Pomegranate, Mint & Pistachio Couscous

I have found myself making a lot of salads over the last couple of weeks. I am trying to stay positive that the summer will return ...

We had friends for sunday lunch recently and I served this wonderfully quick salad with roast poussin. It is such a great meal for sunday lunch. It is quick, feeds large numbers with little mess and the children love it ...

POMEGRANATE & MINT COUSCOUS SALAD - Serves 4 (as a side)

Ingredients

250g couscous, 300ml vegetable stock, 1 onion, 1 pomegranate, 15g mint, 10g flat leaf parsley, 1 Lemon, 25g shelled pistachios, extra virgin olive oil, salt & pepper

Place the Couscous in a heatproof bowl, make up the stock and pour the boiling water over the couscous. Leave to stand for at least 15 minutes to allow the couscous to swell and cool down.
Place the onion in a frying pan on a low heat and cook till soft and starting to colour, you will need to stir the onion fairly frequently. Once cooked stir into the cooling couscous
Place 10g of parsley and 10g of mint into a food processor with 40mil of oil and whizz into a paste.
Roughly chop 25g of shelled pistachios and add them and the herb paste to the couscous, mixing throughly
Cut your Pomegranate in half and carefully remove the seeds and place them in a bowl so you collect all the juice. Add the following to the pomegranate: 5g of roughly chopped mint, the rind of the lemon, a tablespoon of olive oil.
Add the pomegranate mixture to the couscous, mix well and serve

Cooking notes

I have given measurements for my couscous. If you don’t have scales or a measuring jug then just remember that you need the same volume of couscous to water. I use a cup that holds 250g of couscous and then fill the cup with boiling water ... filled it holds 300ml of water. You must use boiling water for the stock and pour it over the couscous just after it has boiled.

If you are not going to use the rest of the lemon in the next day or two then cut it into slices and place in the freezer to add to gin and tonics.

If your pomegranate is quite bitter add a teaspoon of honey to the pomegranate when you add the mint.

You want to pistachios to be very crunchy, if they are not toast them by placing them in a frying pan for a couple of minutes on a medium heat. Keep them moving in the pan and watch them as they can suddenly burn.

Adapting

This salad is really adaptable. Almonds or pine nuts are great instead of the pistachios. If you don’t have any couscous this salad is also great with Bulgar Wheat.