no pictures of this one as it went too fast to catch, but this one is super easy and pretty inexpensive too:

What you need:

  • as many veggies you think you need. I estimate around 1 cup of chopped veggies per person per serving. I used:
  • one large golden beet
  • one medium celeriac
  • 2 medium parsnips
  • 4 carrots
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1 small onion
  • enough garlic to make you happy. I used 6 cloves for this recipe, and was pretty happy. 8 may have made me happier
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • cumin seeds
  • coriander seeds

What you do:

  1. turn on the oven to 450 to pre-heat
  2. deal with your veggies: wash what needs washing, peel what needs peeling (NOT the carrots, okay?) and chop into 1 inch pieces using your judgment about the relative sizes of the veggies based on their firmness and your sense of your oven.
  3. roughly mash and chop your garlic - not too small ‘else they’ll burn :(
  4. gather your chopped veggies and garlic in a large bowl and drizzle on olive oil and ground up salt, pepper, and your cumin and coriander seeds. You want enough olive oil to coat your veggies, but not have them drowning in oil. Start slow, add if necessary. Also, I crushed my cumin and coriander in a mortar and pestle which gave me pretty fine cumin power and the occasional kind of chunky coriander seed. We liked it, you may have other ideas. a note on seasoning: this is going over couscous, so you’re flavoring that too. Once you think you’ve added enough spices, add some more and you should be okay.
  5. toss well using whatever method you deem appropriate. Me, I use my hands.
  6. If you used your hands and you’re hungry, allow the thought “hmm, my hands look pretty tasty” to cross your mind, but don’t actually allow it to derail the cooking process. Go wash your hands to make sure you’re not distracted again.
  7. Put your veggies in a baking dish, stick it on the lower rack of your oven, and wait. Depending on the size you cut your veggies, they should take around 40 minutes to cook. You will need to stir them occasionally while they cook.
  8. Measure out your couscous into a heatproof bowl. I have no idea how much you should plan on, some folks love couscous, others don’t. I made 1.5 cups and we had enough for 2 adults and one ravenous child for both dinner and lunch, and probably one more lunch depending on how ravenous the child is later.
  9. Boil water - what you’ll do is add enough water to our bowl of couscous to cover it by about 1/4 inch. Guesstimate on the water, you’ll have some left over, and can make some tea.
  10. once your water comes to a boil, pour over the couscous, covering by about 1/4 inch and then cover the bowl with something that will help hold in the heat.
  11. Once you’ve finished with the couscous (did you remember to make your tea with the left over water?) give your veggies a stir, if you haven’t already.
  12. If your veggies are taking on some nice color, but aren’t cooking through, you could over the pan with some foil. Its up to you. I did.
  13. In what you think is the last five or so minutes, you could add some cooked beans if you have any around. I had chickpeas. They were a nice addition.
  14. When its all done, top your couscous with your veggies and enjoy.

Overall, the recipe took longer to type than the cooking did. Our one note for next time is that this needs a bit more of a sauce. If you’ve got some tomatoes, I’d consider chopping them and add them in toward the end, maybe with the beans.