Steve's Bastard RataCousBean

This might be cheating... I didn't cook this one and it doesn't have any new ingredients... but  I thought it was deserving of a post because it used cous-cous in a bit of a new way, and, well, it was so damn good I wanted to share!

Cous-Cous

It's often the case that when we have hardly any food left in the house, the best cooking comes out. Steve is the master of this "surprise chef" cooking- making something creative with what's at hand.  I've decided that there's ABSOLUTELY no shame in canned beans and pulses - super-quick and easy. Plus our dog Polly likes to steal the empty tins from our recycling bin and lick out any remaining bean-spooge.

Polly thinks that canned bean-spooge is delicious

Zucchinis are a bit of a staple around our house, and in our (currently very tatty-looking) veggie garden we have loads of eggplant growing, plenty of green chillies that aren't all that hot, and the basil's doing pretty well too....

baby eggplants

green chillis

basil

So there was enough stuff around the house that Steve thought he'd make a kind of bastardised "ratatouille", which we've named "Rata-Cous-Bean".... a slowly cooked vegetable and bean stew that was mighty delicious. The vegetable flavours were rich and the amalgamation of olive oil, garlic, herbs, beans and veggies with the cous-cous made for a lusciously creamy, strangely risotto-like consistency that melted away pleasantly in your mouth. Let me tell you it was satisfying and very easy to eat multiple helpings of it. It's just nutritious, health-giving comfort food. It makes you feel incredibly special to have food like this cooked for you, thanks Steve!

Bastard RataCousBean ... (the photo doesn't do it much justice!)

Bastard RataCousBean
These sorts of bastard peasant dishes are never cooked the same way in our house - it's always ad lib . . .  bit of this, bit of that . . . you develop a feel for the dish, so writing down a recipe is actually quite difficult.  Here goes, with dictation by the surprise chef himself.

Ingredients:

Lots of olive oil
400gm can of canneli beans
400gm can of brown lentils
400gm can of good quality Italian plum tomatoes - whole or diced, makes little difference
A cup of instant cous-cous

As much garlic as you like, finely diced (Steve used 6 cloves)

2 medium brown onions, cut into 8ths lengthwise (Steve thinks this seems to make them sweeter and tastier, might have to put Heston on the case to check this empirically)
1 large eggplant, cut into 2cm cubes
2 zucchinis, also cut into 2cm cubes
A handful of green chillis, finely chopped
8 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped, skins and all
A few bay leaves
A small handful of dried rosemary

A teaspoon of sweet paprika
A good handful of basil leaves, torn

Grated parmesan to serve - best quality of course
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1) Sweat the onions in a good lug of olive oil on medium heat.  When they are translucent, add the garlic, chopped chilli and bay leaves, topping up the oil if it looks a bit mean.  Stir around the pot until the chilli fumes stop hurting your eyes.

2) Add the eggplant and give it all a good stir to get the pieces nicely coated.  Stir around with the onions/garlic/chilli, until the eggplant pieces have taken up most of the oil (around 5 mins).

3) Add the drained can of lentils.  Over the course of cooking the dish, they break down and become saucy.  At this point, turn the heat down to a low flame.  We'll be simmering the rest of the way.

4) Add the tomatoes (fresh and tinned) and about half a cup of warm water, then add the paprika and dried rosemary.  Cook, stirring, for about 15 minutes.

5) Add the canneli beans and zucchini.  Cook for another 15 minutes, stirring often so that nothing sticks to the pan.  By now the eggplant should be cooked through with no more dry, spongy parts.  The stew should still be pretty wet. 

6) At this point, Steve had the unconventional idea of adding the cous-cous instead of simmering the stew down and doing the cous-cous separately as we'd usually do. I think it really added something to the texture of the dish to do it this way. Add the cous-cous and stir until it has taken up the remaining moisture in the stew.  This should take around 5 minutes.  Stir through the chopped basil, scoop into bowls, top with parmesan, salt, pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice.  Even better the next day (when the chillies started to add a mild kick to the dish).