Recipe Testing: Mushroom Couscous {Food52}

I signed up to test this dish for Food52, thinking that it might be a contender for my Thanksgiving table. It surely was!

adapted from Alexandra V. Jones' Wild Mushroom Couscous

This dish comes together quickly since the couscous cooks in a mere five minutes. And it easily serves four as a side dish, two or three as a main dish. I used some local oyster and shitake mushrooms in my version; those earthy flavors blended well with the airy couscous. It was a marriage of layered, elegant flavors and has cemented its place on my table with its lovely texture and complexity of its taste.

Couscous:

1 C couscous

1 handful dried shitake mushrooms

2 C organic chicken stock

1 T olive oil

freshly ground sea salt

Sauteed mushrooms:

1 C sliced fresh oyster mushrooms

1 C sliced fresh shitake mushrooms

1 shallot, minced

2 t soy sauce

1/4 C dry white wine

1 T butter

2 T fresh chopped parsley

cracked black pepper, to taste

Boil two cups of stock with dried shitake, salt and 1 t olive oil. Remove from heat and pour over couscous in a medium mixing bowl, cover, after five minutes, remove wrap, fluff with a fork, and set aside.

Over medium-high heat in a skillet heat 2 t olive oil till shimmering, add shallot, cook for 2 minutes, add fresh oyster and shitake mushrooms in one layer, add butter, cook 4 minutes, and flip. Cook 2 more minutes, add soy sauce and white wine, reduce a few minutes, toss with parsley and pepper. Stir half of the mushrooms into the couscous. Serve the other half on the top of the couscous. This truly is fungi heaven!