Okay, day two of vegetarian meals and, I’ll admit it, I pulled a fast one on the family. Well, I tried – I didn’t really get away with it. Couscous. I made something with couscous. This tiny little pasta is not really well received by anyone in this family except for me. I’ve made it before – you know those Near East boxed couscous and rice pilaf thingies? Well, couscous is about as well liked by my family as Brussels sprouts are liked by me. BUT, in all fairness, I felt it was better to stay with the original ingredient in the recipe rather than substitute in quinoa which has produced some radical reactions by the family and all they did was LOOK at the box! I thought about brown rice but we’re having that with a different dish later this week and I didn’t want to overdo that grain (Thing 2 was born in Hawaii
I decided that tonight’s meal would be a tagine. What’s a tagine? More importantly, how exactly do you pronounce it? A tagine (tay-gin) is essentially a stew that is named after the pot it gets cooked in. The dish was originally found in North Africa and is primarily made out of clay and has a very interesting shape. Of course, I don’t have one of those pots so I had to use my skillet but I don’t think it affected my dish any. Besides, tagines are often used to slow-simmer less expensive cuts of meat into delicious submission and, as you know, this week is meat free for us. So, clearly I couldn’t use a real tagine! It might actually be disrespectful to the pot! Ha!
Anyway, I found this recipe – Mediterranean Grilled Vegetable Tagine – in a Cooking Light magazine (don’t have the year, sorry) and it sounded pretty delicious. I mean, really, it involves grilling and vegetables and Mediterranean spices – how can you go wrong with that and you KNOW how we feel about grilling! (Note to self: it may be time to exchange the empty propane tank that’s in the garage so when the current one runs out, dinner isn’t shot to pieces.) I had everything, except the couscous of course, and no, I didn’t feel bad going to the store to buy it either. I happen to like it. I will find a way to incorporate it into more meals, even if it is just something I whip up for my own personal enjoyment.
You would think, now that you know a tagine is usually a slow-simmered stew, that this meal required a long time to prepare. Au contraire! Because there isn’t any meat, the cooking time significantly decreases! 25 minutes on the stove! The grilled vegetables take about 10 minutes and the couscous takes the blink of an eye. Seriously. So quick. And, you only really need to chop the onions and garlic so prep work is cut down to a minimum as well. That makes this a perfect weeknight dish! And, it was delicious! Well, I thought so anyway.
The husband and Thing 1 did think it was pretty good and I should add, husband said, “This will work. Couscous actually does taste pretty good when you put really yummy stuff on top of it. Kinda drowns it out.” Well, I’ll take that as a good thing! Thing 2? Well, her opinion differed. She was pretty peeved when she discovered couscous under the tagine (yes, I did hide it under there!) and she was already unsure when she saw the tomato-ey tagine. Oh, did I mention she’s not so much a tomato person? No? Oh. Well, consider yourself told. Thing 2 and tomatoes are not friendly unless there’s pasta and meatballs involved. She basically ate some grilled vegetables and took the power-washer to the potatoes in the dish to remove any and all traces of couscous. She’s weird. Whatever. I think it was a great meal and I can’t wait to have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. There’s enough left for 2 people, or even 3, to have and yes, the recipe DOES say it serves 4. Again, not sure where that number came from but I think we finished about half of the dish and we ARE 4 people. One day I’m going to have to ask somebody who knows how the serving size of a dish is determined.
Anyway, here’s the recipe. Don’t forget – another vegetarian meal tomorrow! Happy cooking, eating and drinking!
1 small red onion
2 red bell peppers, quartered
1 green bell pepper, quartered
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1 teaspoon olive oil, divided
1 ¾ cups chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ¼ cups water, divided
¼ cup sliced, pitted green olives
¼ cup golden raisins
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
6 small red potatoes, quartered
Cooking spray
2/3 cup uncooked couscous
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
1. Cut red onion into 4 wedges, leaving root end intact. Place red onion, bell peppers, vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon oil in a zip-top plastic bag. Seal bag; toss well to coat.
2. Prepare grill. (I had the gas grill at about 400 degrees)
3. Heat ½ teaspoon oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add chopped onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Add cumin, fennel, and cinnamon, sauté 1 minute. Add ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ cup water, olives, raisins, black pepper, tomatoes, and potatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 25 minutes or until potatoes are just tender.
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| mmmm.... |
4. Remove bell peppers and red onion from bag, discarding marinade; place on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 10 minutes, turning frequently.
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| grill, baby, grill! |
5. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil in a medium saucepan; gradually stir in couscous. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Serve tomato mixture over couscous. Top with grilled bell peppers and red onions, sprinkle with pine nuts.
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| toasted pine nuts - 400 degrees, 7-10 minutes |
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| Hey, where's the couscous? |
Yield: 4 servings (serving size 1 ¼ cups tomato mixture, ½ cup couscous, ½ cup grilled vegetables, and 1 tablespoon pine nuts)
Calories: 462 (14% from fat): Fat 7.1gsat 1g, mono 3.2g, poly 2.2g); Protein 15.8g; Carb 95.5g; Fiber 13.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Iron 4.7mg; Sodium 574mg; Calcium 123mg
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