Saturday, August 23, 2008

Summer Squash Cous Cous Pilaf


This recipe began with an abundance of summer squash, and took on a life of its own from there.  I ended up using several odds and ends from my CSA deliveries, and the result was really good - colorful, with an interesting mix of textures and flavors.  

I even managed to use up a giant white radish that looked like a potato!


Ingredients:
  • 1 1/2 cups dry cous cous
  • 2 cups of summer squash, diced into half inch chunks
  • 1/2 cup white radish, diced
  • 1 medium sweet onion, diced
  • 2 cups of diced tomatoes
  • 4-5 large kale leaves, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups chick peas
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint, tightly packed
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil, tightly packed
The Recipe:
  • Prepare the cous cous according to the package directions.
  • Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.
  • Add the onion and radish and saute until just tender.
  • Add the squash and saute for a minute or two.
  • Add the tomatoes and kale leaves, saute until the kale leaves are wilted, and the squash is tender.
  • Add the herbs and chickpeas, saute until the chickpeas are just heated.
  • Take off the heat, and sir in the cous cous until everything is well-dispersed.

You can eat the cous cous just like this, with maybe a little lemon, and it will be delicious.  

But because I was starting with a large pattypan squash, I decided to stuff the shell.  I baked in a pan surrounded by vegetable broth for about 45 minutes. Then I took the leftover broth from the pan and squeezed lemon juice into it, then poured it all over the squash.  The result was a very light, very fancy looking meal.

The one thing I would do differently is next time I'll pre-bake the empty squash shell, because I didn't think it really got tender enough, and then just quickly bake the whole thing to meld the flavors.  


3 comments:

rachel said...

great to see that you're back on the blog. I love this recipe it looks like it really hits the spot.

Lex said...

totally making this tomorrow. Just grabbed two of those squashes last night with no idea how we were going to prepare them!

christine said...

Wow, beautiful pics and another recipe for me to try with all the squash I picked up last weekend :-)