Twice in the last week now, I’ve had to explain to teenagers what cous cous is…
Are we the only family who eats couscous?
Okay, I know that’s not the case. My Sister has fed her girls couscous since they were knee high, and I was on the phone with Our Karen the other night and her little fella was spreading couscous all over the floor as she was talking to me.
It’s not like it’s even an exotic food – despite being the national food of Morocco – it’s a staple in many African countries (if you’re not sure what couscous is click here). It’s also a good source of protein, fiber, niacin, selenium, and B vitamins and ironically it is on teenage Daughters least favourite food list – but she’s the type of kid that if she’s hungry enough (which she often is) she’ll eat whatever is put in front of her.
Which is where I share a recipe that got her thumbs-up 🙂
Couscous with Pumpkin, Olive, Spinach, Feta and Garlic Roasted Pumpkin
Ingredients:
- 2 free range chicken breasts
- pumpkin – enough to feed your family – cut in to 2-3 centimetre cubes
- organic olive oil
- garlic – 2 cloves crushed
- generous pinch of parsley
- organic couscous – 1 cup will feed 4 people
- 1 teaspoon powdered chicken stock
- 1 cup boiling water
- Kalamata olives – 3-4 heaped teaspoons
- handful English spinach
- generous portion goats fetta
- full-cream and salted butter
- salt and pepper to taste
What to do:
Get your pumpkin ready to bake – crush the garlic cloves in to the dish you’ll be roasting to pumpkin in, plus a generous lug of olive oil (I’m a fan of minimizing the washing-up, so will prep food in the dish it is to be cooked in). Mix the oil and garlic and then put your pumpkin into the dish. Make sure your pumpkin is coated with the garlic-oil mix. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste, the pop in to a 180C oven for 30-40 minutes.
Slice your chicken breast in to thin slices and put in pan with olive oil. Brown chicken – with salt and pepper to taste – then add parsley.
Make sure your kettle is boiled so you can get started on your couscous. By adding the powdered chicken stock to your water here, you’re giving the couscous some extra flavour. Follow the instructions on your couscous packet for best results.
While your couscous is soaking, put the olives in with the chicken and toss. Give it a couple of minutes, then add the spinach – toss. Just as the spinach is starting to wilt add the fetta and give it another toss!
Your pumpkin should be smelling absolutely delicious by now, so add it – oil, garlic and all – to the pan of chicken. Toss to spread the flavours around.
Here you’ll go back to your couscous, so leave your chicken concoction on a low heat, and add a very generous knob of butter to the couscous (we use Tasmanian butter because it is just sooooooo yum). With a fork, fluff up your couscous.
Serve.
Let me know if you make it, what other ingredients you might use (because honestly, it was made up on the fly) and whether it was received well by your family.
I’m interested in teenagers opinions in particular!
