La Cocotte Verte

— Serves 8-10

Israeli couscous (also called ‘pearl couscous’) is much larger than the tiny, fluffy North African version. The semolina nuggets are toasted in an open-flame oven, giving them a distinctive, nutty flavor. Paired with juicy summer-ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and the sprightly tastes of nicoise olives, fresh herbs, lemon and harissa, it makes a flavorful and refreshing Summer salad. Harissa is a traditional hot chilli paste used in North African cooking. Adding cubed feta cheese and/or cooked, drained garbanzo beans transforms it from a side dish to a meal in itself.

*Items marked in green are available from The Gourmet Corner.

Suggested wine pairing: l’Opale de la Presqu’île de Saint-Tropez Rosé

Couscous

• 2 cups chicken broth (or, for a vegetarian salad, use water with a little salt)
• 2 cups uncooked Israeli-style couscous
• 3 Tbs olive oil

Heat the stock or water to a simmer. In a large, flat pan, over medium-high heat, toast the couscous in 3 Tbs olive oil until lightly browned. Pour the hot stock over the the couscous, then simmer uncovered for 6 minutes. Cover pan and remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Lemon-Harissa Dressing

• 3 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tsp (or more to taste) harissa paste
• 4 Tbs olive oil
• La Baleine sea salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a jar or container with a tightly-fitting lid. Cover and shake well until completely blended. Refrigerate until needed.

Couscous Salad

• 1/2 small red onion, in 1/4-inch dice
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 pint mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup nicoise olives, pitted and quartered lengthwise
• 2 cups cucumber slices (if using small, Persian-type cucumbers or English hothouse-type cucumbers, the peel and seeds can be left in. If using large, American-style cucumbers, cucumbers, peel and seed them, and cut the slices in half — the cucumber slices should be about the same size as the tomato chunks)
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped mint

Put the chopped onion in a sieve or colander. Pour the boiling water over the onion, stirring it around a bit as you do so (this helps take some of the ‘bite’ out of the onion). Drain well.

Place the couscous in a large bowl. Stir well to break it up, then stir in the onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and herbs.

Shake the dressing well to emulsify it, then drizzle over the salad. Toss gently to distribute the dressing, then serve immediately.

Note: to transform the couscous into a main-dish salad, add a cup of diced feta cheese and/or cooked, drained garbanzo beans.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 2:13 am and is filed under Entrees, Side Dishes, Vegetables & Salads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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