Couscous with Sweet Potato and Dried Fruit

My part time job is being a server for a catering company. Yesterday, I worked at Material Cultures off of Wissahickon Ave for a 70th birthday party. Material Cultures is a store that sells art, textiles, antiques carpets and jewelry. All of the pieces at the store are so beautiful and are all so different. For example, in one corner, they have hundreds of Buddha heads and in the other, they have funky scarves.

The theme of the birthday party was Morocco. They served hummus, couscous, salmon, lamb Tagine and eggplant for dinner and for dessert, they had dozens of cakes and pies to choose from. The event was such a blast and best part, I got tons of leftovers. 

I was so inspired by the dishes from last night that I decided to make my own couscous dish for dinner tonight. Usually when I make couscous dishes, I make it with tons of vegetables and chicken but since I didn't have those ingredients available, I decided to make a vegetarian version of my couscous dish. 

Here is how I did it: 

Couscous with Sweet Potato and Dried Fruit 

Sweet potato: 

- 4 small sweet peeled sweet potatoes

- 2 tbs olive oil

- 1 tbs honey 

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon 

- 1/2 tsp salt 

- 1/4 tsp pepper

Couscous: 

- 3 cups of water 

- 1 1/4 cup couscous
- 1 tbs butter

- 1/4 cup raisons 

- 1/4 cup dried apricots 

- 1/4 cup dried prunes 

- 1 tsp cumin

- 1/4 tsp cinnamon 

- 1 vegetable bouillabaisse 

- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

Preheat your over to 350 degrees. Peel sweet potatoes and cut them in half inch cubes. Place on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper and pore over the sweet potatoes. Toss the sweet potatoes in the olive oil mixture until are all covered. Bake for 30 minutes until tender. 

In a pot, bring 3 cups of water, cumin, cinnamon and vegetable bouillabaisse to a boil. Chop up the prunes and apricot and add to the water as well as the raisons. Pour the couscous pearls and cover over low heat for about 10 minutes until the pearls have absorbed all of the liquid. 

Transfer the couscous to a larger bowl and add the sweet potatoes and pomegranate seeds. 

I love this dish because when you are cooking it in your kitchen, it makes the house smell so wonderful and when you eat it,  your mouth is dancing with rich spices and exotic flavors. The dried fruit soaks up the rich broth and makes them plump and absolutely mouth watering while the pomegranate seeds adds just enough acid to cut the richness of the dish. 

Anne