A Hearty Dinner

Veggie Chickpea Stew with Parsley Couscous



Veggie Chickpea Stew with Parsley Couscous
This hearty stew will warm you from the inside out.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 8 celery stocks, diced
- 4 large carrots, diced
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 twenty eight ounce can diced tomatoes
- salt
- fresh ground pepper
- 1 medium eggplant, diced
- 3 zucchini, diced
- 1 fourteen ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 recipe Parsley Couscous (recipe follows)


Heat the olive oil in a large heavy bottom pan on medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the diced celery and carrots and cook over medium to medium/low heat for 5 minutes more. Add the sweet potato and garlic and cook 2 minutes more. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Add the can of diced tomatoes and their juices and the diced eggplant. Bring to a simmer, the cover and cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the potato and eggplant are cooked. Stir in the zucchini and cook for 5 minutes more. Finally, add the garbanzo beans; season with salt and pepper and cook over medium/low heat until all of the veggies are tender, about 5 minutes more.
To finish the stew, season with more salt and pepper and stir in the parsley. Serve the hot stew over the couscous in individual bowls.

Parsley Couscous


Serves 6-8

Ingredients

- 3 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups couscous
- fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

To make the couscous, bring the water to a boil in a medium-size saucepan. Add the salt and the couscous. Stir once, cover with a lid, and remove the pan off the heat and let sit with the lid for 10 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork; season with salt and pepper and add the pine nuts and parsley.