Couscous for Breakfast

Inspired by Claudia Roden's gorgeous Moroccan/Lebanese/Turkish cookbook Arabesque, I turned the kitchen into a minor disaster last night, with completely worth-it results. Lamb Tagine with Apricots and Eggplant with Yogurt and Pomegranate may take three hours to cook if you have to reduce pomegranate juice into pomegranate molasses yourself, but I loved every second of it. Plus your kitchen will still smell amazing the next day.

It was this smell that inspired me to open up the same cookbook this morning in search of something sweetish and starchy for breakfast. I ended up adapting the recipe for "Sweet Couscous" into something a little less impressive (I didn't, for example, shape it into cones or decorate it), but much easier to do first thing in the morning.

Boil 1 cup of water, and stir in 1 tablespoon of sugar. (You can skip the sugar if you have remembered to buy confectioner's sugar--just sprinkle it on at the end in that case.) When sugar has completely dissolved, turn off heat and stir in 1 cup of plain couscous. Let it stand for about ten minutes to allow water to absorb, then stir in 1/4 stick of butter cut into small pieces. (If your couscous has gotten cold you can stick it in the oven to warm it up first.) Fluff it up a little with a fork, and serve with honey and cinnamon, and maybe dried fruit.