Summer Pepperoni Couscous

There are certain foods that remind you of places you haven’t thought about in a long time.

For me, peppers always make me think about my grandmother’s backyard.

She had a small garden along the side of her house where she grew tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers and a few other things that changed from year to year. I wasn’t especially interested in gardening back then. I mostly liked the dirt next to it because it was a good place to play marbles.

I had a coffee can full of marbles that I kept in her garage.

There were regular clear ones, a few cat’s-eyes, and one big blue shooter that was my favorite. I don’t remember where I got it. For all I know it might still be somewhere along the side of that house.

My grandmother didn’t particularly like us playing near the garden because every so often a marble would go flying into the peppers.

She would come outside and tell us to move farther away.

We usually did.

For a while.

Then somehow we would end up right back next to the peppers.

That was summer.

Hot dirt, marbles clicking together, the smell of tomato plants and my grandmother periodically reminding us that vegetables were not part of the game.

I had a friend named Kevin who lived two streets over and was much better at marbles than I was. He could hit just about anything he aimed at.

Kevin also had very nice eyelashes.

I remember this because people mentioned them.

Anyway, I lost quite a few marbles to Kevin.

Years later, whenever I smell peppers cooking in a skillet, for some reason that whole backyard comes back to me.

It’s funny what your mind hangs onto.

I don’t remember what kind of peppers my grandmother grew.

I don’t remember what year any of this happened.

I don’t remember what happened to Kevin.

But I remember that blue marble.

This recipe came together one afternoon when I had jalapeños, banana peppers and sweet peppers in the refrigerator and wanted something simple for dinner.

I also had pepperoni.

Pepperoni has nothing to do with my grandmother’s garden.

She would probably want me to make that clear.

The combination turned out better than I expected. The peppers soften and get a little color in the pan, while the pepperoni gets crisp around the edges and flavors everything around it. The couscous picks up all of that once it gets stirred in, and Parmesan finishes it without making the dish heavy.

It’s colorful, easy, and especially good in the summer.

And unlike marbles, you’re encouraged to get the peppers mixed into everything.