Life: Idiotropic

Marilena Cammarata is from Marsala, Italy down in the western part of Sicily and before she moved here, she had her own pasta shop. She can cook anything - and not with recipes - with seeing and touching. She uses her hands for her pastas and pizzas.

Today she taught a group of Italian ladies how to make Sicilian couscous - a dish only found in Sicily as couscous is very rare in other parts of Italy. I was so happy to be invited and all the Italian ladies were very warm and friendly and made such an effort to make me feel welcome.

They made Italian coffee. "Would you like some coffee?" "Yes, please." "It's Italian coffee." "I like Italian coffee." "It's very strong - not like American coffee." "I know, I was just in Italy. I like strong coffee." "Do you need sugar???" No... my coffee is too strong for some Americans. I like the strong coffee. So I had two. I was asked about apple pie and pumpkin pie, so I may end up teaching them a few American things. We all sat down after doing all the preparation for some cake while the couscous steamed.

This isn't the couscous from a box - precooked - like we are used to. It's the uncooked natural couscous. So in a large turkey pan, Marilena slowly mixed bottled water into the grain with her hands adding a little at a time until it was absorbed and the couscous was soft and stuck together a little. Then she added a drizzle of olive oil and a bit of salt, pepper, and curry. All the couscous was put into a large terracotta pot with holes in the bottom so that it could be steamed.

The other ladies chopped eggplant, onions, leeks, potatoes, tomatoes, and carrots and put them in a large pot. Then they added water, steak, and cooked it slowly over low heat. As the vegetables and meat cooked, they put just a little of it into the water under the couscous so that the flavors in those things could steam the grain and add flavor that way as well. After about an hour of steaming the couscous and cooking the veggies and meat, the couscous was put into a pan and all the veggies and meat were put on top with just a little of the broth. It sat for 5 minutes and then served.

Oh my goodness. It sounds so simple, but this was amazing- unlike any couscous dish I've ever had and so full of flavor. I'm getting some un-precooked couscous soon and trying this one myself!