Salad Days!
No. Not the Shakespearean kind of salad days full of reminiscences and regrets. You remember— Cleopatra lamenting her youthful indiscretions.
“My salad days,
When I was green in judgment: cold in blood,
To say as I said then! ”
Instead, these salad days are the too-hot-to-cook summer days when salad recipes beckon. (More prosaic, I know.)
This is a full-flavored and beautifully-presentable couscous and cherry tomato salad. It would make a stunning addition to your next buffet table.
No Shakespearean tragedy here.
Salad Days! Couscous With Tomatoes and Herbs
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 1/3 C. Pearl (Israeli) couscous (I used Trader Joe's brand)
- 5 T. olive oil
- 1-2 t. ras el hanout (optional)
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 3/4 C. boiling water
- 10 oz. cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 onions (sliced thin and then roughly chopped)
- 1/4 C. golden raisins
- 1 t. cumin seeds (toasted and then crushed)
- 1/3 C. whole almonds (roasted, salted and roughly chopped)
- 1/4 C. fresh cilantro (roughly chopped)
- 1/8 to 1/4 C. fresh mint (roughly torn)
- 1 lemon (zested for 1 t. zest and juiced for 1 T. juice)
Instructions
- Toast pearl couscous in a saucepan with 1 T. olive oil over moderate heat until couscous is lightly browned. This will take about 5 minutes. Slowly add 1 3/4 C. boiling water to the pan. Reduce heat to medium and cover. Simmer for 12 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Set aside.
- In a medium frying pan, fry cherry tomatoes in 1 T. olive oil. This will take 3-4 minutes. Stir the tomatoes a few times as you fry them. (I found that there was a lot of splatter, so I covered the pan with a see-through glass lid.) When the tomatoes start to brown and split open, remove from the heat and set aside. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the tomatoes.
- Using the same pan (wiped clean), heat 3 T. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sliced/chopped onions, ras el hanout (if using), 1/8 t. salt. Fry for 10-12 minutes until the onions are golden brown and soft. Remove from heat. Stir in golden raisins and set aside.
- Put cooled couscous in a large bowl and stir in onion/raisin mixture. Add cumin, almonds, cilantro, mint (to your taste), lemon zest, lemon juice, 1/4 t. salt and freshly-ground pepper to your taste.
- Spoon couscous mixture onto a platter and top with cherry tomatoes. Garnish with fresh mint or cilantro.
- Cook's Note: The use of ras el hanout is optional in this recipe. Ras el hanout is a North African spice. Roughly translated, the term means "head of the shop" and refers to a ground mixture of the best spices available--usually cardamon, cumin, clove, cinnamon, nutmegm mace and on and on.
Calories
3265 cal
Fat
206 g
Carbs
324 g
Protein
95 g
7.8.1.2
202
https://bluecayenne.com/salad-days-couscous-with-tomatoes-and-herbsThis recipe was adapted from one that appears in Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook Ottolenghi Simple. You can buy the book here.
