Couscous aux sept légumes

Okay, so now our weather is downright chilly — only 55ºF this morning. What a strange summer! I'm back to wearing sweatpants and long-sleeved shirts around the house, instead of shorts and T-shirts. We had a few hard rain showers yesterday.

And we made couscous, a big pot of stewed meats and vegetables with North African spices, for lunch on Sunday. Here are some pictures. It's the kind of food you can cook in winter to warm up the house and make it smell good. But it's also a spicy hot-climate food people make in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia... and France. The last time we made couscous seems to be more than two years ago.

I follow a recipe given to me decades ago by an American friend who spent a summer in Algeria in the 1970s and was taught how to make couscous by the mother of a friend from there. Every time I make couscous, I also look at different recipes on the internet, including this recipe this time, and modify my ingredients and methods accordingly. There are as many recipes for couscous as there are cooks, I'm sure. It helps to have eaten couscous many times in restaurants in France — that gives you an idea of what it's supposed to be like.

To me, the fundamentals are vegetables — including tomatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers, and chickpeas — cooked with meats like lamb, chicken, and beef. Try putting turkey or meatballs in the stew. The key thing is the spices: cumin, powdered ginger, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander seeds, cayenne pepper, allspice, and cloves. If you can find the North African spice blend called ras-el-hanout, use that.

Brown the meats in a big pot with onions and peppers. We had some lamb shoulder cut into chunks and some chicken wings. Add some of the spice blend, stir it in, and let it cook with the meats. Then cover the meats with water or broth and let them cook until they are close to being done. The cooking time depends on the meats you're using. Beef or lamb will take longer; chicken not so long. (I even have a recipe for couscous made with rabbit.)

Add the vegetables to the pot and pour in more liquid so that everything is covered. (I used sun-dried tomatoes, and the water they soaked in, along with half a cup of tomato paste.) My couscous stew filled a 10-liter pot.

Let the stew cook for another hour or so or until the vegetables are tender. The meats should be almost falling apart. Other vegetables you can add include green beans, cabbage, winter squash, and/or okra — the phrase "seven vegetables" in the title is just a guideline. Finally, add a small can of chickpeas.

Of course, another crucial ingredient in a dish of couscous is the couscous itself. It's actually a kind of micro-pasta. You can buy it in boxes at the supermarket. I know people who eat it as a breakfast cereal. Just prepare it according to the instructions on the box, adding some plumped-up raisins if you want. Serve it with the spicy broth, vegetables, and meats spooned over it. Two other traditional ingredients — garnishes, really — are the hot pepper paste called harissa, and the spicy little lamb or beef sausages called merguez, preferably grilled.