Chop-Chop Couscous!

Coucous al Insalata con Germogli di Ravanello e Feta

Couscous Salad with Radish Sprouts & Feta Cheese

Time for a satisfying salad dish again, something yummy, healthy, light and delicious... but also something that will not have you feeling hungry again within the hour. This was another part of my endeavor to use up most of what I have in my fridge before vacation- it's as simple as that and is a situation I am sure you are all familiar with.

Oh I may succumb to temptation tomorrow and get something at the indoor market- but for this evening, it was cucumber, snow peas, Spring onion, parsley, mint, cherry tomatoes. Feta cheese and radish sprouts that I had in the fridge and had to get rid of! Well... in case you are interested... this is how I did it!

I poured boiling water over the couscous, in the usual manner, covering it completely and just a little more, then stirred it, added the juice of half a lemon and let it stand for 10 minutes. More than plenty of time to get all the rest of the ingredients all chopped up and ready to go!

The parsley and mint were the next ingredients to be added to the couscous- I added them after 3-4 minutes, once the couscous had almost doubled in size and also cooled down considerably. Next came finely sliced Spring onion, cucumber and snow peas. I cut the cucumber in hlf length-ways, then into quarters, cut away the seeds in the middle and then cut across the strips and cucumber into bite-sized pieces. The snow peas I chopped finely too, into short pieces. I mixed this all in with the couscous and seasoned with salt, pepper, a little green tabasco and some sesame oil.

The feta cheese was crumbled and marinated in sesame oil, honey and lemon juice- 5 minutes was enough time for all of these nice flavors to infuse the cheese. In the meantime, I spooned the couscous into a small, deep dish, to bring it into shape. I made sure to lay the tomatoes out evenly at the bottom of the dish, so that it would look more decorative later, then spooned the rest of the couscous mix on top until the dish was full. I placed my serving plate, upside-down, onto the deep dish and inverted it, making sure to keep it positioned neatly in the middle... removed the dish and ta-da! Supper was almost ready!

I topped it with the lemon-honey feta and sprinkled radish sprouts around the outside, to give a light, peppery freshness to the dish. I drizzled the sprouts with sesame oil and a little honey, seasoned simply with a little salt, and served it up with a slice of lemon to add an extra squeeze of fresh juice before digging-in! A lovely combination of flavors and a great, simple meal! Wonderful on a hot Summer evening... Enjoy!