Spice Girl: Roasted Vegetable Cous Cous with Chickpeas and Caramelized Onion/Pine-Nut Topping

Yes, it is true.  I did want to be a "Spice Girl" in the late 90's.  However, this post is about taking an ordinary weeknight dinner and spicing it up.  I was having a few girlfriends over for dinner mid-week and as usual, I was hunting for an easy, light recipe.  I found one on Cookinglight.com.  I adjusted the recipe below to my liking and it was a beautiful, delicious, healthy, and fun meal.  The cinnamon really comes out in this dish and roasting the chickpeas turns them from mushy into yummy.  It is great mid-week meal or a fun dinner party idea.  This meal would be wonderful with chicken, but we kept it vegetarian.  The only thing missing that night was the 

Sangria. . .   

Roasted Vegetable CousCous with Chickpeas and 

Caramelized Onion/Pine-Nut Topping

Ingredients

• Couscous:
• 5  cups  diced peeled sweet potato (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1  cup  (1/2-inch) diced zucchini
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1  teaspoon  cumin
• 1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3  carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces (about 9 ounces)
• 1  (15-ounce) can no-salt-added chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
• 1  teaspoon  kosher salt, divided
• 2 boxes of Near East Couscous (any flavor will work, but I used the one with pine-nuts)
• 1 lemon
• 
  
• Topping:
• 1  tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  yellow onion, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, separated into rings
• 1/4  cup  pine nuts
• 1/4  cup  raisins
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1  tablespoon  honey

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Combine the first 11 ingredients (hold off on adding the zucchini until the last 15 minutes of roasting) in a large bowl; stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt. Place potato mixture on a baking sheet. Bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally.

3. Make the couscous according to the packages.

4. To prepare topping, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 15 minutes or until tender, golden brown and carmelized, stirring occasionally. Add pine nuts and raisins; cook 2 minutes. Stir in cinnamon; cook 30 seconds. Stir in honey, and remove from heat.

5. Mound couscous in the middle of a serving platter. Place the roasted vegetables around base of couscous, spoon topping over top of couscous, and squeeze lemon juice over according to taste.