When I told Musty about Susan V's great "Vegetable Love" idea, he said "Oh that's easy - you should make 'B'couscous I love you!'" This fine dish was once known as "Baked Couscous with Pine Nuts and Spinach,"and is a heavily adapted recipe from "Quick Vegetarian Pleasures." It's one of Musty's all time favorites, and at some point, he took to calling it "b'couscous I love you!," so it's a very romantic dish in our house! :)
And actually, even though it's not glamourous or elegant it is a pretty good V-day dish because it's quick (so you've got more time for having fun with your buddy), and it's light (so you don't feel bogged down and yucky afterwards AND you've got room for dessert), and it's got a cute name (so you and your buddy can giggle together), and it's super tasty (so you are both happy!). And of course, it's got more that one veggie in it!Here's the recipe:
1 cup couscous
1 1/2 cup veg stock (or water)
1/4 tsp salt
2 t olive oil
3 garlic cloves (minced)
1 large onion
1 28-oz can of chopped tomatoes, or 8 tomatoes chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
5 cups loosely packed fresh spinach
pepper to taste
Drain the tomatoes, and reserve about 1/3 c of the juice.
Bring the veg stock to a boil in a medium pot. Once boiling, add the couscous and salt, remove from heat, and cover for about 5 minutes. Then fluff with a fork.
Preheat the oven to 375. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion until tender. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 10 more minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the couscous to the tomatoes, and then also add the tomato juice, basil, pine nuts, and pepper. Then, working in 2 or 3 batches mix in the spinach until it wilts.
Spread the mixture into a 12x7 baking dish (or something similar). Bake for about 25 minutes.
Maybe you will enjoy it!
To go with the B'couscous I Love You, I also made a salad with loads of goodies: steamed chiogga beets, olives, carrots, red bell pepper, cabbage, hemp seeds... As you can see, I used my heart-shaped cookie cutters to cut the carrots and beets into heart shapes (aren't they pretty!?). Fun! I think a beet salad with heart shaped beet slices would be another fun Vegetable Love entry...I'm headed down to San Diego for a yoga workshop this weekend... so I probably won't be blogging much. Have a fun weekend!
24 comments:
This is so adorable. I barely know what to say! :) Musty is so funny. Who would think of b'couscous as a word? Absolutely love it. One thing though. In the ingredients list do you mean 5 cups loosely packed spinach?
Oh and I love the look of those chiogga beets! I'm trying to get my dad to plant some this year. :)
Both those dishes look amazing!
This post is the cutest ever! :) I love the heart shapes in the salad.
Hi Ruthie!
:) I know what you mean - who does think of "b'couscous"?? ha ha. Yeah, the recipe is for 5 cups of spinach, I updated it to make it clear. And I agree, those Chiogga beets are so insanely cool. Beautiful, stripey and tasty!
Hi Tracy,
thanks!! :)
Hi Nikki,
When I was making the heart shaped veggies, I thought of Vegan Lunch Box... it seems like something she would do. so it's a little homage to her.
The couscous looks delicious, and those heart-shaped beets are just too cute! You are so right- this is a romantic meal and you'll feel better after eating it!
Have a great trip.
ahhhhhhh!
That couscous looks delish...and easy!
Looks yummy! I actually did make a beet salad for V-day last year, and I cut the beets into heart shapes.
What a hearty cous cous! Thanks for the inspiration, I don't make the stuff near enough.
This looks like an easy and tasty dish - I'll have to try it. And how can you top a cute name like that?? I also love your cut out veggie hearts - they remind me of the fancy bento lunches I've seen.
Hope you have a good workshop!
First of all, that salad is gorgeous... I loved the heart shaped veggies... and I wish I had one for dinner right now!.. also, the couscous dish sounds divine as well.
I love it, and I love the name! And if I could find those beets, I'd run out and buy them immediately.
Thanks for this great entry for "Vegetable Love"!
I want my valentine to give me a salad like yours. Love the striped beets, I have never seen such a thing... they sure are pretty.
Sounds light, yummy and healthy. Who wants to feel all bogged down after a meal, esp, on V Day?
those beats are SO pretty!
Looks wonderful! I am going to give this a shot!
SO adorable! I saw this on Susan's blog and was admiring it! Lol! Nice work!!!!
I too surfed over from Susan's site. The boyfriend and I had plans to make something else tonight, but those plans went out the window when I saw your Couscous recipe (oh poor abandoned asparagus and broccoli). We used a bit of water instead of olive oil, and the boy added kalamata olives to his bowl(s). This was A-MAZING. I shall be raving about this recipe at the water cooler tomorrow! Thank you for sharing!
-Michelle
(Sad because I just finished the last of it)
Great recipe! Made it for dinner tonight. However, next time I will not bother to bake the couscous mixture. It seemed like an unnecessary step. Besides, baking this dish, of course, dried it out a bit - I tend to prefer dishes with a bit more moisture.
- Kim
Hi Michelle and Kim,
I'm so glad that you both liked this recipe! Hoorah!!
I agree Kim, sometimes I also don't bother to bake it. It's so good as-is. :)
What amount of spinach?
Hi Tania,
I had put "basil" where I meant "spinach" - thanks for catching that. The recipe is all fixed now!
:) amey
OH MAN!
I just made this couscous today.... and it was AMAZING. I LOVED it.
It was my favorite thing I've made in a long time!
I came across this a year later while getting acquainted with the Fat Free Vegan blog and reading her round-up of last year's entries--I loved the name so much I just had to check it out--and once I read the recipe I knew I would try it. I just recently made it for my son and his girlfriend when they came over for dinner, and it was a huge hit! They took the rest for an on the road picnic during their spring break travels. Thanks for such a great recipe with an equally delightful and playful name!! We all laughed and we all thought it was delicious.
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