The Art of 'Back Pocket' Cooking

And a few trusted recipes for cous cous many which ways

A while ago, a good few years now, I bought a book called Back Pocket Pasta, which I really enjoyed. I buy lots of cookbooks with lots of brilliant recipes, but this one stuck with me, largely because of the title: I was taken with the idea of ‘back pocket’ cooking. The kind of cooking you don’t have to think too much about; the kind you don’t really need a recipe for, that you can make up as you go, and make do with what you have. Cooking that makes you feel capable, like you’re someone who can rustle up a sumptuous dinner out of seemingly not very much at all.

Cous cous is the epitome of ‘back pocket’ cooking; or at least the way I do it, it is. For proper cous cous, laced with slow-cooked vegetables or a melt-in-your-mouth tender tagine, I urge you to dive into Nargine Benkabbou’s beautiful book Casablanca: My Moroccan Food (which my go-to for the most exquisite Moroccan recipes); however for a deeply inauthentic yet highly rewarding and delicious means to a cous cous salad supper, please do carry on with me. I promise you: only good things.