israeli couscous with hazelnuts & garbanzos

Hello, you, who’s who?

Is it a garbanzo or is it a hazelnut? I can hardly tell. Israeli couscous, maybe I am obsessed with you right now.

You look so dang cute with those beans & nuts. I dunno, maybe I will just have to eat you all.

Okay, silly, yes. However, every time I make this salad that is the inner dialog. I made up this recipe in honor of some of my favorite Mediterranean flavors and because I love Israeli couscous, or pearl couscous. The shapes of the three main ingredients play off each other as various little spheres of delicious in a playground of simple delights.

That sounds like a good time, right? In preparing it, you toast each of the ingredients separately to creating another layer of rich visual and flavor complexity. The hazelnuts need to have their skins removed by roasting them, which intensifies & enriches their already rich nutty flavor.

Toasting the garbanzos reveals another layer of textural interests & creates a nutty flavor you would otherwise not find in the simple bean. Always, I love what happens when you caramelize pasta, so spectacular. With the similar shapes & caramelization, this preparation is not only super tasty; it becomes a sort of gustatory trompe l’oeil.

Each shape compliments each other & the shapes & colors of the beans & nuts replicate each other in a really sweet manner. It is a pretty dish & it is incredibly diverse. I have been making it a lot lately because it seems to suit many diets.

This little tasty trompe l’oeil salad is an excellent vegetarian main dish & is as beautiful as an element to a Mediterranean meal. Lamb. Yes. You, you are perfect with this.

I made it last week as an accompaniment to red wine vinegar & honey marinated lamb kebabs. Shut up! That was super tasty. Lately, I am also just really into couscous, Israeli couscous to be exact. The plump little hard wheat pasta pearls have such a satisfying texture.

Originally seen as a kid’s food in Israel, where it’s known as Ptitim or Ben-Gurion’s rice, I found this preparation to be a fun & playful way to honor its home roots.

Kids love shapes, adults love flavors, so it’s all there. A trick of the eye, a party in your mouth. I think you will love this.

(click here to print!)

Hazelnut Trompe L’oeil Couscous

or
Israeli Couscous with Hazelnuts & Garbanzos

what you need:
microplane is the only special tool

ingredients:
1 cup raw hazelnuts
2 Tbsp cooking oil, I prefer grapeseed for this
1 15 oz. can drained & rinsed garbanzo beans
2-3 cloves garlic
10 sprigs flat leaf parsley
1 lemon, zest, juice optional
1 cup pearl or Israeli couscous, whole wheat is nice also
2 cups very hot water or broth
sea salt & fresh cracked black pepper
plenty of excellent extra virgin olive oil

how to make it:
-preheat oven to 375°F
-peel & smash garlic cloves & mince very finely with salt
-remove parsley from stems & chop coarsely
-zest a lemon with a microplane, removing just the bright yellow, avoid the bitter white pith
-meanwhile, place hazelnuts on a cookie sheet & place in oven, toast for 10 minutes & set aside to cool
-once cool, roll the hazelnuts between the palms of your hands to remove the skins, lift up from pan & shake skins away & set aside to add to garbanzo mixture
-heat a heavy bottomed sauce pan over a medium heat
-add cooking oil to pan until shimmery & hot
-add garbanzos to pan & spread across surface evenly, leave to toast without stirring for about 3 minutes, stir
-continue to cook this way until the garbanzos start to pop, add the hazelnuts & stir well
-add lemon zest, garlic & half of the parsley, stir well & cook all together for about 2-3 minutes, set aside
-place pan back on heat without cleaning it, put couscous into pan & toast over medium flame, stir often so the bits left from garbanzos doesn’t burn, you may want to decrease the flame
-toast pasta for about 2-4 minutes, add hot water or broth & bring to simmer, reduce flame to medium low or just to hold the simmer
-cover pan & simmer for 10-12 minutes
-remove from heat & stir in garbanzo garnish, season with salt & pepper to taste, add the rest of the parsley & coat with olive oil.
-if you prefer a little brighter flavor, add the juice of half the lemon & stir well
-serve warm or enjoy at room temperature