citrusbasil: Cous Cous alla Panzanella

Cous Cous alla Panzanella
Yesterday I was lurking on the Cooking Channel’s blog for recipes and discovered an amazing recipe for couscous! The recipe is from David Rocco, who has a show on there (David Rocco’s Dolce Vita); I reccomend you check it out. Couscous is my favorite food on this planet. I feel in love with it when I went to Disney’s Tusker House restaurant in Animal Kingdom. They had at least five different kinds of couscous: pearl couscous, couscous salad, and more. Since then I’ve been in love with couscous, and this simple recipe seemed perfect to me.
The recipe calls for no cooking whatsoever (which confused my mom, since she is used to cooking the couscous). Instead, it says the let the couscous soak up all of the juices in a bowl,and it will puff up and absorb all the flavors. I chopped up the tomatoes and poured all of the juices in, then opened the box of couscous and let it marinade in all the liquids. The dry couscous was swimming in a pool of tomato juice, lemon juice and olive oil, and for a moment I was doubtful that the couscous would really soak up *all* of that liquid, but I continued on.I chopped up the red onion (and didn’t cry! hurray), the red and yellow peppers and the cherry tomatoes, and teared the basil leaves into the bowl. After seasoning it with salt and pepper I mixed the concoction together. I wrapped the entire bowl in saran wrap and placed it in the fridge. The recipe says that it takes three hours for the flavors to soak in, but it was already 8 pm so I let it sit overnight.
This afternoon I walked up to the fridge, took out the bowl of couscous salad, peeled off the saran wrap and gasped. The once-drowning couscous was puffed up and it had indeed absorbed all of the liquids! The vegetables looked bright and fresh, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. The salad was colorful and refreshing! It is now my favorite couscous recipe to date.
Recipe from David Rocco’s Dolce Vita. (yields 4 servings)
INGREDIENTS:

2 cups canned plum tomatoes with juices, chopped
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cups couscous
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Bunch fresh basil leaves, torn
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Place the plum tomatoes, olive oil and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl. Add the couscous and mix thoroughly.
Since there is no cooking involved, it is essential that there’s an excessive amount of liquid in the bowl. The liquids will act as a ‘cooking agent’ for the couscous. The couscous will absorb all the liquids, puff up and become very flavorful.
Add the red onion, red and yellow peppers, cherry tomatoes, and the basil to the bowl. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let the mixture sit in the refrigerator for a few hours for all the flavors to amalgamate.

I was lurking on the Cooking Channel’s blog for recipes and discovered an amazing recipe for couscous! The recipe is from David Rocco, who has a show on there (David Rocco’s Dolce Vita); I reccomend you check it out. Couscous is my favorite food on this planet. I feel in love with it when I went to Disney’s Tusker House restaurant in Animal Kingdom. They had at least five different kinds of couscous: pearl couscous, couscous salad, and more. Since then I’ve been in love with couscous, and this simple recipe seemed perfect to me.

The recipe calls for no cooking whatsoever (which confused my mom, since she is used to cooking the couscous). Instead, it says the let the couscous soak up all of the juices in a bowl,and it will puff up and absorb all the flavors. I chopped up the tomatoes and poured all of the juices in, then opened the box of couscous and let it marinade in all the liquids. The dry couscous was swimming in a pool of tomato juice, lemon juice and olive oil, and for a moment I was doubtful that the couscous would really soak up *all* of that liquid, but I continued on.I chopped up the red onion (and didn’t cry! hurray), the red and yellow peppers and the cherry tomatoes, and teared the basil leaves into the bowl. After seasoning it with salt and pepper I mixed the concoction together. I wrapped the entire bowl in saran wrap and placed it in the fridge. The recipe says that it takes three hours for the flavors to soak in, but it was already 8 pm so I let it sit overnight.

The next day I walked up to the fridge, took out the bowl of couscous salad, peeled off the saran wrap and gasped. The once-drowning couscous was puffed up and it had indeed absorbed all of the liquids! The vegetables looked bright and fresh, and I couldn’t wait to dig in. The salad was colorful and refreshing! It is now my favorite couscous recipe to date. My dad cooked some ribs to serve alongside it, which were also delicious.

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Friday, November 5, 2010

Cous Cous alla Panzanella

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