* Lemon and Parsley Couscous

I love couscous. Hugely. If my life depended on it - I couldn't give it up. It's so incredibly easy to cook and it's my comfort food above all others.... however... Neil hates it, so more often than not I'll have whatever he's having out of ease. Lazy, but that's life and I know I'm not the only person that does it.

I never realise quite how much I miss it until I've made a slight effort and am actually eating it - usually with just a knob of butter swirled through it. It's rare that I add anything to it because I genuinely enjoy it just as it is comes. Not exactly life altering.

Adding lemon and parsley to it isn't exactly life altering either, but I've never done it before (don't ask me why, I don't know why!) so was very pleasantly surprised that it worked as well as it did. You know what it's like - the simple things require what you believe is a bit less effort, and it all goes a tad skewiff because you've gotten cocky and lazy and just stuffed a whole lemon, unpeeled and unjuiced into a bowl of raw couscous along with a handful of unchopped parsely - dirt and all... Then stand back in amazement when your somewhat dormant cooking genius gets up off the sofa, packs it bags and grabs a one way ticket to El Salvadore... all without a backwards glance...

... even the simple things require the tiniest bit of effort sometimes. Not always something that I remember or can even be bothered with... and when I can... I usually have one vital missing ingredient - like errrrr.... couscous.

I didn't. I had the couscous. I had everything....

Cue *birthday dance*.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Lemon and Parsley Couscous Recipe 

Serves 4 as a side dish

Prep time - 5 minutes
Cooking time - 10 minutes
Total time - 15 minutes

You will need
A medium sized bowl - preferably one that retains heat (glass, or metal)
cling film

Ingredients
8oz/200g couscous
9fl oz/250ml boiling water
2 tsp butter or olive oil
1 lemon - the zest and juice
1 handful fresh flat leaf parsley - chopped
pinch of salt
grind of blackpepper

Method

Place coucous in a bowl and pour over the boiling water, cover with cling film and leave to absorb the water for 10 minutes or until cooked.

Prepare the lemon and parsely (if you haven't already).

Once the couscous is cooked, remove the cling film from the bowl, and using a fork gently fluff up the couscous. Using the same fork, stir in the butter (or olive oil), the lemon juice and 3/4 each of the lemon zest and chopped parsely.

Season with salt and pepper and serve scattered with remaining zest and parsely.

EAT