I hope it does not seem condescending that I’m sharing a recipe for roasted vegetables and couscous, which is very intuitive and barely a recipe. It follows the same format I use often for work lunches (a grain + roasted vegetables) but with a spice combination that I hadn’t thought of, and a dead simple couscous preparation that I hadn’t used. Those two tweaks and the addition of deeply toasted almonds made this something I couldn’t keep my hands out of and needed to “sample” a number of times before it hit the fridge. And also once it was in the fridge.

The beauty of this recipe is that it’s just a guideline, and you can adapt it to include whatever vegetables you are fond of or have on hand. As written, it calls for sweet potato, fennel, red onion, bell pepper and zucchini. I had my doubts about the mix of root vegetables and more watery vegetables, but I ended up really liking the combination and felt it all went well (and cooked well) together.

The spices to use on the veggies are cinnamon (but just a hint- it’s not overpowering) and dried mint, which I own an embarrassingly large bag of and rarely get to use, so that alone got me excited. It’s a great combination that I’d just never thought to put together, but will now be replicating forever. And the couscous! It’s great. The book suggests cooking it in vegetable stock (from a bouillon cube) and adding 1/2 cup of raisins, and the combination is fantastic- it’s the most flavorful couscous I’ve ever tried, and it’s great paired with the veggies.

I’d also like to add that this makes an extraordinary amount of food. I couldn’t stop joking, as I lugged the bowl around for photos, that I was headed to a wedding potluck. That’s great if you’ve got a family to feed. It’s also great if you’re me and you just really like couscous, because I’m going to be working my way through this stuff for a long time to come.

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Moroccan Couscous with Roasted Vegetables

Category: Main Course

Servings: Serves 4-6

Ingredients

    For the Roasted Vegetables:
  • 1/2 cup (50g) slivered almonds
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 1 sweet potato
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 red onion
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoons dried mint
  • 1 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper
    For the Couscous:
  • 2 cups (500ml) couscous
  • 1/2 cup (100ml) raisins
  • 2 1/2 cups (600ml) water
  • 1 vegetable bouillon cube
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Zest of 1 lemon
    For the Sauce:
  • 3/4 cup (200ml) plain yogurt
  • 2 tablespoons mint
  • 1 garlic clove, pressed
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Roast the almonds in a hot dry pan for a few minutes, until golden brown.
  2. Cut the vegetables into approximately 1-inch cubes and spread on a baking sheet. Add the cinnamon, mint and olive oil and mix well. Bake in the middle of the oven until the vegetables are soft, about 20 minutes. Squeeze the lemon juice over then, season to taste with salt and pepper and top with the toasted almonds.
  3. Put the dry couscous and raisins in a pot with a lid. Bring the bouillon to a boil and pour it over the couscous. Remove from the stove and leave to swell for about five minutes.
  4. Add olive oil and lemon zest and stir the couscous to make it fluffy.
  5. To make the yogurt sauce, mix all ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve on top of the couscous.

Notes

https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2018/03/15/moroccan-couscous-with-roasted-vegetables/