Couscous For One

About a month ago, when the storm called Xynthia passed through and knocked our power out, you may recall that we raided our neighbors' freezer. Actually, our neighbor called us and said to go over and take anything we wanted out of the freezer in their summer house (we have a key) as it would spoil otherwise. They live about forty minutes away and could not come down at all at that point.

All the ingredients (except the broth) for my couscous lunch. The vegetables have already been cooked.

Part of what was in the freezer was a package of merguez, those North African lamb and beef sausages typically used in couscous dishes. Ken cooked them and put them into the freezer to keep them. Since there were still some in there when he left on his trip, I decided to make myself a couscous while he's away.

I cooked some celery, a couple turnips, a few onions, and a bunch of carrots in a pot of chicken broth that we had in the freezer. I added some hot pepper, a bay leaf, some allspice, and fresh thyme and rosemary from our garden. When that was done, I made the couscous (tiny pasta that is the base of the dish), heated up the thawed merguez, and opened a can of chic peas.

A close up of the celery. French celery is sold nearly white and not so green. It's very tender.

It all came together wonderfully with a bit of harissa (hot pepper paste) for lunch on Saturday. I can't describe to you how wonderful all the vegetables tasted in their spicy broth. They were each perfectly cooked, tender but not at all mushy. The merguez was good, but it was almost superfluous, that's how good the veggies were.

Of course, while I'm only one person, I made enough for a couscous party for four. I ate couscous for lunch again on Sunday and I'll be eating couscous again during the week. And I'm looking forward to it!