Chickpea and Couscous Soup

I recently saw a recipe on the Martha Stewart website with a technique that I have added to my repertoire. The recipe was for an eggplant and tomato soup.

To make the base for this soup slice plumb tomatoes in half; put them cut side down on a baking sheet with olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven.

Remove the pan from the oven and the skins of the tomatoes will be puffed up like little hats. Pick off the skins, puree the tomatoes with an electric hand held blender, and you have the foundation for a vegetable soup. No need to make, buy, or think about vegetable stock. I have to confess that my enchantment with this technique comes from the delight of just pulling the skins off the tomatoes.

I used this base to make a hearty Lebanese style soup with chickpeas and pearl couscous. The original recipe called for vegetable stock but I used the pureed tomatoes and water instead.

Ingredients for two portions:

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 peeled and sliced carrot

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 tsp. cumin

½ tsp. paprika

½ tsp. cinnamon (or one cinnamon stick, I didn’t have)

¼ tsp. ginger

Pinch of saffron

Pepper

1 can of chick peas that have been drained and rinsed

5 small tomatoes baked, peeled, and pureed

4 cups of water

¼ cup pearl couscous (In Lebanon it is called Moghrabia which is similar to Israeli couscous)

2 Tbl. lemon juice

Handful of finely chopped parsley

Sauté the onions and carrots in olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Mix in the garlic and spices and cook for a few minutes so that they are well blended. Add the chickpeas and coat them with the spices. Mix in 4 cups of water and the pureed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook the mixture for ten minutes. Add the couscous and let it simmer until the couscous is done, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley.