MUSHROOMS AND ISRAELI COUSCOUS

Every time I cook something with mushrooms, it always comes out fantastic. So meaty and satisfying with great flavor. I can't decide whether sage or thyme is my favorite herb to go with mushrooms... this recipe uses thyme, which is probably my second favorite herb flavor, next to rosemary. I don't have thyme growing in my backyard. It just isn't as hearty as rosemary and I don't have much or a green thumb, but if I could get it to grow, I would! Having fresh thyme all the thyme :-) would be fantastic. But for this recipe, I use dried.

INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/3 cups Israeli coucous (that's the big kind)
2 cups water
1 t salt
2 T oil or butter

1 lb mushrooms, sliced or chopped (I used king trumpet and crimini for this version. King trumpet are kind of hard to find. Molly brings them home for me from the San Francisco Ferry Building Farmers Market. You have to slice them very thin and you use the whole stem.)
4 T oil
1/2 t salt*
1/2 t ground pepper*
1/2 t granulated garlic*
1/2 t onion powder*
(*salt, pepper, onion powder, and granulated garlic together is the same thing as my house seasoning, so you could also use 2 t of house seasoning instead)
1/4 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t dried thyme

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook the couscous and water with 1 t salt and 1 T oil or butter in the rice cooker just as if you were cooking rice (note the ratio of couscous to water is different).

Put the oil in a large saute pan on medium heat, add all of the herbs and spices and stir around to bring out the flavor of the spices.

Add all of the mushrooms and saute until tender. Turn off the heat.

Add the cooked couscous and gently stir.