Sunday 4 November 2007

Green coucous with celery root and pesto

I have eaten about 400 g of couscous in my life, so I'm obviously no expert. But I feel I've found my perfect way of having it (already? how dull it's gonna be later on!) - with a good splash of pesto and a good deal of onion and garlic. This time I also added celery root (which kind of just got into the way...) for an extra green dish. But probably just because my father would then only try a bite...did this subconsciously, of course. And who could blame the great ideas of subconsciousness?


Green couscous with celery root and pesto
(serves 2-3)

100 g couscous
1 dl water
oil, butter
1 medium onion
1 garlic clove
about 100 g celery root
2 tbsp pesto
salt, sugar
(for serving: feta cheese, sliced cucumber/cucumber salad)
  1. Heat about a tablespoonful of butter on a skillet, add chopped onion, garlic and celery root. Cover with a lid and reduce heat to low. Cook until onion becomes transparent and slightly light brown. Add salt and a bit of sugar to the skillet, mix well and cook for one more minute.
  2. While the vegetables cook, bring the water to a boil with a dash of oil. Also add salt, but consider the saltiness of your pesto and the fact you flavoured the vegetables too.
  3. Remove form heat, stir in couscous. Cover with a lid and let steep for some minutes.
  4. Return to heat for a few minutes, adding the pesto. Use a fork to stir and separate the grains.
  5. Mix in the contents of the skillet.
  6. Serve warm. I love adding feta cheese and cucumber slices.

Lately it has often happened that I've not eaten warm food for several days, so this was a true pleaser, considering the slow arrival of winter outside (the so-called snow can only be referred to as the Estonian word 'plöga').

The dish is fragrant and has a lovely green colour, tastes the way a comfort food should taste. The salty feta and mild-fresh cucumber make a perfect extra. Hey, wait, maybe it was the colour that drove my dad away? We have, after all, been living in a world without pesto, a world of potatoes and pork. I'm the villain, you see, trying to destroy everything.

An maybe I'll even succeed one day, but there is quite much green couscous to eat on the way.

2 comments:

papin.c said...

Just made couscous earlier today. I tried a no oil recipe with sweet notes. I still have some bulgur left and I will try your version.

Evelin said...

No oil? I guess you'd still have to add something to prevent the grains from sticking to each other?

And I'm looking forward to what you have to say about the finished dish!:)