Tag: couscous

Messina couscous – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

A couscous seasoned as a focaccia, the typical Messina one. The recipe by Francesco Arena of the Panificio Arena di Messina

Also this year a San Vito Lo Capo It took place Cous Cous Fest, event that year after year in the seaside resort among the most beautiful and well known in the province of Trapani, Hosts a party that celebrates the peace and integration of peoples. For the occasion, Francesco Arena of Panificio Arena from Messina interpreted the couscous with great originality. From 1939 to Messina, the Panificio Arena is synonymous with craftsmanship, in February 2019 Francesco received the award for Best Baker Best in Sicily from the food and wine newspaper "Cronache di Gusto" and last December the panettone craft of the Panificio Arena were included in our ranking of the 20 best in Italy.

The Messinese at the Cous Cous Fest

The name of the dish The Messinese at the Cous Cous Fest tells the idea of travel and the mixture between two Sicilian territories, between two different and fascinating gastronomic cultures, very rooted in the territory. The couscous, a dish from the San Vito tradition that testifies to the coexistence of the Maghrebian culture with that of Sicily, meets the traditional focaccia from Messina. Thus was born the idea of replacing the traditional leavened dough with a cous cous base and stuffed with tuma cream, scarola emulsion, confit tomatoes, fresh anchovies fried in extra virgin olive oil, toasted almond flakes and caper powder from Salina. Using some of the ingredients of the typical Messina street food preparation, with some important additions, Arena launches the challenge transforming the focaccia in cous cous base and proposing an innovative cooking of hand-cut semolina. Here is his homemade recipe.

The Messinese at the Cous Cous Fest

Ingredients for 4 people

For the preparation of couscous
500 g of semolina for couscous – water – salt – extra virgin olive oil – cinnamon sticks – 1 sprig of rosemary

For the broth
water to taste – salt – oil – carrots – celery – leeks – tomato – onions

For the tuma cream
500 g of whole milk – 50 g of butter – 25 g of flour – 70 g of tuma – salt – black pepper

For the escarole cream
curly endive (endive) – extra virgin olive oil – salt – peeled almonds

For confit tomatoes
datterino or piccadilly tomatoes – salt – sugar – rosemary – pepper – oregano

To complete the dish
fresh anchovies – extra virgin olive oil – salt

For the preparation of couscous

Glue the semolina in a fairly large bowl. Pour the semolina a little at a time and let the water flow down onto the back of the hand. With the palm of your hand rotate the semolina on the plate until small lumps are created. Once incantato, adjust salt and pour extra virgin olive oil, stirring the couscous in your hands. Add a small piece of cinnamon and rosemary, put the couscous in the special couscous sauce and steam for about 75 minutes. Once cooked, shell the couscous with the help of a fork. (If using the precooked couscous, boil water with cinnamon and rosemary for a few minutes and soak the couscous with the flavored water following the instructions).

For the broth
Clean the vegetables and cook them in water. Bring to a boil and cook for about an hour.

For the tuma cream
Melt the butter in a saucepan, pour the flour, being careful not to let the lumps form, once you have obtained a cream, pour the milk and mix with the whisk until the mixture is thickened, then add the previously cut diced tuma. Mix, add salt and pepper and leave to cool.

For the escarole cream
Bring the water to the boil, cook the endive for a few minutes, pass it in water and ice to fix the bright green color. Squeeze, add the peeled almonds and blend with the immersion mixer adding extra virgin olive oil flush, create an emulsion, keep in the fridge for an hour.

For the preparation of the confit tomato
Cut the tomatoes in two parts and lay them on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, sugar, oil and spices and bake at 120 ° C for about an hour.

For the preparation of anchovies
Clean the fish by removing the head and bone. Fry them in extra virgin olive oil, drain the fish and add a pinch of salt.

To finish the dish
Press the couscous inside a pasta bowl, creating the base of the dish, pour the cream of tuma, the emulsion of endive, lay the confit tomatoes and finally the fried anchovy.

Couscous veg mint recipe with first salt – Italian Cuisine

Ingredients

320 g precooked couscous
200 g shelled peas
150 g new zucchini
125 g salt cheese
1 pc carrot
12 pcs multicolored cherry tomatoes
10 pcs mint leaves
2 pcs gherkins
lemon
salt
extra virgin olive oil

Duration: 20 min

Level: Easy

Dose: 4 people

For the recipe of veg mint couscous with first salt, bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Peel the carrot and cut it into strips with a potato peeler; slice the zucchini. Pour the couscous in a glass or steel bowl, pour over 320 g of salted boiling water, keeping what is left. Seal with foil and leave to "cook" out of the fire for 5 minutes. Boil the carrots in the remaining water for a few seconds; drain with the slotted spoon and, in the same water, cook the courgettes and peas for
a couple of minutes. Blend the mint leaves with the juice of half a lemon, 50 g of oil and a pinch of salt to obtain a fragrant green sauce. Mix the couscous with the mint sauce and the vegetables; distribute it on the plates and add the halved cherry tomatoes, the sliced gherkins and the first crumbled salt. Complete to taste with freshly ground pepper.

Feel like a perfect couscous? There are 6 things to know – Italian Cuisine

What we know as cous cous it is, in fact, a grain obtained from the processing of durum wheat flour and steam cooked, usually served with meat, vegetables, legumes, sometimes fish or dried fruit. Widespread in the Maghreb and throughout the Mediterranean basin, it is very popular in West Africa and the Near East – in Israel as in Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. It is loved in France and Belgium, it is found in Spain and is also part of the Italian gastronomic tradition: in particular of Sicily, in the Trapani area, and Sardinia, in Carloforte.

177094 In Italy it is found in some pages of gastronomic literature since the sixteenth century and the cooking technique and the way of serving seem to have remained unchanged. And not by chance in the Trapani area, a San Vito Lo Capo, will be held very soon on Cous Cous Fest, a tribute to the tradition of Trapani, who wants it strictly with fish. Whether it is a legacy of Arab domination or an original reworking, it does not matter: couscous is now also part of Italian cuisine. In this adorable location full of Arab-Norman architectural references, the twenty-second edition of a festival celebrating food that will take place from September 20th to 29th will be held. has many features in common with the ancestor of Italian pasta, not least that of being an adequate response to the need for preservation of cereals even after a long period of storage (need for all the populations that had the need to face long journeys at sea). During the event there will also be a competition that will bring together chefs from all over Italy who try their hand at preparing recipes based on couscous. The scouting chef is promoted by Bia CousCous, the leading company in Europe for the production and marketing of couscous, main sponsor of the Cous Cous Fest.

The traditional procedure wants the semolina to come worked by rubbing with a little water until you get tiny balls; the grain obtained is then sieved to select the desired size. There are three types of couscous, depending on the diameter of the balls: the medium, the most common, lends itself to all recipes; the finest is used for desserts; the largest is not widespread. The fresh couscous is then steamed, dried and packaged.

In medio stat virtus

The medium couscous it is definitely the most versatile: it goes well with meat, fish, vegetables; it is excellent as a base for cold or warm salads, for light meatballs, for flans, even savory muffins.

The traditional pairing is with stewed meat – mutton or chicken according to the North African tradition – or with fish and shellfish according to the Sicilian and Spanish; there is also a spicy sauce such as harissa (a sauce made with red pepper, chilli, garlic, cumin and mint) and lots of vegetables and legumes, especially chickpeas.

With dried fruit, spices, sugar and honey it is a base of unusual and delicious desserts.

A special pot?

Let's talk about the couscoussiera – called taseksut in Berber – the special pot used for steaming non-precooked couscous: it is equipped with a hole basket and a lid (found in the most supplied housewares). Put the couscous in the couscous sauce and steam it in 2-3 times. Alternatively, you can use a large high-sided saucepan and a metal colander to enter the saucepan: in this case, you will need to seal the two pans well before couscous is cooked with a damp cotton cloth.

Traditionally the couscous should be steamed two or three times, but do not worry, it is fine precooked couscous, faster and easier to prepare – it has already been cooked for the first time and then dried.

Just put it in a baking dish, bring to a boil some liquid (broth, flavored water, etc.), pour it over, cover everything with a cloth and let the grains swell for a few minutes. To avoid overcooked or too raw couscous, the liquid / couscous percentages are 1 to 1.

But watch out for these wrong moves!

1_ No tap water! Do not use running water to prepare it, but vegetable broth light.
If you don't have it handy, you can create aflavored water adding toasted natural boiling water, toasted star anise, crushed garlic, a piece of fresh peeled ginger and / or 1/2 onion; set of salt.
If you use the pot, use this water to steam couscous, or leave it in infusion 10 minutes and strain it before pouring it over the precooked couscous.

2_Mai, never boil it in water as you do with pasta and cereals! Season the cooked couscous in the pan with a little oil and then pour the boiling liquid over it. Respect the proportion 1 to 1: the liquid must cover the couscous flush, do not submerge it.

3_Never mix the couscous in the absorption phase. Allow the liquid to absorb and cover the couscous container with a cloth. Once well swollen, first shell it with a fork; once warm, work it with your hands to shell it: i grains I must all be well separated. You can spread it on a dry towel to wipe it well with your fingers.

4_ Do not overdo it with oil. Once well shelled, add a drizzle of oil to your still – just a thread, it must not be too greasy – and then season the couscous according to your recipe or fantasy.

5_Non never salt the grains. In the case of a savory dish, season with salt the liquid you use or the seasoning, meat and / or vegetables or legumes that you will mix with couscous.

6_Never serve it cold! If it is not hot or lukewarm, the couscous should be maximum at room temperature. The cold facilitates the cohesion of the grains and the formation of lumps.

Choose the right recipe for you, avoid these "crimes" against couscous and enjoy a tasty and delicious single dish.

Francesca Tagliabue
June 2017
updated by Emanuela Di Pasqua
July 2019

Image Credits:
Cous Cous Fest Press Office