Mediterranean Couscous Salad
This recipe was sent in by my mum, Sonya Leonard, who says "Your Middle Eastern Orange and Almond Cake made me think of another Middle Eastern ingredient - Couscous. It's a great thing to have in your larder because you can add so many things to it, and it's a nice change from rice.So here's a summer recipe containing couscous which is really easy to make and is very healthy. Might be a good antidote to all the chocolate the kitchen assistant seems to be killing himself with !!"
The Kitchen Hand replies:
There was a time when the words "couscous" or "salad" would send shivers of disgust through my body, so a recipe with BOTH would make me have to leave the room. I am better now though and can type this in, but will probably be washing my hands in a minute, and tucking into a nice chocolate mousse.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 200 g couscous
- 400 ml hot vegetable stock
- 10 sun-dried tomatoes quartered (nice small vine tomatoes would also be good)
- 2 medium avocados, peeled, stoned and cut into large chunks
- 100 g black olives
- A good handful of nuts, such as pine nuts, cashews or almonds
- 200 g feta cheese, roughly crumbled
- 130g bag green salad leaves
- 5 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
Instructions
- Put the couscous into a large bowl, stir in the hot stock, cover and leave to soak for 5 minutes.
- Make a dressing with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Stir 2 tabls. of this into the couscous, then gently mix in the tomatoes, avocados, olives, nuts and feta.
- Toss the salad leaves with the remaining dressing, divide between 4 plates and spoon the couscous mixture on top.