Baked Couscous with Spinach and Pinenuts - even kids like!

[leightx]

Just wanted to share one of our all time favorite recipes! I hope this export thing works - its the first time I've tried it. Anyway, this is a great, heavy side dish (eat with something simple - baked chicken breast or porked tenderloin maybe) - we eat it as a meal usually. My picky kids (2.5 and 1.5) even like it! The recipe is from a restaurant in Austin called East Side Cafe - they have their own veggie garden and cook wonderful food. Probably my favorite casual restaurant ever! I've added my adaptations at the bottom - can't remember the last time I used the "real" recipe. You can cut way back on the cheese or leave it out entirely - the dish is flavorful enough on its own! Enjoy!


* Exported from MasterCook *

Baked Cous-Cous with Spinach and Pinenuts

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 0 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 cup couscous
1/2 cup vegetable broth -- boiling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves -- minced
1 large onion -- diced
1 can chopped tomatoes -- 28 oz. - drain and reserve 1/3 cup of juice
1/2 tablespoon fresh basil -- minced (or 1 tsp dried)
1/3 cup pine nuts
5 cups fresh spinach -- (5 oz)
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 cup fontina cheese -- grated (or mozzarella)

Combine cous-cous, boiling stock or water, and salt in a large bowl. Cover with a plate and let sit 5 minutes and fluff with fork. Preheat oven to 375. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and onion 10 minutes or until tender. Add drained tomatoes, cook for 10 minutes more, stirring frequently. Stir tomato mixture into cous-cous and mix in reserved tomato juice, basil, pinenuts, spinach and pepper. Spread half of cous-cous mixture into casserole or lasagna pan. Sprinkle on cheese, and top with remaining cous-cous mixture. Cover dish with foil and bake 25 minutes. 6 servings


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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 196 Calories; 8g Fat (37.1% calories from fat); 9g Protein; 22g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 16mg Cholesterol; 362mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

NOTES : My adaptations: I usually double the couscous (I use two packages of the boxed couscous - Near East brand I think - garlic and olive oil flavor) and prepare according to the package directions. I leave out the salt. I use Hunts canned diced tomatoes with garlic, more basil (1 tbsp dried) and 2 bags of the baby spinach sauteed a little so they wilt - don't bother tearing them up (I think that's closer to 10 oz.). I also use whatever "white" cheese I have on hand - sliced provolone works great (from deli). Parmesan is good too. Cook it all in a 9x13 pyrex sprayed with Pam. 8 servings prepared "my way"!
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0



Leightx

[JHolcomb]

Hmm..how do you think this would be minus the basil and fontina and plus some feta and oregano?

[leightx]

The basil doesn't add that much - I've forgotten it before and never noticed it. Waiting for my fresh basil to grow so i can add lots of that - I think it will be much better! The feta might be a little *too* much - not sure. Maybe just a little of it... I like the milder white cheeses. It lends some "gooeyness". :D Real comfort food... With the feta, it would be similar to that yummy orzo dish with feta and shrimp probably (CL). Try it and see what you think! I'd love to know - feta is one of my favorites!

Leightx

[Scout]

I am a huge couscous fan and am always looking for different ways to prepare it. I hope to try this next weekend with some fish (my favorite combination). Yummy! Thanks for posting - Anne

[Susan]

Thanks for posting this, Leigh! My family likes couscous so I will give your recipe a try. I usually use Trader Joe's whole wheat couscous so I'll probably follow the recipe as is the first time. Thanks again! :D

~Susan~

[Gwendolyn]

Leigh -- Thank you so much for this baked cous-cous recipe! I made it last night according to the recipe (I wanted to try the original before moving into variations), but I used cilantro instead of basil and mozzerella instead of fontina. Also, I toasted the pine nuts. It was absolutely fabulous! DH and I ate it as an entree, and we couldn't stop raving. It's a very comforting dish, but I wouldn't quite call it comfort food because it's more unique than most comfort foods. I highly recommend this one!

By the way, according to Leigh, this recipe comes from Eastside Cafe in Austin. When DH and I were in law school in Austin, Eastside Cafe was one of our favorite restaurants. This recipe is a great example of why that was the case.

[Scout]

I made it this last weekend and brought leftovers for lunch today. DH and I really enjoyed it. We had it as a side dish to fish. I did foolow the directions but used asiago instead of fontina only bacause I couldn't find fontina at teh store. I encourage everybody to try it. Thanks for posting it Leigh.

Anne

[mb]

thanks for posting this leigh - it looks great! (and apparently everyone else seems to love it too!!!!) i'll just have to wait until passover is over before trying it out!:(
marisa :)

[gertdog]

This looks great... thanks for posting! I'm going to try it next week with whole-wheat couscous.

[sassysu3]

:D Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have all the ingredients on hand and am going to make it tonight for dinner!
sassysu3

[leightx]

Oh I'm so glad y'all liked it! I had forgotten about this recipe for about a year, and finally made it a few weeks ago. It's definitely going back into the monthly rotation (if I can ever get my act together to menu plan)! Gwendolyn - your substitutions sound yummy too - I may have to try it that way. Did it taste sort of "mexican-y" with the cilantro?

Leightx

[Gwendolyn]

Leigh, there wasn't enough cilantro to make it "mexicany," but the cilantro added a very fresh flavor. We liked it. Also, I highly recommend toasting the pine nuts before adding them. I just popped them in the toaster and watched them carefully until they were a golden brown. That really adds a warm, nutty flavor.

Thanks so much for posting this great recipe!

[leightx]

About the pine nuts - in the toaster oven you mean? I've never done this, so forgive my ignorance ;) but do you just spread them on the little pan thingee and hit toast? Or do you turn the "oven" part on? What temperature is good? About how long? It sounds like a great addition - they don't add that much flavor "as is" but the texture is nice. Toasting sounds like it would add a lot of flavor.

Leightx

[Gwendolyn]

Leigh, sorry I didn't give you more specifics about toasting the pine nuts. Yes, I toast them in a toaster oven on the small pan that came with my oven. I just spread the nuts on the sheet, pop it in the oven, and toast for about one cycle. I don't use the oven feature. I use the "light toast" cycle b/c I'm always afraid of burning the nuts. If one cycle isn't enough, I may use another half cycle or so. The flavor is teriffic after toasting!

[DmOrtega]

I followed your adaptions: I doubled the couscous. I used plain couscous and vegtable broth, didn't add any extra salt, canned chopped tomatoes with sweet onions, (l love onions), then steamed a full bag of spinach until it wilted by half the size, and used sliced provolone cheese.

Yum, yum, yum! My dh and I really loved this. The flavor was not over powering and it was filling enough to be eaten as a main dish. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[sassysu3]

Made this for dinner last night...it was GREAT! Had steamed carrots, whole grain sourdough bread, and baked fish...what a meal.
That recipe's a keeper!
sassysu3:)

[Leslie w]

Just a quick question. I noticed it called for a half cup of broth to 1 cup of couscous. When I normally make couscous I use more broth than couscous. usually 1 cup of broth to 3/4 cup of couscous. Do you use less broth because you're going to add the tomatoes and liquid when you bake it?

[leightx]

Oh boy! I'm so excited you guys like it! I'm going to have to dig out my Eastside Cookbook and try some more recipes. :D

Leslie - I'm not sure about the broth thing, since I haven't made it the real way in so long. I make my couscous like it says on the box, and the consistency is just right for me (with the other adaptations). The box kind comes out somewhat dry anyway, so if your version is more liquidy, you may have to reduce the liquid more.

Leightx

[Wendy w]

Thanks Leigh! This looks really good and I have some boxes of couscous that need using up.

[sassysu3]

:) I made the recipe according to the proportions stated (although I also wondered about that ratio of couscous to liquid), and it turned out just fine. I figured the moisture from the other ingredients compensated.
sassysu3

[Scout]

Leslie-When I made it I also thought the ratio of broth to couscous was wrong. I made what the recipe called for and alot of the couscous stayed dry so I added more broth and it ended up turning our fine. I think I ended up doing 1 cup couscous and 1 1/2 cups broth. Hope this helps.

Anne

[Meg O'C]

Yummy! I made this Saturday night for dinner. I followed Leigh's modifications and boy did this make a lot. Am bringing some left overs for lunch today and wound up sending some down the street to my sister's - with all of our Easter leftovers, we'll never get through all of this.

Definitely will make again. I prepared the cous cous according to the directions on the box. I was worried the liquid from the veggies would make this too runny. It turned out just fine.

Thanks Leigh! I loved the pine nuts in this - thought they added great flavor and texture.

[sherri]

This recipe was wonderful, thanks for posting it!
We made a few changes which I wrote about in the cookbook challenge thread

[CherylCH]

Leigh-

I just wanted to let you know that I tried this recipe this weekend, and it was fabulous. Definitely a repeater!

Thanks,
Cheryl

[leightx]

Awww...I feel so loved! ;) So glad everyone likes this recipe! It does make a lot - those 8 servings from the 9x13 pan are for main dish servings (lest you think we are total pigs :D). I may have to jump in the cookbook challenge and pull out some more of Eastsides recipes to try.

Leightx

[memartha]

WOW, after all the rave reviews, I'm going to try this, too, when we have fish for dinner later in the week. I'm getting tired of pasta, potatoes and rice for our "starch" and think this will be great. Kind of the starch and some veggies all in one.

Initially I was turned off by the multiple cooking methods (boil, saute and bake) but I guess I can handle it! I'm into simple these days. Leigh, I think more recipes from that restaurant would be great. See you in the Cookbook Challenge!

[Kelli Kerrigan]

I made this last night and it is wonderful! I'm looking forward to the leftovers for lunch this week.
I did not wilt the spinach, which was a mistake. I thought the warm ingredients would wilt it but it didn't and stirring it together was alittle bit of a problem. I also just used some gorgonzola to dot the top of the dish.
I'm looking forward to trying more from this cookbook!

[MonkeyBelly]

Hi, brand new here. I made this dish when I first started lurking here a few weeks ago, and we liked it enough to make it again. Two modifications: I made it with ricotta salata (the semi-hard ricotta used most often in ravioli, hope I am spelling it right) and added raisins. Delicious!

[Robyncz]

I'm going to try this tonight as our main course. What did you guys serve with it?

Thanks!
Robyn

[Varaile]

Thanks Leigh!

I made this Thursday as was posted w/o modifications. THIS IS GREAT!!!

I used freshly grated parmesan as that was what I had on hand, and I didn't wilt the spinach. Perhaps a mistake, perhaps not. I didn't feel like adding another cooking step (ie didn't want to dirty another pan) :rolleyes: ;) .

It filled a 9x9 glass brownie pan perfectly!

Served it with a varitey of things: Chicken Bengali Style from BB (I had a brain **** and forgot I was going to do just plain basmati rice w/this one) :o :rolleyes: :D, and grilled Iowa Chops w/ the leftovers. This is good enough as a meal by itself!

THANKS! :cool: :D :cool: :D

[leightx]

Hi Robyn! I think this would be excellent with some simple meat - baked fish, or pork chops maybe. It really is so hearty (for lack of a better word) that we eat it as a meal.

Varaile - I don't think you really *have* to wilt the spinach, I just do it so it squishes down easier. I usually just throw it into the pan that I cooked the onions and tomatoes in.

The sad news is that I looked through my Eastside Cookbook, and most of the recipes are pretty high in fat (hey, maybe THAT'S why it's my favorite restaurant!!), so I'm going to try a few that I've never had at the restaurant to see how they turn out. I'll post them on the cookbook challenge thread when I finally make them...

Leightx

[Robyncz]

Yum! We had this tonight with CL's Garlic Lover's Shrimp. Both dishes were simple and tasty! I made the Couscous recipe as posted except that I tossed the spinach in with the tomato mixture during the last couple of minutes of cooking to wilt it. I didn't want to dirty another pan, and that seemed to work out just fine.

I happened to have some Fontina cheese in the fridge, so I was able to make the recipe as written and it was excellent. DH, who generally does not like couscous (heathen), said it was the best couscous he'd ever tasted and he would like to have it again. That, in itself, is a miracle.

As for the kids. 10-month-old DD ate it up. 2-year-old DD just picked the tomatoes out and ate them. She's not a picky eater, but for some reason she was suspicious of the pine nuts. How she discovered them, I don't know. 2-year-olds are amazing that way.

Anyway, thanks for sharing the recipe!

Robyn

[gertdog]

More praise for this recipe. YUM! I made this last night with many of the modifications mentioned above. Used whole-wheat couscous. After adding the 1/2 cup of broth and letting the couscous stand, it seemed too dry, but I figured the liquid from the tomatoes would help. I used double the amount of spinach called for. Didn't wilt it first, and it was a bit of a pain to stir in, but it worked out fine.

Thanks again Leightx for a great recipe!

[nori]

I made this the other night and we REALLY, REALLY liked it! I followed Leigh's original recipe.....didn't even add extra liquid to couscous, although it was pretty dry and had hard tome to stir it. But it turned out great! My DH asked to repeat soon, although it's a vegenarian dish.;) We had it as main course, and it was very filing, too. I just had some leftover as lunch and it still tastes good!

Thanks, Leigh, for posting this!! This is a great recipe!!!

[JJ40]

Thanks for this recipe! I made it last night with a few modifications...

I'm not a big fan of tomatoes so instead I roasted some red peppers, chopped them up and added them in place of tomatoes. Then instead of the tomato juice I threw in some white wine.

I wilted the spinach beforehand and toasted the pine nuts.

Yum! I really enjoyed it! And the leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Julie :)

[nori]

I made this dish AGAIN tonight. Yumm.....;) ;) I think I"m craving on this. I had big two servings as main dish and still looking forward to leftover lunch for a few days.

So healthy, and can't believe it's so tasty!!!

:D

[Terrytx]

Rack up another vote for this dish. It was great and also looking forward to the leftovers for lunch.

[m4star]

I'm bumping this one up BIG TIME!! I had to work late so I left this recipe out for DH to make (he isn't much of a cook). But he made it beautifully and said it was easy to prepare. And it's DELICIOUS! I brought in the leftovers for lunch today.

[Melina]

Thanks from me too Leigh. I had all the ingredients in the house except for the couscous so I used orzo. It was great. Next time I'll try it with the couscous.
Melina

[MonkeyBelly]

I made this again last night, and brought the leftovers with me to work today. Another modification: I added in some of those teeny-tiny grape tomatoes that are so delicious (I picked these up at Fresh Fields yesterday). Outstanding! We had it with some nice whole wheat bread and freshly shelled peas, also from Fresh Fields (the peas in my garden are taking their sweet time...). With a nice light Shiraz this was a terrific meal.

[lanie]

How lazy of me - would thawed frozen spinach work in this recipe? I'm just itching to try it! Looks great and thanks!

[DmOrtega]

I think it will work fine with the frozen spinach. I would use 2 pkgs of spinach because I like the flavor in this dish. Give it a try.

[RebeccaT]

How on earth did I miss this the first time around! This looks simply wonderful, and I can't wait to try it!

Thanks for posting, terrytx... btw where did you find your Eastside Cafe cookbook? I LOVED that restaurant when we lived in Austin!

[SusanL]

I am adding shrimp at the end to bake for 15 minutes. I'll let you know tomorrow how it turns out. Thanks A Bunch!

[SusanL]

delicious! I subbed Parmesan Cheese, had no Fontina! Thanks again!

[RUSTYSMOM]

Another big thanks to Leightx - I finally got aroung to making this tonight. It was really good - and my children did love it - as promised. I did not have the suggested cheese so used feta and did not have pine nuts so made it nut free. It was excellent. My DH declared it a repeater!