It is said that in the variety is the taste, also in the kitchen. Give your dishes a twist with these four original proposals. They will surprise you!
Have you tired of eating the classic pasta with tomato? Have you run out of ideas to combine couscous?
Let yourself be surprised and get inspiration for your menus with these four different ways of cooking the usual ingredients: tricolor spirals with sweet corn sautéed with vegetables; tomato and apple tarts with a sweet and sour point; some original couscous cupcakes with vegan béchamel; and a crispy baked leek and peach cake.
TRICOLOR SPIRALS WITH SWEET CORN
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 350 g tricolor spirals
- 150 g corn kernels
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 carrots
- 1 red bell pepper
- salt
For the dressing:
- 30 g vegan cheese
- 60 ml tomato concentrate
- 1 garlic clove
- 50 ml olive oil
- 1 bunch parsley, fresh basil and salt
Preparation (12′ + 20′ cooking):
- Cook the spirals of pasta al dente in a pot with water, salt and bay leaf.
- Meanwhile, beat the cheese with the parsley, basil, garlic and oil. Add the tomato and beat again until emulsified.
- Peel the carrots. Wash and peel the pepper. Cut both into tacos and sauté them with the corn with olive oil and salt.
- Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and stir well with the dressing and then the cooked vegetables. Serve on individual plates.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 448
- Carbohydrates: 69 g
- Protein: 17 g
- Fat: 12 g
- Cholesterol: 75 mg
TOMATO AND APPLE TARTS
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 3 sour apples, diced
- 6 pear tomatoes, peeled and diced
- 15 g sugar
- 60 ml apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 60 ml Vichy water
- 2 sprigs washed fresh thyme
- 20ml olive oil, pepper and salt
For the dough:
- 150 g semi-whole wheat flour
- 75 ml olive oil
- 10 ml of water and a pinch of salt
Preparation (30′ + 35′ cooking + 20′ rest):
- Mix the flour with the salt and oil, add the water and knead. Let the dough rest 20 minutes covered with film, out of the fridge.
- Sauté the tomato in the oil, room and, halfway through, add the apple. Lower the heat and add half of the thyme. With the cooked apple pour the sugar, caramelize, over more vivid heat water with vinegar and, after a few minutes, soy and water. Lower the heat and leave until it is like sweet and sour jam.
- Stretch the dough, cut into circles and line the molds. Pinch and bake for 10 minutes. Fill them with the chutney and garnish with the thyme.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 443
- Carbohydrates: 47 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Fat: 25 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
COUSCOUS CAKE
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 200 g precooked whole couscous
- 250 ml vegetable broth
- 1 onion, peeled and cut into cubes
- 1 leek, the white part finely chopped
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- 50 g grated vegan cheese
- 1 bunch of fresh dill and tarragon
- Extra virgin olive oil and salt
For the béchamel:
- 250 ml vegetable milk
- 25 g margarine
- 20 g wheat flour
- olive oil and salt
Preparation (20′ + 25′ cooking):
- In a saucepan sauté the onion in a little oil and add the leek. Cook a few more minutes, stirring occasionally, and add the couscous. Heat the broth (the same volume as couscous) with a pinch of salt and tarragon, and when it comes to a boil pour it over the semolina. Stir, cover and let stand for five minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare a béchamel sauce lightly toasting the flour in melted margarine and a little oil, and linking it little by little with the milk until it acquires the desired consistency. Covered reserve.
- Release the grains of the couscous with a fork or rods and add some more broth and oil so that it does not dry out in the oven. Spread it in the form of a cake on a tray smeared in oil and cover with the béchamel and cheese. Gratin in the oven and on another tray bake the tomatoes. Serve cut with the help of a square mold and garnish with roasted tomatoes and fresh dill leaves.
Variant: Inside the cake you can include vegetables such as spinach orchard.
Nutritional values:
- Calories: 443
- Carbohydrates: 43 g
- Protein: 14 g
- Fat: 24 g
- Cholesterol: 33 mg
LEEK AND PEACH CAKE
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 50 g almond powder
- 125 g wholemeal flour
- 2 tablespoons water
- 15 g olive oil
For the filling:
- 250 g leeks, thinly sliced
- 250 g peaches
- 250 g vegan cheese
- 2 tablespoons egg replacement powders
- 125 ml soy or oat milk
- 40 ml extra virgin olive oil
- rosemary powder, black pepper and salt
Preparation (40′ + 40′ cooking):
- Mix and knead the ingredients of the dough until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. Cool in the fridge, stretch and line the mold with it, which must be refrigerated again.
- Preheat oven to 180 °C. Poach leeks in oil over low heat. Slice half of the peaches and chop the other half. Apart beat the cheese with the substitute powders and milk. Mix everything, salt and pepper and season with rosemary.
- Fill the mold and decorate with the peach sheets brushed with oil. Bake half an hour.
