Cath Kerry [famous South Australian chef] once told me, ‘the most import thing about cous cous is butter.’ Unusually kind for a woman known for saying it how it is; this comment turned my cous cous from something that I didn’t really understand why anyone would want to eat to it, to something I found myself scraping the bottom of the saucepan with a spoon. To be honest scraping the bottom with a spoon is something I do not often allow myself to do but I don’t make cous cous often, but it so delicious.
never reheat cous cous in a microwave…if you’re not serving it straight away, [easy if you have everything ready to go] always steam it.
at home
Before you start, get everything ready, the actual process of cooking cous cous is very quick, 5 minutes at the most so it’s easy to serve a la minute at home as a dinner course.
For restaurant service, pack in portion size, ease off the lid slightly and steam for 10 minutes. It holds well so we used to pt it in the steamer when the order came in.
enough for four with another dish
250g filtered water
75g unsalted butter
250g cous cous
45g p/w shallots, very finely chopped
½ a large lemon, finely grated
125g fresh strained lemon juice…room temperature
5g Maldon sea salt
white pepper, freshly ground
herbs, stalked and chopped…can be a mix of 2-3
mint
flat leaf parsley
basil
chives
wild fennel
Weigh the water and butter into a sauce pan, place on medium heat and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and remove from the heat when the butter is completely melted. Immediately stir in the cous cous, cover with a lid and wait five minutes. Stir over, add the remaining ingredients, season with salt and pepper, fluff up and taste to check the seasoning. [1]
Recover with the lid it will hold warm for five minutes.
[1] I sometimes hold the herbs until the last minute so they don’t discolour.
Don’t be afraid to mess with this recipe. Add finely julienned preserved lemon, change the pistachios for roasted chopped almonds or walnuts. Add pomegranate seeds [my favourite]. In the broad bean season, podded, blanched and peeled broad beans add to the mix is just heaven. Equally asparagus is pretty good.
Divine thick asparagus cut just a couple of days before you purchase.
Commercial asparagus can be weeks old before you get to eat it. It keeps brilliantly in the fridge, with a little water and treated like flowers. Trim the stems a little put into a just with about 2cm of cold water, cover with a freezer bag. Use as required.
Gluten free, simple and very tasty, also not expensive…click here for the recipe
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