Ma Niche : Savory Couscous with Salsa Verde

I hadn't cooked with couscous or eaten any until recently. but Chef Giada's gorgeous couscous salads tempted me to grab a packet from the grocery store... and that is how couscous entered my kitchen. though salads were the motivation behind getting couscous home, the first recipe i tried was my own. i puffed the couscous in Lucinda's Minestrone. and it was healthy and YUM.... with the italian flavors doing their thing in the background, the couscous turned out really well. for dinner i served it along with blood orange chicken and a minty green salsa.. and the next day i had it for lunch just like that. frankly speaking, i enjoyed it a lot the next day. unclouded by the flavors of the chicken and salsa, the real taste of the dish came out and i relished it so much.. Mr and baby MN liked it too. that night baby ate his dinner without much fuss and husband enjoyed his dinner too..

now the recipe...

ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin oil

1 medium sized onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, grated

1 small zucchini, trimmed and quartered lengthwise and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

2 tender inner celery stalks with leaves, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

3 florets of cauliflower cut into small pieces, about 1/2 inch long

5 strings of green beans sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

half of a 1 1/2 broad wedge of cabbage, thinly sliced

1 Roma tomato chopped

2 teaspoons of dried basil

2 teaspoons of dried parsley

salt to taste + a little extra for the couscous

1 cup cooked chickpeas

1 1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup couscous

what i did

first i cooked the Minestrone following directions from Lucinda's Rustic Italian Kitchen. that is, in a large saucepan, i sauteed the onions along with the grated garlic in 2 tablespoons of oil until the onions were tender and translucent.
then i added the zucchini and celery to it. cooked it for about 2 minutes before adding the cauliflower pieces, beans and cabbage.
stirring occasionally i let all the vegetables cook for about 5 minutes and then added the chopped tomato, dried basil, dried parsley, salt and black pepper to it.
once the chopped tomatoes softened, i added the chickpeas, stirred to mix it with the veggies in the saucepan and then added the tomato sauce along with 2 1/2 cups of water.
i then covered the saucepan and simmered the minestrone for 30 minutes.
once the minestrone was done, i increased the heat, brought the minestrone to boil, then added the couscous to the bubbling soup. then covering the saucepan i cooked the couscous in it for about 5 minutes. then removed the saucepan from the heat and left it covered for another 5 minutes. then puffed it up with a fork.

note : i think i should have switched off the heat immediately after adding the couscous to the boiling soup. leaving it to cook over the flame for an extra 5 minutes made it slightly sticky. i'll be careful about it the next time. in case you are cooking couscous for the first time, you might like to make a note of it. other than that it was delicious .

i had thought that a green minty salsa would pair up nicely with the couscous. so i prepared some by mixing in a small bowl a 2 teaspoons olive oil , 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic, 1 teaspoon minced capers , 2 tablespoons each of finely chopped coriander and mint leaves, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, 1 tablespoon of feta and along with some salt and pepper. though the salsa was good and Mr MN liked it with the couscous, i thought it was unnecessary. as i mentioned before the couscous tasted good by itself....