Fish Couscous

Name: Fish Couscous
Yield: makes 6 to 8 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 2 garlic cloves; 2 dried hot red chiles; 1 large onion, peeled and quartered; 2 carrots, chopped; 2 celery stalks, chopped; 2 medium potatoes, preferably waxy, peeled and cut into chunks; 2 bay leaves; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 2 tomatoes, cored and chopped; 1 teaspoon saffron threads, optional; Salt and black pepper to taste; 1 tablespoon mild paprika; Cayenne to taste; One 3-pound red snapper, grouper, black sea bass, or other firm fish, gilled, gutted, scaled, and cut crosswise through the bone into big chunks; 2 medium zucchini, cut into chunks; 4 cups cooked couscous (page 526); Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

December 14, 2011

Couscous is a small pasta—not a grain as most people believe—as well as the name of almost every North African dish that contains it. So there are innumerable fish, vegetable, meat, and chicken couscous dishes (see pages 526 to 527 for a couple of others). You can cook the couscous separately (see page 526) or steam it on top of the simmering stew, a nice touch for which you will need either a special utensil called a couscoussière or a steamer rigged inside of a covered pot in which you cook the sauce. If you are not comfortable cooking pieces of whole fish, substitute a firm fillet like red snapper or grouper and reduce the fish cooking time to about 10 minutes; do not overcook.

Recipe notes

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