Couscous: You Suck

I made a mistake; a big mistake.  I attempted to make this recipe last night because I love mushrooms and don't shy away from trying something new.  It was my first time trying couscous and boy, did I hate it.

Originally, I didn't think much of it.  It's pretty bland.  It's hard to say you don't like rice, or toast, or some other bland food.  But as it sat in my stomach, as it tried to escape from my stomach, I joined the "I hate couscous" group.  I even spent part of my morning looking up other people who hate it: you can read about those people/groups here, here, and here.

Source

So the dish was pretty simple to make, if not, a little ridiculous.  Why did I have to rehydrate sun-dried tomatoes?  I don't really like them in the first place because the texture is strange, so I really should have skipped this step and used diced tomatoes.  I omitted quite a bit (side note: I've never considered myself a picky eater, but as I get older and cook for myself, I realize what a turd I actually am).

This is what the recipe called for.  The things I omitted are in red.  Changes are noted in blue.  Additions in green.

1 cup dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes                                                  

1 1/2 cups water                                           

1/2 (10 ounce) package couscous                                                    

1 teaspoon olive oil-I just poured this into the pan, willy-nilly.  Olive oil is God's gift to us and we should use as much as possible while cooking.                                                    

3 cloves garlic, pressed-I had the minced garlic in my fridge so I just dished a couple spoonfuls in.                                                     

1 bunch green onions, chopped-How much is a bunch?  I used four stalks...I don't know if stalk is the proper term either.                                                    

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves-I used the dry seasoning in my cabinet.  Not anywhere near 1/3 of a cup though.  Just enough that everything seemed to have a bit of basil touching it.                               

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped-My cilantro was in a refrigerated tube.                                       

1/2 lemon, juice-no thanks                                                    

salt and pepper to taste                                                    

4 ounces portobello mushroom caps, sliced-Used 8 ounces because mushrooms are my fave! 

Pesto-I don't even recall how much pesto I used.  Again, it was in the fridge in a tube and I love, love, love pesto.

 

My attempt.

With all of my additions, subtractions, and modifications, the topping was amaze-balls.  I could have eaten it alone (though I'd trade the sub-dried tomatoes for real ones next time and maybe add a bit of onion).  With the couscous, it had to work so hard to try and save that horrible grain.  My dad on the other hand just had the topping with his fish and mentioned how great it was.

 

If you're looking for something with your rice, or a fun topping for chicken or fish, I'd try this recipe.  Just leave the couscous and sun-dried tomatoes at the grocery store for the next idiot who decides to try something new.