Israeli Couscous with Roasted Peppers and Tomatoes

Israeli Couscous

I realize I have been MIA since Purim, but the last month was a long series of crappy happenstance that ate up most of my free time.  Oddly, one of the last of the series, the evening before Pesach began, was my inspiration for today’s post.  I was driving in the Mission, headed over for a Troika dinner meeting when, in my haste to find a parking space, I crashed my car into an Indian food delivery truck.  Anyone who knows me, knows how deeply attached to my car I am, so after assurances that no one was hurt, the sadness of my broken car set in. Despite this, following the insurance fun and the bungee cording of my car’s bumper into a drivable arrangement, we managed to resume the evening plans.  My fellow Troika members, Sarah and Megan, consoled my wounded ego with assurances that I was a decent driver and fed me chametz in the form of Israeli couscous. It was amazingly delicious, both warm the night before and again cold for lunch the next day.

With Passover behind us and with Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, coming up next Tues, a little Israeli chametz, seemed like a good way to come back.  Israeli couscous, or ptitim, was invented by the Osem food company to serve as a substitute for rice during the years following the founding of Israel, when rice was in short supply. It is wheat based and has grown significantly in popularity in the US in recent years, and can now be found in most US grocery stores.

Its amazing adaptability, also gave me the opportunity to play Ready Steady Cook. I had some bell peppers that needed to be used, as well as some cherry tomatoes that I bought believing they were an orange breed, but it turns out they were just really under-ripe and flavorless. The best way to rescue bad tomatoes is to roast them with a little olive oil and salt, so into the oven they went. I figured as long as I was turning on the oven I may as well roast the bell peppers too. Digging through my kitchen I discovered a small bag of pine nuts left from pesto making in September, a shallot in its last moments,  and way in the back of my fridge, my long-neglected jar of preserved meyer lemons, that I put up last year. I threw these things together with a block of feta and I had dinner.

Yom Ha’atzmaut Menu

Monday evening and Tuesday will be Israel’s Independence Day. Observed on the 5th of Iyar it commemorates the day that David Ben Gurion read Israel’s proclamation of Independence in Tel Aviv on May 14th, 1948. Israelis love this day as an opportunity to be with family, hang out and grill meat.

The best way to grill this meat is on a small, crappy charcoal fired grill out of doors. Live in an apartment? No worries- city parks, JNF forests and even grass covered median strips can become impromptu picnic spaces. When I lived on kibbutz we found city folk invading our backyard each year in search of a perfect spot to enjoy their festive meal. Be sure to stake out your spot early or you might have to drive down into the Negev to find an open picnic table.

In an effort to help our non-Israeli friends I am referring you to of our previously posted treats to round out your Zionist menu on this 62nd year of the Third Commonwealth.

Start with some bread, pita is mandatory. Next a nice Israeli salad, fresh hummus or ful, schoug and perhaps some grilled sausages, but steak is also nice (Israelis call pork chops steak levan or white steak- a fact I always find amusing). Also, throw some onions halves on the fire with some olive oil, bring along a couple of cold beers and enjoy.

Yom Ha’atzmaut Sameach – Happy Independence Day!