Salty, creamy cheese nicely balances cherries’ sweetness and arugula’s bite. You can dehydrate your own cherries for this recipe by using roughly 2½ pounds fresh cherries, stemmed, pitted, and cut in half. This may take anywhere from 13 hours to 1½ days depending on your dehydrator. Recipe courtesy of Kim Cobb of Gourmet Trio Catering in Selah, Washington.
Pearl Couscous with Dried Cherries and Arugula
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Ingredients
COUSCOUS
- 1 cup water
- 2/3 cup orange juice
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/2 pound tricolored or plain pearl couscous
SALAD
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 cups dried sweet cherries
- 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
- 3 ounces baby arugula
- 1/2 cup lightly toasted walnuts
- 3 thinly sliced shallots
- 2-3 ounces Gouda cheese
Instructions
- Make couscous: Bring water, orange juice, and lemon juice to a boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in couscous, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Cover a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread couscous out on a pan to cool slightly.
- Make salad: In a medium saucepan, whisk together orange juice, olive oil, and vinegar. Bring to a light simmer. Add dried cherries and remove from heat. Let mixture set for 5 minutes. Drain off liquid into another bowl and reserve.
- While still slightly warm to the touch, slide couscous off parchment paper into a large bowl. Whisk reserved cherry liquid and add couscous. Stir in cherries, celery, arugula, walnuts, and shallots. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss salad and serve warm or at room temperature, topped with very thin shavings of cheese.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Facts
Pearl Couscous with Dried Cherries and Arugula
Amount Per Serving
Calories 348
Calories from Fat 99
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 11g
17%
Saturated Fat 2g
10%
Polyunsaturated Fat 5g
Monounsaturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 8mg
3%
Sodium 78mg
3%
Total Carbohydrates 34g
11%
Protein 8g
16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
PER SERVING: 348 cal, 11g fat (4g mono, 5g poly, 2g sat),
8mg chol, 8g protein, 34g carb, 3g fi ber, 78mg sodium
