Israeli CousCous Risotto Mediteranean

Gotta put a recipe up here every now and then; I feel guilty when I don't, so here's one for the vegetarians. This was a risotto made with Israeli cous cous. Its a little spicy, a little sweet, a lot mediterranean, and its a hearty comforting kinda thing for a cold day. In a small portion it could be a side for a rich dish, but to me its also the kind of thing that would make a great main dish, served with just a salad.


Isreali couscous is nothing like cous cous, the grains are pure white and much larger. Its more like pastina or acini de pepe, but its different in texture and not as apt to get gluey. It stays a little chewy on the inside after the outside gets quite soft, and for some reason the resulting texture reminds me of tapioca. Anyway, it makes a good risotto-like dish, and I needed a side with enough oomph to withstand a main dish of smoked pork chops fricasseed in a chipotle-lemon-date sauce. And I didn't want to make a seperate vegetable dish, and god knows, its not a meal without a meat, a starch, and two veggies, but I didn't want to get three pans dirty. So thats what inspired this faux-risotto in which the flavorings outweighed the cous cous which substituted for the rice and which was really neither cous cous nor rice.

So, everything I make is always driven by what I have around, and what looked good at the store. I have a supply of acorn squash picked up at the same front-yard market stand where I bought the home-grown tomatoes (they are sadly all gone now), and I had some shitake mushrooms, I almost always do, because they are the best tasting commonly available mushroom and I use them all the time. And there were onions and carrots, and I just bought some beautiful large white raisins, for just the sort of use.

So, for two, I used a third of a cup of cous cous, a third of a cup of butternut squash, diced to the same size as the cous cous, a third of a cup of shitake mushrooms, diced to the same size as the cous cous, and maybe 2 tablespoons each of carrots and onions, likewise diced. And a tablespoon of toasted pine nuts and a tablespoon or so of the golden raisins.

Also, a chicken boullion cube, a package of this cool Sazon Goya, its a picante mix with chipotle and works with absolutely everything under the sun, and some cumin, and salt and pepper.

You cook the Iraeli cous cous the same way you would any pasta, in salted boiling water, strain in a wire strainer, stop the cooking a little early, and let them go ahead and clump together, you want the starch to bind it all up like a risotto.

Heat a saute pan, add a teaspoon of olive oil, saute the squash first for a litttle while, then add the onions and carrots, then the shitake mushrooms. When they all just right, add a half cup of water, half a boullion cube, a sprinkle or so of the sazon Goya, a half teaspoon or so of ground cumin, and the raisins and nuts, once its boiling-simmering, add the cous cous, and stir thoroughly. Reduce the heat and just keep stirring until you like the consistency. I may have added some grated parmesan, but then again, I may not have, so you can do likewise.