December 2011 - Couscous salad with Honey & Saffron Dressing

So, I have had a bit of a crazy weekend. Have done a lot of stuff over the past couple of days and now I am really tired. There is still some stuff I want to get done but it is not going to happen this evening. Hopefully I will get it done tomorrow after work. 

I am going to be honest and tell you that I really haven't looked at this issue that closely. I have flicked through it and saw some lovely food. While flicking through I marked two recipes to make. Both were part of a Moroccan menu by David Morgan. 

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a full lamb along with some pork and beef to fill up my freezer and because meat is so much cheaper if you can buy it in bulk. I picked it up last Wednesday and invited by grandparents up for a meal. I decided to do the Moroccan menu for them and it was a big hit. I made the Chermoula Lamb with yoghurt dressing. I made some changes. I marinated it and but used a on the bone roast instead of boned & butterflied. I also slow roasted instead of doing it on the barbecue. I also didn't have any preserved lemon for the yoghurt dressing (at least I couldn't find the jar I am sure that I have)  so I used some fresh lemon zest in it instead. 

To go with it I made the Couscous salad with Honey & Saffron Dressing. This was so good. My grandmother was really impressed with it. I did make some changes. I added in some capsicum when roasting the other vegetables.  I used craisins in place of the sultanas and omitted the green olives. I didn't have enough oranges so I used grapefruit juice in the dressing instead. I will definitely make this one again. 

Couscous salad with honey and saffron dressing

Serves 8 (actually I think it would feed an army...lol) 

1 kg butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped
2 red onions, cut in wedges
1 red capsicum, deseeded and cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups couscous
200 grams of chopped apricots
100 g craisins
1 3/4 to 2 cups vegetable stock, hot
2 oranges, peeled and segmented

For the dressing
100 ml grapefruit juice
1 tbsp honey
a pinch of saffron threads
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees°C. Mix the pumpkin, onion and capsicum with the olive oil and roast this for 25- 30 minutes or until cooked. Let cool slightly and then peel capsicum and slice into strips.

Combine couscous, apricots, craisins and stock in a bowl and cover with glad wrap or a tight fitting lid until all liquid is absorbed.

Mix the pumpkin and onion with the couscous, apricots, sultanas and orange segments

For the dressing,

Heat the juice, honey and saffron in a small pan until it comes to a boil, then set aside to cool. Whisk in the oil and season to taste. Stir the dressing into the salad and serve.

The photograph here is from the following night when I served some of the left over salad with some lamb cutlets that had be marinated in olive oil and sumac.