Spring Vegetable Ragoût With Brown Butter Couscous
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 2cups fine quick-cooking couscous
- 6tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (¾ stick)
- 1small preserved lemon, rinsed, peel and pulp chopped fine, seeds discarded
- 1large pinch of saffron, crumbled into ½ cup warm water and left to steep at least 5 minutes
- 2cups roughly chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems, plus a few sprigs for garnish (from about 2 bunches)
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- 1large Serrano chile, cut into ¼-inch chunks
- ¼cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons lime or lemon juice (from 1 lime or lemon)
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ½teaspoon coriander seeds
- ½teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 1medium leek, white and tender green parts, diced (about 1 cup)
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 3medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
- 1pound asparagus, tough ends discarded and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 3 cups)
- 1pound fresh peas in the pod, shucked (1½ cups)
- 3pounds fresh fava beans in the pod, shucked and peeled (about 1 cup), optional
- 10ounces baby spinach or mizuna greens (about 10 cups)
For the Couscous
For the Green Sauce
For the Ragoût
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
760 calories; 28 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 14 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 108 grams carbohydrates; 29 grams dietary fiber; 31 grams sugars; 34 grams protein; 1498 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
In a medium saucepan, bring 2½ cups water to a rapid boil. Add salt and couscous, stirring as water returns to boil. Turn down heat to a bare simmer, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and leave covered for 10 minutes. Dump couscous on a baking sheet or large platter, and spread out. Taste for salt and add more if necessary. Fluff, smash any large clumps and leave to cool, uncovered.
- Step 2
Set up a steamer with a fine mesh basket, with water simmering on low heat, for eventual steaming of couscous. About 30 minutes before serving, put couscous in the steamer basket and raise heat to maintain a rapid simmer. Do not cover. (This extra steaming step produces lighter, fluffier couscous.)
- Step 3
Make the green sauce: Put cilantro, salt, Serrano chile and olive oil in a blender or food processor. Pulse briefly, then purée into a paste. Add ¼ cup water, and purée again. Taste and adjust seasoning. Transfer to a small bowl and stir in lime juice.
- Step 4
Make the ragoût: Put 2 tablespoons olive oil in a deep, wide skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add coriander and cumin. Let sizzle for a few seconds, then onions and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Step 5
Add leeks and season well with salt and pepper. Stir and cook onion-leek mixture until leeks are soft but still bright green, about 5 minutes.
- Step 6
Add zucchini, season with salt and stir to coat. Add 3 cups water, raise heat to a boil, cover and cook for 2 minutes. Add asparagus and peas, cover and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Step 7
Add favas, if using, and spinach, cover and cook 1 minute. Turn off heat. (Spinach will continue to cook.)
- Step 8
Finish the couscous: Set a wide skillet over high heat. When pan is hot, add cold butter and let it sizzle and foam, turning rust-brown but no darker. Add preserved lemon and the saffron and its water to stop the browning. Turn off heat. Add hot couscous to pan and stir to incorporate all elements. Transfer to a warm serving bowl.
- Step 9
Gently fold vegetables together, then lift from pot and transfer to a deep serving platter, using tongs or slotted spoon. Stir 2 tablespoons green sauce into liquid remaining in pot, then spoon liquid over vegetables. Garnish with cilantro sprigs. Pass remaining green sauce at the table.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Passion for Peaches
That recipe has nothing to do with this one. You can make this cheaper by subbing out (or omitting) specified vegetables and greens. I often use beet greens in stewy preparations (after baking the beets), although those would affect the bright green color. You could use frozen peas, and Lima beans for the favas. It’s very flexible. I think some baby bok choy would be good. And if you don’t want to make or buy preserved lemon, try using fresh zest.
BigGuy
Making this is cheaper than eating out in a tablecloth restaurant in Manhattan or getting vegetarian takeout at Zabars or Fairway, but its not inexpensive. Much less fancy, but pretty much the same idea, is collards and kale over spicy grits. Fry chopped onion and garlic, add chopped up collards and kale and water. Add cayenne pepper to the cooking water for the grits. That's it.
Ara
The only costly items that I see are the preserved lemons and the saffron, and you can omit both, or use lemon zest instead of the lemons. You can substitute the fresh vegetables with frozen ones (just make sure they haven't been sitting in your freezer for 5 months). If you are having trouble finding couscous, using grits is a great idea.
Michael
It sounds delicious. Two thoughts: Zucchini are really a summer vegetable. Perhaps fiddlehead ferns could be substituted for them and still provide the right texture and color. I think ramps would be a nice addition to the leeks and onions.
MaryDee
Preserved lemons are easy to make and taste great in so many dishes - including vodka martinis!
Sara S
This was truly delicious. But beware the prep time, and then the actual recipe time. Not a quick weeknight meal, even with subbing frozen peas and frozen leeks for fresh, and frozen edaname for favas.
Leora
My thoughts exactly but I would go further: Chiles don't ripen till late summer. Cilantro doesn't really get going till summer. Leeks are a fall vegetable. I've never grown peas or favas, but since they're the fruits, rather than leaves, of their plants they must be for summer picking. And as you say, zucchini is every grower's autumn windfall. So the only actual SPRING vegetable is asparagus. It does sound tasty though!
Lisa
Anyone have a recommendation for good purchased preserved lemons? I've not had homemade or bought, so I'm not sure I would know the diff but Im sure some of you out there know where to buy good ones!?
Sue
I tried many preserved lemons and there is no comparison to homemade. Take a quart jar, a bag of organic lemons (scrub under hot water if waxed), and slice them through lengthwise leaving 1/2 inch at both ends intact. Rotate 90 degrees and slice again, so you have a lemon with its middle quartered but the ends holding it together. Pack each with 1tsp sea salt. Squish them into the jar getting as much juice out as possible. Top with juice to cover. Keep at room temp 1-2 weeks and then in fridge.
Anne
Wow! Lovely to find a vegetable “main” for those of us eating low protein diets. This is clearly delightful and will be on our table soon. Thanks also for the update on couscous prep.
Lisa
Agreed! Even without steaming the couscous, the end result was delicious, but it was a time-consuming (and many-dish-generating) production.
Peter
might be stupid question but what is a preserved lemon?
Scott
I wanted to let you know that I, too, thought the butter amount was a bit much. I reduced butter to 2 tablespoons and thought it worked well. Also substituted green beans, great northern bean, and added poblano with serrano and went with 1 teaspoon of cumin and coriander and was pleased with seasoning.
Cigi
Spring is a relative concept. Both asparagus and favas are spring produce as are english peas though later in the season. The rest are made available by the the wonders of trucking from places further south where spring is warmer and earlier than the northeast calendar would indicate.
MH
Peas are a spring veggie - you plant when it's cold, and the vines come up as the spring arrives. The peapods are usually ready by April, if the birds and squirrels don't eat them first!
Eliz.
David Tanis, thank you so much! I always make vignarola when fresh, local fava beans R available. Now this is something I will crave in late spring--one of the best dishes ever prepared by consulting NYTC. Had all but spinach on hand, including English peas and asparagus from the farmers market. Time-consuming, but worth it. Perfect instructions for cooking ragout so vegetables aren't overcooked. Wonderful flavors!!! Someone should write an ode to the green sauce.
Regina
This was really delicious. It is a versatile recipe. I didn’t have saffron so I put some turmeric in for color. Didn’t have preserved lemons so I put in some zest and then minced some lemon and massaged some salt into it. I couldn’t find Serrano pepper so used jalapeño. Forgot to add the spinach. Oops. I was worried about all the water it calls for, but it made a lovely broth to mix with the delicious cilantro sauce. Used vegan butter. Will make again and alter according to what’s available.
Lala
Do NOT use spinach in the recipe. There is none in the picture because it absolutely ruins the taste and texture of the ragout. Sad that it takes so much away from such a refreshing recipe.
Trev
I loved the couscous and the green sauce. The vegetable ragout was fine but I’ll probably try the couscous with a lamb recipe next time.
LB
The preserved lemon in the couscous is a great touch, and I just added it with butter after Step 1 rather than doing the extra work. The sauce is very good too. Substituted fiddleheads for zucchini and nettles for spinach. Delicious.
banana
This was tasty, but pretty fussy. Transferring the couscous from 1) sauce pan to 2) sheet pan to 3) steamer basket to 4) skillet to 5) serving bowl is a lot. The step of removing the vegetables with a slotted spoon just to add a little green sauce to the water and pour it back over the vegetables is also unnecessary - spooning the green sauce over your plate works just fine. The crunch of the aromatic seeds is a nice detail, and the green sauce and preserved lemon make for an interesting flavor.
Julie
Can’t we just brown butter and then add couscous and water to the pan? Transferring to a platter and then skillet was a mess. I didn’t bother to steam it. Ragout needed garlic somewhere. I added a little sugar to the green sauce; it was a bit strong on pepper and lemon (granted, I didn’t measure).
ilyssa
Add a clove or two of garlic to the food processor when you make the green sauce. I also added a tbsp of ground coriander and ground cilantro which sounds like a lot but it was good!
Deb
Broccoli or broccolini is another addition or substitution vegetable.
AnneL
I didn't do the full steaming of the couscous but otherwise was pretty close. I added pea tendrils to the vegetables and subbed shallots and spring onions for the leeks because that's what I had. Excellent - served with grilled lamb chops because it wouldn't have felt like a full dinner to my husband without the meat but side note the green sauce was terrific with the lamb.
A
Loved the sauce and browned butter couscous (I only had pearl to hand) but the 'ragout' ended up being rather bland and wet - would triple the spices and simply roast or grill a similar selection of veggies next time
PDeCo
Could not find multiple items fresh. So, for preserved lemons, I made quick version and it worked very well w/ couscous: 2 lemons quartered; 2 T kosher salt; 1 c water: boil gently for 30 min, then let cool. For Fava I used Lima beans. For fresh peas I used frozen. I dropped the spinach b/c...there were enough veggies already, and who needs the droopy leaves. Excellent!!
Creature
Surprising excellent! Working with what I had, I used for veggies: snap/snow peas, green beans, zucchini, spinach. Tasted really good. I think it would be good with a poached egg maybe. I didn’t have preserved lemons, just used lemon juice with no flavor complaints.
Elizabeth B
I have made this twice with slight variations in the vegetables. The zucchini is terrific for absorbing the cumin and coriander flavors. The green sauce is divine. For some reason, there is a shortage of couscous in my area. I used frozen quinoa (cooked first in the micro and then mixed in with the butter, preserved lemon and saffron). It think it goes without saying that putting a couple of poached eggs over leftovers is pretty fantastic.
Carole
This was delicious, though it took several pans. I sauteed a few bay scallops to serve with the ragout, skipped the zucchini and used sugar snaps instead of peas. I can't find fava beans much as I wish I could. The saffron and preserved lemon really made this stand out
Antonia
I used freshly ground instead of whole cumin and coriander seeds (it was all I had), and homemade chicken stock in place of water. The combination of the cumin and coriander with the spicy serrano-cilantro purée in the brothy sauce that enrobes the veggies is so good! I imagine it would still be delicious with water as the recipe calls for; the spices and herbs are so fragrant. The preserved lemon and brown butter cous cous is perfection. I served both with a whole roasted branzino. Yum!
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