Recipe: $5.75 | Per Serving; $0.95 | Yield: 6
Disclaimer: The produce for this post was provided by Melissa’s Produce, but all opinions are mine!
It's time to get a little fancy with the food. Pearl onions! Shallots! Nuts and berries and greens and maybe even a little cheese if you're lucky.
It's fallll time. Which means so many cheap wintery vegetables, and so many Thanksgiving and Christmas preparations. And chilly mornings with slippers and sweatshirts - yep, even here in San Diego we have "chilly" mornings. They're kind of like Chicago's warm afternoons, but, descriptive terms like "chilly" and "warm" are relative...and subjective. We will be spending Christmas in St. Louis this year, and I think we can all agree that will be beyond chilly. I don't own a winter coat! This is trouble.
Zac & I just had a mini vacation on Catalina Island off the coast of Newport. Thank you Groupon for a 2-for-1 kinda deal, cause that place is pricey. But it was so fun to get away. For the first time in at least a year, we traveled without our computers! Yep, these beloved machines stayed home to rest while we were hiking and exploring and surviving a 45-minute blackout and making couple friends and drinking (too many) glasses of wine and beer and whatever a wicky wocky is.
But when we arrived home, worried at the state of our empty fridge, it was great to discover a hidden tupperware of this delicious leftover couscous, which I made last week. This recipe makes at least 6 servings, which means of course we had leftovers after eating it a whole bunch of times last week. When you're serving it, I recommend an extra drizzle of olive oil and balsamic, and a sprinkling of cheese if you've got it.
Enjoy the bounty of fall and winter squashes and leafy greens and cranberries! If you're looking for more ways to use some of these ingredients - like butternut squash - check out the links below from other San Diego Food Bloggers!
Butternut Squash Couscous with Cranberries and Greens
Ingredients
For the Squash:
- 5 cups butternut squash peeled, de-seeded, and cubed
- 1 shallot minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- olive oil
For the Couscous:
- 2 Tablespoons pine nuts or walnut pieces
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil + more for drizzling
- 12 pearl onions trimmed, peeled, and quartered (about ½ cup onion)
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar can use any vinegar + more for drizzling
- 1 cup water or broth
- 1 cup whole wheat couscous
- 6 cups hearty greens swiss chard, kale, beet greens, etc., chopped
- 9 ounces cooked chickpeas or about 1 cup
- 2 Tablespoons dried cranberries
- Optional cheese: feta parmesan, or asiago
Instructions
- For the Squash: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Peel the squash and chop it into small cubes. Toss with olive oil, seasonings, shallots, and garlic and roast for about 35 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
- For the Couscous: In a large pot, quickly toast the nuts over low-medium heat for about 1 minute, or until fragrant. Set aside.
- Return pot to stove over low-medium heat. Add a drizzle of olive oil and the pearl onions. Sauté until slightly caramelized, or about 15 minutes. De-glaze with balsamic vinegar.
- Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil, then remove from heat, stir in the couscous, top with the leafy greens, and cover for 5 minutes to steam (off heat).
- Meanwhile, drain and rinse your garbanzo beans. When couscous is ready, stir to combine, add the garbanzo beans and roasted butternut squash. Serve and top with nuts, cranberries, and optional cheese!
Nutrition
Kim - Liv Life
Now this is a dish I could eat for lunch nearly every day and never tire of it. Excellent use of the challenge box!
Caitlin
Kim - Thank you! I totally did eat it for lunch several days in a row!
Megan
This looks and sounds great! I will give it a try! And I just went a couple of weeks ago to Catalina with my husband and in-laws. Lucky you for finding a Groupon for it! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Caitlin
Thanks Megan - and it's crazy how pricey that ferry ride is!