[london.food] Mushroom Couscous and Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille

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From: Simon Wistow
Subject: [london.food] Mushroom Couscous and Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille
Date: 11:55 on 01 Feb 2005
Not so much a recipe as an impromptu meal thrown together when I 
suddenly found out that one of the people coming over for dinner was a 
vege.

I roasted green and red peppers, courgettes that had been halved 
lengthways and some large red chilli pepper things. About 4" long they 
were. Plus garlic, obviously.

The courgettes gave off quite a lot of liquid which was fine although 
something to note for future attempts if I want a less wet mix for, say, 
stuffing. 

Then I stuck the whole caboodle in my trusty Le Creuset casserole with a 
healthy glug of nice, thick balsamic and a couple of whole cherry 
tomatoes because I had them. Put the heat on medium with the lid on for 
about 30 minutes then took the lid off and left to simmer until t'other 
people turned up - about another half an hour. It's all down to what you 
want the consistency to be like. 

I used a pack of fast cooked couscous which had been flavoured with, 
err, something. It tasted slightly cuminy. 

I roughly chopped slices of chesnut and shitake mushrooms and sauteed 
them off in butter and olive oil - cookign them quickly so that they 
went slightly crisp. I stirred these through the couscous with some 
lemon olive oil and some finely chopped spring onions.

The nuttiness of the mushrooms went particularly well with the couscous 
and nicely with the slightly spicy roasted taste of the ratatouille. In 
fact I think i could do the couscous as a standalong meal - perhaps 
adding a spoon of basil pesto and so whole toasted pine nuts.

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