Yellow Couscous and Near & Far Cookbook Review

Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel, the newest cookbook by Heidi Swanson, is a collection of 120 vegetarian recipes inspired by the author’s travels near (her home in San Francisco) and Far (Morocco, Japan, Italy, France, and India). Following the review, I will be sharing her recipe for Yellow Couscous.

Disclosure: I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. All comments and opinions are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through the link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.

Heidi Swanson

Heidi Swanson grew up in Northern California and currently lives in San Francisco. She started her food blog, 101 Cookbooks, in 2003 as a way to actually cook through the over 100 cookbooks sitting on her shelves and stop the rut of preparing the same meals over and over again.

She now many cookbooks of her own including Super Natural Cooking: Five Delicious Ways to Incorporate Whole and Natural Foods into Your Cooking, Super Natural Every Day: Well-Loved Recipes from My Natural Foods Kitchen, and more. For those wanting a closer look into how Heidi put together Near & Far, she highlighted the cookbook process in a few posts on her blog: A New Cookbook, Writing a Cookbook Proposal, Making a Cookbook, and Printing a Cookbook.

Near & Far

Each chapter (divided into San Francisco, En Route, Morocco, Japan, Italy, France, India, and Accompaniments) begins with a list of Swanson’s favorite ingredients to serve as inspiration. San Francisco is the largest section with 35 recipes. For her En Route chapter, Swanson offers a handful nutritious meals that are portable. She even includes a recipe for Strong Ginger Snaps to combat motion sickness during longer travels. The end of the book finishes with a chapter of accompaniments: beans, rice, butter, stock, spices, and garnishes.

I particularly enjoyed that two to four ingredients are listed under the name of each recipe to highlight the main flavors. It made it easy to get a general idea of the dish while flipping through the book. She also includes a headnote describing the recipe, tips, and any variations. Measurements are provided in US Customary and Metric.

Heidi took the photographs herself, save for a few by Wayne Bremser. Most of the recipes include a quarter to full page photo, generally of the finished dish. She also features photos of scenery from her travels.

Yellow Couscous

Freshly steamed couscous, when done well, is spectacular. This recipe for Yellow Couscous definitely stood out. Dried couscous is seasoned with saffron, raisins, and turmeric, then steamed until tender. Immediately before serving, it topped with toasted almonds, green onions, dill, goat cheese, and olive oil for additional texture and flavor.

To steam the couscous, I filled the bottom part of a wok with water and topped it with a bamboo steamer (making sure that the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the steamer). I lined the steamer with parchment to keep the couscous from falling through. You can also use a strainer that fits into a large pot and line it with cheesecloth or parchment.

Looking for more recipes with couscous?

Try Couscous with Pistachio and Apricot, Sundried Tomato Couscous, and Maftoul bil Sukar (Palestinian Couscous with Sugar and Butter).

Other Dishes

I also made the Yogurt Bowl, Spring Rolls, Brown Butter Tortelli, and Wine-Washed Arugula.

This Yogurt Bowl from the Near section has become a breakfast item I turn to often, particularly when I am in a hurry. Heidi doesn’t write exact measurements here, just a drizzle of this or a dollop of that to taste. Greek yogurt is dressed up with pomegranate juice and honey. It is then topped with sunflower seeds, puffed quinoa cereal (I didn’t have any available so I used vanilla almond granola), pomegranate seeds, and bee pollen. 

The Spring Rolls from the En Route chapter were actually three recipes in one. This was the recipe that took the longest to make, but you can also break it into steps and assemble right before serving. Rice paper wrappers are smeared with a ginger onion paste, topped with lettuce, cilantro, and brown sugar tofu with mushrooms. This was the first time Chad and I used tofu as a main filling in spring rolls. We both really enjoyed them and there wasn’t a single one leftover.

For the Brown Butter Tortelli, Evan and I made a batch of Ricotta Spinach Tortelloni as the base. You can also use your favorite packaged refrigerated stuffed pasta. The tortelli is tossed in a quick brown butter balsamic vinegar sauce with arugula, lemon, and pecorino cheese. It was quite the delicious lunch that I was able to make in less than 20 minutes.

I am a huge fan of bread-based salads and the Wine-Washed Arugula was no exception. It was incredibly easy to put together for a light and delicious lunch. This is another recipe with no exact measurements so you can modify to your tastes. Arugula is tossed with olive oil, dry white wine, fresh herbs, pieces of toasted croissants, and chèvre.

Near & Far is a great pick for anyone wanting to add new flavors or ingredients into their routine. Some of the recipes don’t include specific measurements, which may be intimidating for new cooks, but they are set up to be used more as a guideline or cheat sheet to serve as inspiration. Seasonal and other adaptations are encouraged. While you will find some traditional recipes here, most are unique with Heidi’s own adaptations using local flavors. While this is a vegetarian cookbook, it is not entirely vegan. Dairy and eggs are often used.

Most of the ingredients are fairly easy to find in a larger grocery store. A few may require a trip to specialty or shopping online, such as tomatillos, rice paper wrappers, harissa, nori, mirin, golden raisins, and tempeh. 

Yellow Couscous Recipe

Adapted from Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel

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Yellow Couscous

A recipe for Yellow Couscous from the cookbook, Near and Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel by Heidi Swanson.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine N/A

Keyword couscous, raisin, saffron, turmeric

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

0 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 -6 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (215 grams) dried couscous
• Pinch saffron ~20 threads
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more for drizzling
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) golden raisins
• 3/4 cup (115 grams) coarsely chopped toasted almonds
• 1/2 cup (55 grams) chopped green onions
• 3/4 cup (20 grams) stemmed fresh dill
• 3 ounces (85 grams) goat cheese crumbled

Instructions

• In a large bowl, add the couscous and rinse with water. Drain using a fine mesh sieve and add back to the bowl. Cover with cold water and allow to sit 5-10 minutes. Drain again using a fine mesh sieve, gently shaking to remove excess water. Add back to the bowl and sprinkle with saffron, turmeric, salt, olive oil, and raisins. Use your fingers to mix together, breaking apart any lumps.
• Set up a steamer. I filled a wok 1/3rd with water and placed a bamboo steamer on top lined with parchment or a cheesecloth. Make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the steamer. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
• Gently transfer the couscous to the prepared steamer using a spoon, being careful not to pack down. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and fluff lightly with a fork. Cover again and cook for another 10 minutes, or until the couscous is tender. Transfer couscous to serving platter and lightly fluff with a fork.
• Top with almonds, green onions, dill, and goat cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and serve immediately.