Spinach couscous with roasted carrots takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It’s a combination of salty, sweet, tangy, and fresh – perfect for a light spring family dinner.
One Dish Dinners for Cooperative Kiddos
I love dinners that you can throw together in one bowl, resulting in my daughter’s reliably plaintive, “Mommie, there’s only one thing for dinner tonight?!” And I get to remind her that sometimes it’s fine to just have one thing. With zero annoyance on my part, of course.
I also point out to her that this “one thing” is a mix of all kinds of delicious things. It’s salty from the feta cheese. Sweet from the currants and the roasted carrots. Tangy from the lemon juice and quick-pickled red onion. Fresh from the basil, mint, and spinach. And if she doesn’t like something, she can eat around it.
The parents loved this one. But I did get some push back on the red onions from the kids. And on the carrots and spinach for my son, at first. Once we got him to take a bite of the couscous that didn’t have loads of green in it, he mellowed out about the spinach. You really cannot taste the spinach in this. You can taste the basil and mint, but the kids were okay with that. I told our kids they could eat around the onions, carrots, or whatever else it was that happened to be annoying them during the meal at that particular moment.
Quite the sales pitch, hm? But they are enthusiastic about the couscous, that encouraged them to eat some of the vegetables. So it was a win. I also suspect that I will have more success the second time I serve this dish. It usually goes this way.
Variations
If you’re not into being a total a$$ to your kids at mealtime like I am, you can stop short of mixing everything together. Mix some roasted carrot and spinach couscous together for yourself of course. But you can very easily set aside a bowl of plain couscous (or just spinach couscous), and set aside some carrots and feta for the kids to try separately.
If you want more protein, you could even make a Greek yogurt sauce for the kids to dip the carrots in (here’s a recipe for yogurt-tahini sauce we eat with roasted carrots.)
Vegetarian Option
I personally make this dish with chicken broth, which is the only thing that is not vegetarian in this dish. If you switch to vegetable broth, you’re all set with a vegetarian dish.
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Carrots and Spinach with Couscous
Spinach couscous with roasted carrots takes about 30 minutes to prepare. It’s a combination of salty, sweet, tangy, and fresh – perfect for a light spring dinner for the whole family.
- Total Time: 30 min
Ingredients
6–8 medium carrots
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
3 ounces fresh spinach
1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
1 lemon
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 tablespoon fresh mint, chopped
3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1 cup pearled couscous
2 tablespoons dried currants (see note below regarding alternatives)
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
While the oven preheats, prepare 6-8 carrots.
Cut the carrots into 2-3 inch strips, no more than 1/2 inch thick. I usually wash my carrots well and don’t bother with peeling them. Lay them out on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Spray them down (or toss them) in olive oil. Dust with salt.
2. Roast the carrots for 25-30 minutes, until they are soft and browning.
They’re done when they look like this:
3. While the carrots roast . . .
Prepare the rest of the dish:
- Begin heating up 2 cups chicken (or vegetable) stock over medium high heat; then
- Chop the 3 ounces of fresh spinach and set aside; then
- Slice the 1/3 cup red onion as thinly as possible. Sprinkle it with about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and set aside; then
- Cube the feta cheese, aiming for 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch cubes. Add these to the red onion; then
- Chop the fresh herbs. Add these to the feta cheese and onion and set aside.
By now, the chicken (or vegetable) stock should be boiling.
4. Cook the couscous and currants for 8-10 minutes.
Add the 1 cup of couscous and 2 tablespoons of dried currants to the boiling stock. Cook uncovered at a low boil. After 10 minutes, most, but not all, of the stock should have been absorbed. When it’s done, it should look like this:
5. Stir in the chopped spinach until wilted.
6. Finish the dish.
Put it in a serving bowl. Mix in the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.
Top it with the onion/feta/herb mixture and the roasted carrots.
7. Enjoy!
Notes
Missing an ingredient? Check out this substitutions guide.
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 25 min
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake, stovetop
