{"id":3859,"date":"2011-03-15T09:51:47","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T17:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=3859"},"modified":"2011-03-15T09:52:30","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T17:52:30","slug":"id-like-the-pearled-couscous-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/?p=3859","title":{"rendered":"I’d like the pearled couscous please…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooking has definitely been about “quick and easy” the past couple of weeks. Weekends have been filled with house stuff and it has left me little to no time for meal prep, cooking, and blogging. I’m hoping this weekend will lend itself to getting caught up in the kitchen and on the blog. I did make a little progress… I sat on the couch last night with a stack of cooking magazines and cookbooks and planned some\u00a0weekly meal options.<\/p>\n

I did manage to cook up a pantry\/freezer inspired\u00a0couscous dish for lunches this week.<\/p>\n

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The Ingredients:<\/strong>
\n1 Box Near East Pearled Couscous – Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil flavor
\nTrader Joe’s Balsamic Glazed Grilled Sweet Onions – from the freezer section
\n1 Cup Red Grape Tomatoes – I had frozen a huge gallon Ziploc bag full
\n1 Can Reese Quartered Artichoke Hearts – I prefer TJ’s frozen, but I had the can on hand
\nJuice and Zest from 1\/2 Lemon
\nFresh Thyme – 5-6 sprigs – removed from stems
\nFresh Flat Leaf Parsley – a handful – chopped
\n3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
\n3-4 Shakes Garlic Gold Nuggets
\nSea Salt and Ground Pepper to taste<\/p>\n

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Directions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Follow the instructions on the box of couscous – add one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and couscous to water and bring to a boil.<\/p>\n

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I started on my mix-ins while my pot of couscous\u00a0came to a rapid boil.<\/p>\n

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This was my first time using the Trader Joe’s frozen balsamic glazed grilled sweet onions (say that 10 x’s) and I was a little disappointed in the inconsistency with the size of the onions. There were HUGE chunks mixed in with tiny pieces – I threw a handful into the pan to heat them up, then I had to chop them into more uniform sizes.<\/p>\n

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I left them rather chunky – next time, I will just\u00a0cook my own red onions. I then added the tomatoes in with the onions. I had some of the tomatoes mush into a sauce consistency after heating, guessing that was due to too much liquid, but I was happy with the end results.<\/p>\n

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My couscous progressed to the point of adding the spice packet – I did that and then let things simmer on medium heat for another 5-6 minutes.<\/p>\n

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I added the artichoke hearts – I ended up using about\u00a03\/4 of\u00a0the can – I stored the rest in the fridge for salads. I then added the fresh thyme and flat leaf parsley and continued cooking things over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.<\/p>\n

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I created a drizzle sauce of 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, the juice and zest from 1\/2 a lemon, a pinch of sea salt, ground pepper and several shakes of my beloved garlic gold nuggets.<\/p>\n

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I drizzled the lemon and olive oil over the top of my dish and then added\u00a0more freshly grated lemon zest.<\/p>\n

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I loved the dish. Pretty cool to quickly\u00a0create something from pantry and freezer items. Next time I might\u00a0make this as a side dish to grilled chicken or shrimp. I think it would also taste great as a chilled salad for summer months.<\/p>\n

Question: Have you tried any good couscous combinations? What are your thoughts on pearled vs. regular couscous?
\n\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooking has definitely been about “quick and easy” the past couple of weeks. Weekends have been filled with house stuff and it has left me little to no time for meal prep, cooking, and blogging. I’m hoping this weekend will lend itself to getting caught up in the kitchen and on the blog. I did … <\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,13,15],"tags":[91,169],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3859"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3884,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions\/3884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/foodiddy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}