Israeli Couscous

Ever tried Israeli couscous? Oh Lordy, it is in a whole different stratosphere than regular couscous. Heck, they shouldn't even go by the same name.

Don't get me wrong here. I've always been a big fan of couscous, keeping several boxes of Near East in stock. Then I recently read somewhere about Israeli couscous and wondered what the difference is between the two, if any. So when I saw a box of Israeli couscous at Trader Joe's, I had to grab it and give it a go. I followed the recipe on the box, and it was amazing! The Israeli couscous pieces are larger, pearl-sized, and a bit chewy. They are especially good if toasted before cooking.

The next time I was at Trader Joe's I forgot to pick up some more (not so surprising), so I was thrilled when I found a big container of it at Fresh Market. Alas, there was no cool recipe on the back. Wishing I had that awesome TJ's recipe in hand, I started googling away to find another recipe. Lo and behold, I hit the jackpot, folks! It was probably one of the best thing I've ever made. Wow! I had a couple of minor substitutions - leftover McDonald's apple fritters instead of the green apple, adding a cinnamon stick, and skipping the parsley altogether since we didn't have any after the big canister of it from Sam's Club went bad. (Who the heck keeps fresh parsley on hand? Must be someone far more refined than me!)

Anyway here is the precious recipe. If you enjoy it half as much as we did, you'll savor it!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/israeli-couscous-with-apples-cranberries-and-herbs-recipe/index.html

Oh, and by the way Sam had no interest in trying it (or anything else new for that matter.) Instead he preferred some stale Goldfish and cold leftover bow-tie noodles. No problem -- all the more for us!

LibbY