Refresher Course!

Couscous con Ananas, Pomodoro & Sedano

Pineapple, Tomato & Celery Couscous

I am enjoying eating these lighter meals lately- it's amazing what a bit more sunshine in your life can do! Summer is STILL taking its time arriving here in Europe this year- but slowly and surely, it WILL arrive... and I will be ready for it, with plenty of great and refreshing ideas for quick and healthy meals, like this one! Just you see if I won't!

Couscous is so easy to prepare, in such a short amount of time, that it makes a multitude of Summer dishes possible with a minimum of effort! This is not even "cooking" to be honest- just some boiling water or of course broth, will turn these tiny golden granules into a delicious dish of goodness in no time at all!

If you live on your own and you buy yourself a pineapple, like I did at the beginning of the week- you are going to have plenty of good eating to do! One of those things goes quite a long way! So I found myself with the last couple of slices in the fridge this evening, but very little else to be honest. Still, I took a look at what I had and soon came up with the idea of combining the tangy fruit with sweet and juicy tomatoes and some savory, crunchy celery stalk, intense celery leaves, fragrant basil and refreshing mint- sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And doesn't look too shabby either, put together like this!

I began by finely chopping 2 Spring onions, 2 sticks of celery, 1 red pointed pepper, a handful of mint and parsley and adding these to 3 handfuls of couscous. 

I stirred these together, added salt, pepper and a hint of cayenne and poured enough boiling water over it so that everything was covered, stirred it through and let it sit for 10 minutes or so, until it was nicely fluffy. And in the meantime I got busy slicing up the celery and tomatoes and pineapple to add later on...

Once the cousous was ready and had swollen-up nicely in size, I added the chopped pineapple and stirred it in- this helped speed up the cooling of the couscous- which was a good thing! I then added the mint and parsley, the juice of 1 lime and some good extra virgin olive oil and stirred these all together well and then added the sliced celery and cherry tomatoes.

I served the couscous up with a sprinkle of dried marjoram and some coarsely ground black pepper to add a little depth of flavor to the sweet and tangy freshness of the pineapple, mint and tomato and the combination was really terrific! A healthy and refreshing change that was great on its own but which would also be an excellent Summer side-dish to barbecue, chicken or fish... give it I try! And you will see why!