The marinated grilled leg of lamb we were having for dinner led me to look for a complementary side dish with a Middle Eastern flair. After a short search on Epicurious I found a recipe that I wanted to try, Pearled Couscous with Roasted Tomatoes and Olives. Our Supersweet 100’s cherry tomatoes are quite prolific now and one and a half pounds were needed to toss with the couscous and make the dressing in this recipe. I weighed one ounce of tomatoes on my kitchen scale which equaled four tomatoes.Using that formula, I calculated that one and a half pounds of tomatoes or 24 ounces times 4 would equal 96 tomatoes (give or take a few…). I certainly had picked more than enough for the recipe. A serrated knife made easy work of cutting the Supersweet 100’s in half and roasting them concentrated and intensified their flavor.
Pearled or Israeli couscous is not the traditional tiny yellow semolina pasta associated with North African cooking. Resembling barley or tapioca pearls,they are small round granules of semolina coated with wheat flour that are toasted in an open flame oven.Toasting gives Israeli couscous a nutty flavor and the larger size allows the “pearls” to maintain their texture without sticking. So where did the term “Israeli couscous” come from? Opinions differ here. Some say it was a product developed at the behest of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion. Israel as an emerging nation went through a period of food rationing due to the burgeoning population. Ptitim, as it is known in Israel, was developed as a wheat-based rice substitute for emigrating Asian Jews. Others just see it as a marketing term for a product that was already popular in other parts of the Middle East.
The couscous is combined with some of the roasted tomatoes, chopped olives, herbs and dressed with the roasted tomato vinaigrette. The only change I made to the original recipe was to eliminate the mint and add a little more parsley. Strips of grilled chicken or shrimp could make this a light entree. This salad would be a great choice to bring along to a picnic or a summer potluck.
Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes
From the Epicurious website and Gourmet magazine September 2002
Serves eight
Ingredients
For roasted tomatoes and dressing
- 1 1/2 lbs cherry tomatoes
- 3 large cloves of garlic, unpeeled
- 1/4c extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4c warm water
- 1t fresh lemon juice
- 1t salt
- 1/4t fresh ground black pepper
For couscous
- 2 3/4c lower sodium chicken broth
- 2 1/4c pearl (Israeli) couscous
- 1T olive oil
- 1/2c brine cured olives (Kalamata) pitted and chopped
- 1/2c chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 1t chopped fresh thyme
Directions
- Preheat oven to 250F. Halve tomatoes through stem ends and arrange, cut sides up, in one layer in a large one inch deep baking pan. Add garlic to pan and roast until the tomatoes are slightly shriveled around the edges, about 1 hour. Cool in pan for about 30 minutes.
- Peel garlic and puree with oil, water, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup roasted tomatoes in a blender until the dressing is very smooth.
Make couscous:
- Bring broth to a boil in a 3 quart heavy saucepan and stir in couscous, then simmer, uncovered, 6 minutes. Cover pan and remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes.
- Spread couscous in a single layer on a baking sheet and let cool for 15-20 minutes.
- Transfer couscous to a large bowl and stir in remaining ingredients, dressing, roasted tomatoes, season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.
Sweet 100’s are a delicious pop in your mouth treat!
Roasting the tomatoes cut side up helps the liquid to evaporate and intensifies the flavor.
The tomatoes after one hour of roasting.