Sunday soup: North African Couscous Soup

This soup is really fast, and contains pretty much only ingredients that I keep in my pantry.  It could be a weeknight meal, thrown together in about 20 minutes. We had to play with the flavorings a bit, because it was initially a bit bland.  After a bit of tweaking, though, it was good enough for Joe to have a second bowl!

North African Couscous Soup:

3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 c. finely chopped celery or fennel, with some leaves or fronds
1 T Za'atar (a North African spice blend of dried herbs, sesame seeds, and dried sumac) or 2 teaspoons cumin (which is what I used)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 c. couscous, preferably whole wheat
3 T tomato paste (I forgot to add this before cooking the couscous, which might account for some of the bland flavor)
2 quarts vegetable stock (make your own by simmering water with a quartered onion, a couple of celery stalks, and a bay leaf)

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan with a tightly fitting lid over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, about 2 minutes.  Add the za'atar or cumin and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir constantly to keep the spices from burning, until just fragrant, about a minute. Add the couscous and continue stirring and cooking until the couscous begins to toast and darken, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and tomato paste, and stir to dissolve the paste.

Bring the soup to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook without disturbing until the couscous is cooked, 5-10 minutes.

As I said, ours was initially a bit bland. We salted it, but it still needed something (other than more salt). Joe suggested lime, so we gave that a go (success!). We also added a bit of Sriracha (thai chili sauce) for kick.  As I type this, I'm thinking about going back for a little more....mmmm....

This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  This is a new one for me (I bought it for my sister for Christmas, but so did my mom, and she got mom's copy first.  Then, mom and dad bought us a cookbook that we already had, so they "bought" it from us. Therefore, I decided not to return Abby's cookbook, since I like the non-vegetarian version so much). Enjoy!