This is so much fun to make and so delicious, although a little bit of work. Like everyone else said the sauce is what makes the dish and don’t skimp on the sauce! I didn’t have any basil on hand so I used fresh pesto which was a delicious substitution.

SAUCE (my version):

2 Large red bell peppers, seeds and stems removed, cut in quarters
1 small tomato halved
4 TBSP olive oil
salt and pepper
2 heads of garlic, tops trimmed just enough to expose the cloves
3/4 TBSP red wine vinegar
1/2 Jalepeno pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss the peppers and tomato with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread on a baking tray. Drizzle the garlic heads with a little oil, and wrap tightly in tin foil, and place on the sheet. Roast for 35 minutes or until the pepper skins are well charred. Remove from oven and place tomatoes and peppers in tupperware container for 5-10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove from container and peel the skins off the peppers and tomatoes. Put peppers, tomatoes, garlic (squeeze out the garlic cloves), vinegar, salt and a good grind of pepper in the blender and pulse with 3 TBSP of oil until smooth.

COUSCOUS PIE:

1 1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cup israeli couscous
10 scallions
olive oil
4 packed cups of baby spinach
1 cup greek plain yogurt
1 cup coarsely grated mozzarella
1/2 cup romano
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
2 cloves garlic
1/2 TBSP ground coriander
1/4 cup basil pesto

Boil water and add couscous and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes then remove from heat.

Cut scallions in half and toss with 1/3 TBSP of olive oil. Heat a saute pan on high and toss scallions for 4 minutes on high heat until charred. Remove from pan and lower heat to medium-high then saute spinach until just wilted (about 1 minute). Chop 3/4 of scallions and add to pan with spinach. Turn off heat and add couscous, yogurt, both cheeses, flour, eggs, coriander, pesto, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper, and mix to combine.

Remove mixture to a bowl, clean skillet, then heat with 2-3 TBSP olive oil on medium-high. When pan is hot, put mixture in skillet and spread evenly around the bottom of the skillet. Cook on medium-low for 20 minutes. Using a spatula loosen the pie from the skillet and slide onto a plate. Put a little more oil in the pan then flip the pie back into pan and cook another 8 minutes. The pie flip is definitely the most difficult part of the recipe, and next time I do it I will follow the first step and brown for 20 minutes in a pan, but then flip it into a casserole dish and finish the other side at 350 in the oven.

Chop the remaining scallions and spread over the top and serve with pepper sauce.