Keni’s Couscous with Whole Roasted Baby Lamb
It’s not a normal occurance that an accompaniment will be in front of the protein in the title of a posting, but being that my wife made the couscous from scratch – as she does for myself and my little girls on almost a weekly basis – this is the exception to that rule. I hope LouisJohn Slagel and his lamb will understand.
What I’ve learned since I tweeted that this dish was on my radar, is that there are more than a few people out there who may not know that couscous can be made from scratch. I’m guessing there has to be a place or 2 in Chicago that offers it made fresh, but I don’t know of it off hand. Please leave a comment if you do.
The original idea for this posting, was that I would make the couscous while my wife Keni (as in, “you killed Kenny… you bastards!”) would video tape and instruct me along the way. And though I have been shown this once or twice before – and as you will see in the first video should you decide to watch it – I still need practice. So we switched places early on.
The flour used to make the couscous is key. I have learned that ‘Solat’ (which is a combination of approximately 2 parts durum flour : 1 part semolina) can be found at Garden Fresh Market located on Lake-Cook & Skokie Blvd in Northbrook. My wife is brand specific however, and pretty much packs a whole suitcase full of it for her return trip to the States. She claims that the brand she uses is more clean, and that the white color results in a better tasting end result. Aside from that, a couscoussier can be found pretty easily online and is essential.
A couple of notes on the demonstration: After video #4, I mention that my mother in law leaves the couscous under water for an entire hour. That is not the case, but she runs it under the water as my wife does, and then leaves it outside for an hour before cooking it a second time. I never got an answer for why this is done, but I’m sticking to the theory of the water being absorbed into the grain so it puffs.
Aside from that, please excuse my butchery of the Arabic language and off beat and provocative humor… I could blame it on the influence of the wine, but for those of you who know me, that is more likely a testament to who I am. And without further ado – though this could surely use some editing (or splicing at the least) – here is the set of approximately 20 minutes of videos showing the technique of making the couscous from scratch.
You can download the recipe here for Keni’s Couscous with Baby Lamb.
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