Couscous

A while back I posted a recipe from my new cookbook, Barefoot Contessa At Home. Well, I tried another recipe that all my family loved, Couscous with Pine Nuts.

Couscous is a small granular type of pasta which is made by sprinkling durum or hard wheat semolina grains with cold salted water and rolling and coating them in fine wheat flour. It's a staple ingredient in North Africa. Traditional couscous needs presoaking and takes a long time to cook. The readily available quick-cook couscous is more convenient and involves just soaking or simmering the couscous in boiling water for about ten minutes.




4 T butter
3/4 cup chopped shallots
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups couscous
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup dried currants
2 T chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Melt the butter in large saucepan. Add the shallots and cook them over medium-low Heat for 3 minutes until translucent.
Add the chicken stock, salt, pepper and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat. Stir in the couscous, cover the pan and set aside for 10 minutes. Add the pine nuts, currants and parsley and fluff with a fork to combine. Serve Hot.

Try this recipe, you won't be disappointed.

And as an aside, I've always wondered where pine nuts come from, and yes, they actually do come from a pine tree. For more information, click here.