I’ve been eating a lot of stews and beef lately; you may have noticed this… I need something lighter, preferably vegetarian. I came across this couscous salad recipe in a bargain cookbook about “beans” that I bought at Border’s a few years ago. It seems curious that there are bean-free recipes, but alas, bargain book.
Speaking of bargains I recently discovered photoshop.com. I’ve been photographing my food with a low-end Olympus digital camera, and it shows. Until enough donations (hint hint… just kidding) come in so I can buy a nice camera, I now have this great (free!) tool to doctor the lighting and crispness of photos to make them look better.
Now back to the couscous. I like this recipe because it works well both as a main dish and also a side dish. The recipe serves four as a main dish, and can certainly serve more as a side dish. This recipe also allowed me to finish off the leftover olives I had from my quiche the other week – always a huge bonus!
Couscous Salad with Zucchini and Olives – 1 Knife (Adapted from The Big Bean Cookbook)
Ingredients:
- 1 2/3 cups dry couscous
- 2½ cups vegetable stock
- 16-20 black large black olives
- 2 small zucchini
- ¼ sliced almonds
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon Italian parsley
- ground cumin
- cayenne pepper
- salt
Prep:
- Clean the zucchini and cut them into small strips. Specifically you want to julienne the zucchini. This short video explains an easy way to do it.
- Remove olives from liquid (if you bought canned) and cut them in half length-wise.
- Remove cilantro and parsley leaves from the stems (about 1 tablespoon of each). Chop into small pieces. Move these into a small bowl.
Cook:
- Bring the vegetable stock to a boil.
- In a large bowl pour in the couscous. Once the vegetable stock is boiling pour it into the bowl with the couscous.
- Stir contents of the bowl well with a fork and set aside for 10 minutes while the couscous absorbs the liquid.
- Once 10 minutes has passed stir the couscous with a fork to fluff it.
- Add the zucchini, olives and almonds to the large bowl and stir to mix.
- In the small bowl add to the cilantro and parsley the olive oil and lemon juice, as well as a pinch of cumin, a pinch of cayenne and a pinch of salt. Stir well with a fork.
- Add the dressing in the small bowl to the large bowl and stir well to fully incorporate.
- Serve and enjoy!
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