Giant Couscous Pesto Salad

The Dish

Giant couscous and sautéed green salad with a roasted almond pesto 

Best for: Lunch, Dinner, Side

Serves: 4

Prep time: 5mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Giant couscous and sautéed green salad with a roasted almond pesto. Perfect accompaniment to any form of protein, or even just by itself. 

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The Recipe

Step 1

Add the giant couscous and the veg stock to the saucepan, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover with a lid.  Cook for 8–10 minutes until the couscous is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed.

Step 2

Cut the greens into bite sized chucks, around 2inch.

Add Ia drizzle of olive oil to a non stick frying pan on a medium high heat, add the greens and the crushed garlic and cook for 5-7 mins until tender. 

Once cooked, Remove the veg from heat, add squeeze of lemon, zest of half a lemon, salt and pepper and the peas and toss through. The peas will cook in the residual heat of the pan.

Step 3

Make the pesto: In a dry pan on a high heat, add the almonds and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly until they just start to change colour, careful not to burn them.  This will intensify the flavour of the almonds and allow their natural oils to come out. 

Then, simply add all the ingredients for the pesto into a food processor and blend.  Depending on the consistency you want determines on how long you blend if for.  I like my pesto to have abit of a bite to it, so I don’t blend until its fully smooth.

Step 4

Mix everything together and serve on a bed of spinach and sprinkle with feta (optional)

The Ingredients

• 200g giant couscous

• 500ml veg stock

• 150g sugar snaps

• 150g long stem broccoli

• 150g asparagus

• 100g cup peas

• 100g baby spinach leaves 

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Almond pesto

• Large Bunch of basil, around 100g

• 75g almonds

• 50g parmesan cheese, grated

• 2 tbsp olive oil 

• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

• Juice of half a lemon 

• Good pinch of salt 

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