Ceramics and couscous

Let's think of other things that starts with "C"! Uh... Uh... Who cares about da other things?!

Cookie Monster

So a couple of weeks ago, I bought this really nice looking ceramic dish at Art In The Park in Long Branch, made by Roz Potz (the first thing that came up when I Googled her was also her Facebook page, but it was in Welsh or something.)

I wanted to cook something in it, but it's summer, and ceramic dishes to me really cry out for stews or beans or other things that you simmer slowly in the over for a long period of time. Then I realized, I don't need to cook in it. I can just use it as a nice serving dish. Since it has a lid, I don't even need to put leftovers away in a different container. So I made couscous with summer vegetables.

Couscous with summer vegetables
Ingredients

• 1 Red Pepper
• 1 Summer Squash
• 1 Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup Israeli Couscous
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
• Some grape tomatoes

Note: Israeli couscous is a very large grain cousous. It looks more like pearls or orzo than your traditional couscous. You can substitute just about any grain: regular couscous, rice, quinoa, etc. Just change the amount of broth.

Step 1) Arrange some of the ingredients artistically, so you can take a picture of them and put it in your blog, like this:

Step 2) Cut the onion, pepper and squash into fairly large chunks, about half an inch square.

Step 3) Heat a large saute pan over medium low heat for about two minutes. Add the olive oil. Add the cut up veggies and a pinch of salt, and cook for about 8-10 minutes, stirring occassionally, until the onion turns transluscent.

Step 4) Chop the garlic fairly fine (I just whacked it with the flat of the knife, then sliced that). Add to the veggies and cook about 30 seconds. Add broth and couscous.

Step 5) When the broth has come to a boil (which should be pretty quick), turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot. Cook for 7-8 more minutes.

Step 6) Transfer stuff to your pretty dish and add tomatoes as a garnish. It should look like this:rve

Serve warm, room tempertature, or chilled, depending how hot it is outside.