Shrimp and Couscous in Parchment Paper

It's been awhile since I've posted a yummy, cozy meal. Actually, with everything Miss Chocoholic has going on and since I have been working later, it's been awhile since I experimented with anything lately and it's about time! I decided to try a complete meal of couscous and shrimp cooked together in parchment paper. So I headed off to the store for a roll of parchment paper, hoping that it wouldn't burn in the oven!
The meal starts out by heating up 2/3 cup broth and adding a package of couscous to it, along with a chopped up bell pepper and shallot, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper. I stirred that and let it sit while thawed and peeled the shrimp. I combined some basil leaves and lemon juice in my mortar and ground them up. You could also use a basil or tomato pesto for this.I pulled off a foot long piece of parchment paper and folded it in half and then cut a half-circle in it, kind of like a crude heart shape. The couscous mixture went on there, then a handful of shrimp, then a couple of spoons of the basil mixture. It was smelling very fragrant before I even cooked it, I couldn't wait to smell it when it was cooked!The sides got folded up and flipped over into a preheated oven for fifteen minutes.The end result was the best home-cooked meal I have had in a long time. The bell peppers and the lemon juice gave the couscous a citrus taste that went well with the shrimp. This made five little packages and they all mysteriously disappeared that night! And the smell lingered in the kitchen long after the last I scraped the last bit of leftover's off Miss Chocoholic's plate into my own mouth!