Middle Eastern inspired meze.

On my search for ingredients, I visited Kalustyan’s in Flatiron. The store is incredible and full of any sort of specialty item you could imagine and I’m in love.

This cous cous dish is a nice balance of savory and sweet and can be tossed together as a nice side, or served layered like I did.

Ingredients

– 2 cups cooked Moroccan Cous Cous (follow instructions on the box or bag. Use olive oil instead of butter if vegan)
– 1 large Red Pepper
– 1/2 cup Dried Apricot
– 1/8 cup Moroccan Olives
– 1/8 cup Pine Nuts
– Cilantro (optional)
– 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
– Salt to taste

Directions

Prepare cous cous as you’re prepping the other ingredients (should take about 10 minutes max. Preheat oven to 350. Toast pine nuts on a baking pan until they start to brown. Remove from oven and set aside. Remove top and seeds from the red pepper and cut into large pieces. Toss with olive oil and season with salt. Grill on a stovetop grill until soft and starting to blacken, grilling both sides of the pepper. Remove from heat, chop into small pieces and put into a small bowl. Chop olives (removing pits) and toss with the red pepper. Chop up dried apricots into small pieces. If using cilantro, chop into small pieces. In a bowl toss cous cous with apricots, pine nuts and cilantro. Season with salt. Spoon cous cous onto plate or into a bowl and top with red pepper and olives. You can toss everything together if you’d prefer. Serve warm.