A Month-of-Mediterranean: Fruity Couscous

Let's go to Africa for our next Mediterranean dish. Couscous is considered the national dish of Algeria. In Algeria, they steam the hard rolled pellets of semolina wheat until they make a fluffy dish. It is served as a base with stews or as a side dish to meat or fish. While they serve savory couscous, they also enjoy couscous with fruit.

A couple of decades ago I discovered couscous. Knowing rice proportions, I read the directions and thought, “This is not going to be enough for my family”. All those tiny beads of hard dough couldn’t be enough. So I doubled the recipe.

Hooboy! We were eating couscous with every dinner all week long. My kids never wanted to see the stuff again. It took a long time before I introduced it into another meal! That stuff GROWS when it gets wet!

One way I serve couscous these days is mixed with sauteed mushrooms and onions cooked in broth. Another popular style is with dried fruit and nuts, and that is what I am sharing today. I use this as a side dish with a meat, but I suppose you could serve it alongside stew, too.

Couscous is really versatile. And FAST to prepare. You can make it savory or sweetened. We love fruit with pork and chicken, so I will often “fruit up” our couscous for dinner. Oh, be sure to make extra so you have some for tomorrow's dish!

Fruity Couscous (serves 6 as a generous side)

1 ½ cups broth (more if needed later)

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup mixed dried fruit (in the picture I used cherries, blueberries, cranberries, and raisins)

1 cup couscous

½ cup walnut pieces

¼ cup olive oil

Bring broth and fruits with butter to a boil. Add couscous and stir in.

Remove from heat, add nuts, and let sit for a few minutes. Add in olive oil and stir. If still too dry when ready to serve, add ¼ cup broth and stir all together again.

Serve immediately. We had this particular couscous as a side with orange marmalade-marinated pork tenderloin and green beans.

DH’s Rating: 5 Tongues Up

He’s not wild about plain couscous. Too bland. So I always make it either savory or fruited. Then he almost licks the plate!