Spring Vegetable Ragoût With Brown Butter Couscous Recipe (2024)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Preserved lemons are easy to make and taste great in so many dishes - including vodka martinis!

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.

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!

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!?

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.

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.

Agreed! Even without steaming the couscous, the end result was delicious, but it was a time-consuming (and many-dish-generating) production.

might be stupid question but what is a preserved lemon?

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

Broccoli or broccolini is another addition or substitution vegetable.

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.

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

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!!

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.

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.

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

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!

This absolutely resulted in the best couscous texture I’ve ever had. That said, it was also the most time-consuming preparation for a food that is a reliably quick prep ingredient. However, I have adapted some of the principles (steaming) and add-ins (preserved lemon) with every subsequent couscous dish made since. Thank you for elevating my cooking!

Used millet, basil, and whatever veggies were in season and in my fridge. Adjusted cook times accordingly and used broth, otherwise made as is. Delicious!