'Green' cous cous with olives and parsley

This could be a good dish for Saint Patrick's Day. It's a dish of lots of different shades of green, but not because we are celebrating the Irish patron Saint. Only because I am using up some things I had in the freezer, fridge and cupboard.

I had some frozen pureed spinach in the freezer, which is the most beautiful shade of emerald green. I wanted to eat cous cous today, so I added the spinach into simmering water for the cous cous, and wallah - green cous cous! I added in some chopped olives and some chopped, Italian parsley that was on the way out. A bit of olive oil, squeeze of lemon and that's it.

What you'll need

This will serve 6 - 8 people as a side dish.

2 cups dried cous cous
3 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup pureed spinach
1 vegetable stock cube
1/2 cup green olives, chopped
1/2 cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbs olive oil

What to do

Bring water to boil in a large saucepan. Add stock cube and dissolve, then add pureed spinach. Mix well, then add olive oil.

Pour in cous cous, stir quickly, remove from heat and put on lid. Leave sit for 5 - 10 minutes.

Remove the lid, and 'fluff' cous cous with a fork. If it is a bit sticky, add a little more olive oil.
Squeeze in lemon juice and add chopped olives.

Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Replace lid and set aside for serving later. Just before serving, mix through parsley.

We ate this with pan-fried salmon and roasted sweet potato and mozzarella salad.