Couscous with Pine Nuts and Pomegranate

/
Couscous with Pine Nuts and Pomegranate || To Salt & See. This recipe is healthy, easy to make, and light. The Israeli couscous is combined with pomegranate seeds, feta cheese, minced parsley, and roasted pine nuts. This is a vegetarian meal, but i…

It’s over! Interview session is finally over for Alex.  It’s been 20 interviews over 3 months across the country. What comes next is that we need to decide the rank list of the programs, then comes Match Day in March where he will be handed an envelope with the program that he matched to. There certainly aren’t too many careers where the location of your training is determined by an algorithm, but here we are. We have been researching housing on Zillow in our various top cities, but really, we have no idea where we will end up. It is going to take a lot of patience over these next 2 months as we just have to wait to find out!

So in the meantime Alex will return to the couple of clinicals that he has remaining in his education, while I am trying to soak up these last few months at my current job. Personally I have a feeling that graduation will be sneaking up on us very soon.

Recently I was going through my beautiful Rifle Paper Co recipe box for some inspiration and I found a recipe from my friend Kert (real name Kristen) that sounded delicious and was perfectly written on the cutest recipe card. The perfection of it all wouldn’t surprise you if you knew how perfect she was in general. Anyways, it was a couscous with pine nuts recipe. It was a simple recipe, but a recipe that I could see working wonderfully as a side dish or a light lunch. I made a few adjustments, such as changing the couscous to Israeli couscous and adding pomegranate seeds and feta cheese.

You guys, the flavors in this recipe are subtle, yet present and perfectly balanced. The couscous is cooked with butter, chicken stock, and caramelized onions, which creates a savory base for the dish. The minced parsley adds a mild bitterness, while the pomegranate seeds add a needed tartness and crunch. The feta cheese adds creaminess, and finally the toasted pine nuts add a rich nuttiness to the overall taste. This recipe is vegetarian in nature, but if you wish to add some meat, I would suggest adding chicken. This dish is easy to make, and can be made ahead of time!

Recipe adapted from a recipe my friend, Kristen, gave me

Couscous with Pine Nuts and Pomegranate

Prep time:

Cook time:

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup pine nuts
  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous
  • 1/2 cup parsley, minced
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese
  • 1 pomegranate, seeds*

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Toast the pine nuts for 15 minutes. Let cool.
  2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes until tender.
  3. Add the chicken stock, pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil.
  4. Stir in the couscous. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and let cook for 12 minutes, or until the liquid has been absorbed. Stir occasionally. Once the couscous is done, fluff with a fork.
  5. Transfer the couscous to a large bowl. Add the toasted pine nuts, parsley, feta, and pomegranate seeds. Toss until well combined.
  6. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

*Baker’s Notes:
How to easily deseed a pomegranate: Cut the pomegranate along the midline, deep enough to cut the skin, but shallow enough to not cut the seeds. Tear the two halves apart. Submerge the halves, one at a time, in a large bowl of water. Gently peel the skin away from the seeds, and gently release the seeds with your fingers. The white pith will float while the seeds will sink. Remove the pith, and drain the water.