Shrimp with Israeli Couscous
Shhhh… I am a little embarrassed about this post.
I know I have mentioned that I became a fan of couscous late in life. I began to toss a box of couscous into my cart whenever I began to get low because it is such a great last minute side dish. However, my grocery doesn’t sell Israeli couscous. One day, while at my favorite market, Mazzarro’s, I picked up a clamshell of Israeli couscous. And then it sat. And sat. And sat. I never looked at it in my pantry. In fact, it got buried by something else or several somethings into the hidden recesses of the pantry.
And then I ran across a recipe that called for Israeli couscous and I went on a mission to find that old clamshell I had purchased many moons ago. While I won’t admit to loving it as much as I do traditional couscous, it is a nice alternative to pasta (once you get the hang of cooking it that is. The recipe which prompted dinner said to boil for 10 minutes. I did. It didn’t.
I didn’t test it. I served it. It was not so good. I put the majority of it back in the pot to boil some more and then it was better. I was full by then because the effort of chewing the barely cooked couscous took such an effort that I didn’t have it in me to eat the cooked couscous.
The end of my saga is to try this recipe but to try to your couscous first!
SHRIMP WITH ISRAELI COUSCOUS adapted from Gourmet Magazine
2 cups Israeli couscous
2 cups frozen peas (the original recipe called for snap peas, trimmed and cut in half)
6 tbsp butter
2 lbs. shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup dry white wine
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp. fresh oregano, coarsely chopped
Cook couscous in well salted boiling water for about 15 minutes. Stir in frozen peas and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and transfer to bowl. Add 3 tbsp butter and salt and pepper to taste.
While couscous cooks, toss shrimp with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 3 tbsp butter over medium heat until foaming subsides. Saute shrimp, until just cooked through, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer shrimp to a plate. Add wine, tomato and sugar to the skillet and boil until tomato starts to fall apart, about five miutes. Return shrimp to skillet and stir in oregano.
Serve shrimp and pan sauce on top of couscous.
Linked to Magazine Mondays at Cream Puffs in Venice.
I always cook my couscous in vegetable broth. 1 cup of couscous to 1.5 cups of liquid. Saute 7your onions, garlic, whatever in the pan with butter. When it’s about halfway or mostly done, put in your couscous. Cook it until it’s a honey brown (not sure what to call that stage/color). Then put your liquid in, let it boil, turn it down to simmer, cover it and cook for 10 mins or so. When you come back to the pot, it should be all cooked.
Good luck with your next time cooking it!
Thanks…. I will give it a try.
Wow! My mouth is absolutely watering! And I’m so glad it’s a Gourmet recipe … do I miss that magazine!
[...] Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Shrimp with Israeli Couscous from Gourmet. She also made Asparagus Cheese Tartines from the September 2009 issue of Food & Wine. [...]
[...] Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Shrimp with Israeli Couscous from Gourmet. She also made Asparagus Cheese Tartines from the September 2009 issue of Food & Wine. [...]