Fluffy couscous salad, studded with rich antipasti and pistachios (if you can tolerate them) is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But it seriously has to be fluffy, there is nothing more disappointing than stodgy, clergy, water laden couscous!
You may be wondering about the sudden introduction of nuts on my site – well Little S passed a supervised food challenge and we’ve been ordered to introduce these nuts into her diet – scary stuff when you’ve lived in a nut-free house for a few years. Well, to be fair it shouldn’t be that scary, as the challenge was to nuts she’s never been allergic to, but we avoided due to cross contamination and, to be honest, a bit of fear. So the ‘challenge’ was really just an exercise to give us confidence with a few nuts. All good, and an important step forward, but not without problems. Where on earth do you buy pistachios, cashews and almonds which are totally free-from peanuts and sesame seeds?? Any pointers gratefully received!
So, we’re proceeding with caution, adding a few nuts here and there whilst at home (and trying to persuade her to like them, which is a whole other story…..). Hence, the couscous with added pistachios!
Best eaten at room temperature, this couscous salad/side is a perfect picnic or barbecue dish, just right at this time of year.
Antipasti Jewelled Couscous
(dairy-free, egg-free, can be nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)
makes one big bowlful, serves about 4
1 cup couscous
1 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 sundried tomato halves, roughly chopped
1/2 jar roasted pepper antipasti, roughly chopped
3 spring onions, sliced
Large handful pistachio nuts (if can tolerate them, otherwise omit or use sunflower seeds)
- Pour the couscous into a flat-ish bowl
- Place water, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
- Once boiling, pour over the couscous. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.
- Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add the other ingredients.
- Serve
3 Responses
Your couscous dish looks delicious and just the kind of thing we like to have for a light supper here, along with some crudites. Thank you for sharing your recipe. We have some nut allergies in our family too, so have to be very careful. Fortunately, a couple of almond farmers at our local farmer’s market, process the nuts themselves and do not grow peanuts. Perhaps you will be able to find a similar resource.
oh lucky you, how wonderful to find local peanut free nuts x
Yes, we are incredibly fortunate.