Swap-Bot Recipe Swap: Cookbook challenge #1

As some of you may know I have become a very active member of swap-bot a few months back. Swap-bot is a site where people can swap all kind of things and most of them go through real mail, or snail mail. However some swaps are digital and this time I entered a cookalong. For this Challenge we had to cook one of the selected recipes of Modern Moroccan, which can be found at the blog of the host. We only have to use the recipe as a base, we can change as much as we want. Good thing too because I changed quite a lot!

I used the Casablancan couscous with roasted summer vegetables as the base. I know it is winter here, but most veggies I was able to get, except the eggplant. I also changed the amounts a lot, because this much vegs would never fit in my microwave oven. That is also the reason I couldn't prepare the couscous in the oven as well, so I did that just like I always do.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Casablancan couscous with roasted summer vegetables (serves 4)
- 350 gr couscous
- 1 red and 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 zucchini
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 or 2 spring onions
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 eggplant (I couldn't use it this time, but I will when it is in season)
- cherry tomatoes
- fresh ginger
- fresh rosemary
- olive oil
- sugar
- 1 tbsp couscous spicemix (buy it in the toko)
- Fresh spinach (optional, I added it because I needed to use it)
- (vegan) Feta (optional, I didn't use it now, but I kind of missed it)

Cut the zucchini, bell peppers, sweet potato and eggplant into cubes. Slice the spring onions and half the cherry tomatoes. Crush the garlic. Place a baking sheet on your oven tray. Lay out the veggies on the tray and sprinkle with a lot of olive oil. (mind that it might be wise to add the bell peppers and tomatoes a bit later because their baking time is shorter). Tuck in some pieces of ginger, the cloves of garlic and rosemary. (or other herbs you prefer). Bake the veggies for 1.5 hours on 200 degrees. Toss them sometimes.

Somewhere in the last half hour, bake the spinach in a pan, and prepare the couscous. I just boiled water, poured it over the couscous in a pan and stirred for 1.5 minutes. Then I drain the excess fluids and toss the couscous back into the pan. Sprinkle with olive oil and let it rest for a few minutes. Then I add 1 tbsp couscous spicemix and mix it trhough. When the veggies are done, remove garlic, ginger and rosemary, drain the extra oil. Mix spinach, other veggies and couscous into a bowl. Optionally crumble feta into the mix.

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