Alexander’s Couscous
A favorite recipe of Alexander's college roommates at Mines
Ingredients
- 1 pint grape tomatoes halved
- ¼ cup sliced scallions
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar plus more for serving
- 2 fat garlic cloves finely grated or minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt plus more as needed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper plus more for serving
- 3 oregano rosemary or sage sprigs
- 2 cups vegetable stock or water
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro dill or parsley, plus more for serving
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest from 1/2 lemon
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- 8 ounces pearl couscous 1 1/2 cups
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup feta crumbled (about 4 ounces)
- ⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan 1 1/2 ounces
Instructions
- Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a 9-inch baking dish, cake pan or gratin dish, toss together tomatoes, scallions, 2 tablespoons oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper and oregano sprigs. Roast until tomatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.
- While tomatoes roast, heat the stock until it boils, then stir in remaining 1 teaspoon salt, adding more to taste. (You want a well-seasoned broth here to flavor the couscous.) Stir in cilantro, lemon zest and cumin.
- Remove tomatoes from oven and fold in couscous, chickpeas and hot stock mixture. Cover pan tightly with foil, and return to oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove foil and fold in about 3/4ths of the feta (save the rest for garnish) and Parmesan. Bake uncovered until feta starts to melt, another 5 minutes.
- To serve, pull out and discard herb sprigs if you like, and spoon couscous into bowls. Top with remaining feta, lots more herbs, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Notes
This takes a bit longer than some other dinner recipes which are “regulars” for us but it’s worth it. It is a vegetarian dish. Original recipe from the New York Times. The combination of flavors and spices, along with the balsamic vinegar, is really amazing. We eat this as a main course, but it can be paired with a meat dish like chicken.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
