"Beefsteak" Tomato, Stuffed with Couscous & Mozzarella
I got home late from work, I was hungry and tired and I had a nice head of lettuce and a beautiful beefheart tomato in the fridge, that I had bought anticipating sunnier weather. And that was reason enough to choose making a salad rather than slaving over a hot stove!
Still, I hadn't eaten a proper meal all day and so I decided to add a ball of mozzarella and a cupful of couscous, to make sure it would be a satisfying meal- and it soon became almost enough for two!
Basically, all I wanted to do, was to elaborate slightly on the tomato and mozzarella combo that we all love- nice and simple with fresh basil and good olive oil.
So I had a little look in my fridge and improvised this yummy combination- and in just 10 minutes I managed to whip-up a meal, fit for a king!
So, what do we have then here? We have 1 beefheart tomato, some fresh green lettuce, 1 cup of couscous,1 ball of mozzarella, plenty of cilantro, 1 Spring onion, the zest and juice of half a lemon, 1 Spring onion, fresh basil and a handful of radish sprouts- nice, fresh, Summer salad fare!
Yes indeed my friends- this is exactly what it looks like- a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad taken to the next level! So, what's not to love?
The only thing you need to do by way of preparation in this job, is to get that couscous ready!
So, finely slice the Spring onion and chop-up 2-3 strips of zest- add these to 1 cup of couscous together with salt and a good pinch of chili flakes and pour over 2 cups of boiling water and allow to sit and "cook" for the next 10 minutes whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
After 10 minutes, the couscous will look like this and have a lovely lemon aroma... which is great in itself- but we can go much, much further than that!
Whilst the filling cools down, hollow out the beautiful beefheart tomato, either using a melon-scooper as I did, or simply a teaspoon. Season the insides of the hollowed-out tomato with salt and pepper, and chop up the flesh you have removed to add to your couscous filling- it is all good food and as they say, "waste not- want not" :-)
Make the couscous for your filling complete by adding the chopped tomato, finely chopped cilantro, a teaspoon of Tahini, a teaspoon of honey, salt, pepper, the juice of half a lemon and a nice drizzle of olive oil... and yes! You are now ready to assemble your salad!
Set the hollowed-out tomato onto a nice large leaf of lettuce- whatever kind you happen to prefer and fill with the couscous mixture, then set a half slice of a ball of mozzarella on top of a couple of nice basil leaves and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Optional are the radish sprouts- but I just happened to have a last handful and decided they would add a bit of color and a light peppery crunch- but essential is the olive oil to give everything a nice, Mediterranean finishing touch... Buon appetito!
Summer on a plate!
No comments:
Post a Comment