Cous cous salad - Easy picnic, pot luck & brunch fare

Memorial Day is time for picnics, pot lucks and lazy brunches. If you need a salad that travels well, doesn’t wilt in the heat, and tastes delicious cold or at room temperature, try cous cous.  If you have never had it, give cous cous a whirl. (If you already know about it, you should add this easy version to your repertoire.)  A grain made of wheat durum wheat, cous cous comes from North Africa. Traditionally, it is steamed and served warm with a stew of vegetables and/or meat.  This recipe, however, is a cold salad and uses a simpler method to cook the couscous.

It's 90 degrees outside as I write this, and a cold salad definitely sounds like the ticket this weekend
Simple Fruit and Vegetable Couscous Salad - 3 large or 6 small servings

Ingredients 

The essential ingredients.

• 1 cup water
• ¾ cup dry couscous 

Uncooked or raw cous cous looks like little pearls.

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup raisins or dried apricots finely chopped
• ¼ cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds
• 2 scallions (green onions), finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
• ¼ cup green, red, or yellow pepper chopped small
• 1 ½ -3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• optional – ¼ cup of fresh mint and/or ¼ cup parsley finely chopped, small amount (1/4 teaspoon or less) of spices such as cardamom, curry powder, dried coriander, or cumin.

Equipment 

• Small pot with lid
• Large bowl
• Liquid measuring cup
• Measuring spoons
• ¾ cup measure for dry ingredients
• Knife
• Fork

OK, I admit that I forgot to put a fork in the picture, but you have one, right?

Preparation  Note – The specific ingredients and measurements below (other than water and couscous) are just a guide.  Feel free to add other vegetables or substitute vegetables that you prefer. If you would eat a vegetable raw (e.g. cucumber, carrot, celery, scallions or tomato), then can add it raw to the couscous. On the other hand, if you would normally cook the vegetable for at least a few minutes before eating it plain or adding to a salad, you should lightly fry or sauté, steam the vegetable, or blanch it by cooking it for just a few minutes in boiling water, before chopping it into small pieces to add to the couscous.  Vegetables that I would cook briefly include broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, and butternut squash.

1. Chop the vegetables (carrot, celery, scallions and pepper) and set aside.                                                 I like lots of color in my salad, plus I had leftover pieces of red & green pepper, so I used both. I line up pencil thin strips of pepper before cutting the strips into small bits. I use the same cutting technique for the carrot, celery & scallions. It's a great time saver.
2. Chop the mint and/or parsley and set aside. I like to use ¼ cup of each.                                          
3. Mix the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and set aside.  Whether you use 1½ tablespoons of lemon juice or more depends on how tart you like your dressing. They typical salad dressing proportions are 1 part lemon juice to 2 parts oil, but for this recipe, I prefer more lemon juice.  For spices, choose the ones you will add, measure out the amount needed and set aside. Combine the spices together in a single small bowl, and then add them to the lemon juice and oil mixture. 
4. If your raisins or apricots are not juicy, then heat a ½ cup of water, orange or apple juice in the microwave for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high, and then soak the fruit in the hot liquid for about 5 minutes.  Drain the liquid from the fruit and set the fruit aside. This process will plump up the fruit amazingly – I use it whenever a recipe calls for using dried fruit.
5. Toast the almonds by baking them for approximately 5-8 minutes – until golden brown - in a toaster oven set to bake at 350 degrees. (Watch the nuts carefully and occasionally move them so they do not burn.)  
6. Put the cup of water in a small covered pot and bring it to a rolling boil.                                                   This is a rolling boil. There are bubbles everywhere in the pot, not just on the sides. Add 1 tablespoon of the oil, then the ¾ cup couscous and stir it briefly until the couscous is all wet.  Cover the pot, remove it from heat and leave the couscous in the covered pot for 5 minutes.  When the cous cous is ready, uncover the pot, take a fork and run it across the top of the cous cous, so that the grains separate. As they separate, pour the cous cous into a large bowl.
7. Add the vegetables, mint and/or parsley, nuts and dried fruit to the cous cous.I like mixing the ingredients together because the colors are so vibrant and the smells of the mint, parsley & spices are divine. Then add the lemon juice and olive oil dressing and toss it together.  You’re done and ready to party.

Cost

Ingredient	Cost	Cost Explanation
1 cup water	$0.00	priceless, but Excel won't let me use that as "cost"
¾ cup dry couscous	$1.50	Safeway - $2.69 for 10 oz/$.27 oz
4 tablespoons olive oil	$0.96	Safeway - $8.19 for 17 fl. Oz./$.48 oz
¼ cup raisins or dried apricots	$0.18	Safeway - $2.99 for 32 oz/$.9 oz
¼ cup toasted slivered or sliced almonds	$1.24	Safeway - $3.69 for 6 oz/$.62 oz
2 scallions (green onions)	$0.42	Safeway - $1.29 bunch/$.21 each
1 carrot	$0.16	Safeway - $1.69 lb/$.16 each
1 stalk of celery	$0.25	Safeway - $2.49 bunch/$.25 each
¼ cup green, red, or yellow pepper	$0.40	Safeway - $1.00 each
1 ½ -3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice	$0.60	Safeway - $.89 each
¼ cup of fresh mint	$0.99	Giant - $1.99 for .75 oz pkg
¼ cup parsley	$0.25	Safeway - $1.09 bunch
cardamom, curry powder, coriander, or cumin	$0.25	misc. spices from pantry
.
Total	$7.20

If you are not eating it within a few hours, refrigerate the cous cous salad.  As I mentioned, the ingredients are just a guide; experiment with your own variations on this cous cous theme and enjoy the results. Have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.