couscous

Neglected to photograph the couscous before it was cooked. It looks like whole grain, but it's actually pasta bits, like spaghetti chopped into rice, that has been precooked. You can get it from the bins at Whole Foods, The Vitamin Cottage, places like that, or in boxes at the grocery store that come with *gasp* flavor packets. It's prepared by mixing it with a hot liquid, any hot liquid, and allowing it to soak covered for 10 minutes. The ratio of liquid to couscous grains varies wildly. It all depends on how wet you want the final dish. 1 liquid to 1 couscous results in a dry and fluffy product, 2 liquid to 1 couscous results in exceedingly wet product.  By any reasonable definition, this must be considered a fast food.

I'm aiming for dry and fluffy.

* Decided on home-made chicken broth instead of water.  The chicken broth is in its gelatinous aspic form which is a sign of incredibly wholesome broth, a meal unto itself, actually.  Everything else is, er, gravy.  
* Frozen chicken bits from the roasted chickens that produced the broth
* Snow peas that have lasted longer than I ever expected. They're rather old
* Garlic
* Olive oil, which is weird because I already discarded chicken schmaltz which is excellent itself. Sometimes I don't understand myself.
* Parmigiano Reggiano, a boat load of basil and cilantro, lettuce.
* Cumin and salt and pepper.

I sauteed the garlic in olive oil.  While I was at it I tossed in the snow peas and the frozen chicken bits. 

Before the garlic burned I covered it and poured in a few tablespoons of white wine, right on top of the lid, which is smaller than the saute pan so it fell between the edges and created steam underneath finishing off the snow peas and preventing the garlic from burning.  If you saw this in action, you'd be impressed with the breezy mad skillz displayed. It only cooks for a minute.  Now, do you see what I did here?  I could have done this garlic burn prevention, snow pea finishing, chicken bit warming with water or with some of the heated broth, but instead, I chose to use wine.  How come? Because wine can substitute for the acid portion of a salad dressing.  Acid + oil.  The olive oil is already in the mix.  Rice vinegar, saki, merin, grapefruit juice,  lemon juice, all would have worked to do the same thing.   Perks right up the final dish which is a bit base (alkaline) without it.  

Pour over the couscous granules.

Cover for 10 minutes

Rip up the herbs, grate the cheese

Mix it all together.  Fluff it up. 

Voilà!  You're a genius.