Couscous has got to be the easiest thing in the world to make. It is the ultimate disaster food. All you have to do is boil some water and when it is boiled add half the amount of couscous to the amount of water, turn off the flame and let sit for 5-7 minutes. Seriously that’s it. I also add a little salt and oil or butter. But if you don’t have either, water and couscous will do it. Really satisfying.

Then you can start adding stuff to it if you want, as its cooking. One of my breakfast staples for my daughter, ever since she was little, has been couscous and egg. I make the couscous as above with a little butter, and when the water is halfway boiled I break in an egg. When the water is boiled and the egg has started to harden I swirl in the couscous. Satisfying, tasty and she gets her morning protein. Sometimes I sprinkle in my trusty Ted & Barneys salt and pepper mix and some nutritional yeast.

But this morning, Coronavirus Saturday, she is still sleeping and won’t likely wake up till afternoon. I’m thinking about what to make for myself and my spousal unit. I’m getting kind of tired of omelets and scrambles and my mind started thinking about the couscous. I couldn’t possibly give Jeff the plain old couscous and eggs. He’d think that boring. Couscous doesn’t excite him the way it excites me. So I mentally went through our cupboard and fridge. We had collards that need to be used up. And we have smoked salmon. How about couscous, egg, collards and smoked salmon? Why not?

So first I set two cups of water to boil in a small pan. You can do it in a pot, but couscous fluffs better when spread out. I added olive oil and some salt to the water. While that boiled I took out three eggs, and chopped up two leaves of collards. When the water was halfway boiled I broke in the three eggs. Just as the water boiled I tossed in the collard greens, swirled it all around, and then added some smoked salmon, about a third of a 4-ounce package. I added a little more water to make up for all the things I added. Put on the lid and set the timer for 7 minutes.

Once it was ready, I scooped it out onto two plates, added some halved cherry tomatoes and a few slices of mango to pretty up the plate. Voila!