fortification friday - slow and low couscous

For my second Food Fortification Friday, I am pleased to bring you Slow and Low Couscous, a modification of my favorite winter stew recipe using only a slow cooker. Couscous is the name of both the stew and the grain with which it is served.

Some background: I only recently purchased my first slow cooker. The crock pot was a major feature of my childhood. At 35, I'm just beginning to get over that trauma. I still shudder when I see that deep orange, round Rival model on the shelves at Goodwill. (No, the picture is not me, but that IS the vintage orange crock pot we had growing up. ) We had crock pot meals all year 'round, and most weren't bad. It was just the sauerkraut and kielbasa recipe my family loved. Sometimes the reek of sauerkraut and kielbasa would be so bad that I'd get a headache, because there's nothing quite like cooking sauerkraut all day long, even if you live in a large two-story house. I associate crock pot smells with nausea. It's so deeply ingrained in me that I actually felt a bit sick when the odor of my couscous permeated the house. Ah, le temps perdu. Proust had his madeleines, I get crock pot meals.

Slow and Low Couscous Stew

Kitchen needs: slow cooker or one range burner
Serves: 8

I usually cook this stew on the stove, so you can easily modify it for stovetop cooking by browning the beef and onions in a large stockpot first, then adding the root vegetables after about an hour and adding the quick-cooking vegetables near the end of cooking. Time on the stove is about two hours.

2 lbs. cubed beef chuck
1 large onion, chopped

Seasonings: 1 T. cinnamon, 2 t. salt, 1 t. coriander, 1/2 t. turmeric, 1 t. cumin, 1 t. allspice, 1 t. onion powder, ground pepper (or just use a tagine seasoning mix).

Vegetables: at least 3 root vegetables, 1 each, cut into largish (2-inch) chunks. I use turnip, rutabaga, yam, white potato, winter squash, leeks, carrot, parsnip. Cabbage works too, cut into 3-4 inch wedges. Russet potatoes and sweet potatoes will dissolve and make broth thicker, which is fine, but may be disappointing if you want chunks.

1 andouille or other spicy sausage, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 can chick peas, drained
1/2 cup large raisins (white ones if you can get them)
3-4 dried red hot peppers

1 zucchini, cut into 2-inch long fingers
1 red pepper
1 green pepper (Mr. Reluctant likes these -- I'd rather use roasted pasilla peppers I keep in the freezer or nothing at all)

In a 6-quart or larger slow cooker, layer beef, onion, seasonings, root vegetables, sausage, chick peas and raisins, in that order. Don't mix. Add enough water to cover most of the vegetables (about 1/2 full?). Cook on high for first hour or so, then cook on low for 5 hours.

In last hour of cooking, mix in zucchini, red pepper and green pepper, plus a spoonful of harissa and some chopped preserved lemon, if you have some. I also added more salt and spices at the end.

Serve with cooked couscous grain or quinoa. If you want to be fancy, mix couscous grain with cilantro and chick peas. Put couscous grain on platter, then arrange vegetables nicely on top before ladling broth over everything.

Image courtesy of a crock pot class at a neighborhood center in North Dakota. Is the Muslim woman making couscous? I hope so, but fear for the worst, since she's in Fargo. While researching images of crock pots, I found a bonus recipe on another site: Heart-Healthy Crock Pot Nutria. Oh, the humanity.