Cherry, Date and Almond Couscous

Fresh cherries, sweet dates, crunchy almonds and fresh basil pair up to make Cherry, Date and Almond Couscous. This is a perfect Mediterranean style dish that can be a side dish or a vegetarian meal. It’s fast and easy, since couscous cooks in just minutes! Start to finish, this dish is done in under 30 minutes! Pitting the fresh cherries is the most time consuming part, but you can substitute dried cherries instead if fresh cherries are unavailable or you’re pressed for time. You won’t get the juiciness from dried cherries as you would with the fresh cherries, but you will get the sweetness! The lemon vinaigrette keeps the couscous moist and adds additional tangy flavor to the dish.

What is Couscous?

Most people think of couscous as a grain, due to its rougher, finer texture. However, contrary to popular belief, couscous is actually a pasta! Known as Moroccan style couscous, this type of couscous is made of semolina and water, rolled into tiny pieces, steamed multiple times, dried and packaged for sale. This process allows it to cook at home in about 5 minutes, making it a very fast side dish. Considered a starch, it often replaces rice in traditional dishes and is versatile, since it can absorb and take on many flavor profiles.

Prep the Ingredients

Now let’s move on to prepping our ingredients! First, you need to wash and dry your fresh cherries, as well as remove the stems. Pitting the fresh cherries takes a little patience, but it’s worth it. Have two bowls ready — one for the cherries and one for the pits! Disposable gloves can come in handy to avoid the cherry juice getting all over your hands.

Set one bowl under your hands. Next, take a sharp knife and score around the cherry, cutting in half. Remove the pits and add to your reserved bowl, dropping the pitted cherries into the other bowl. Repeat the process until you are done pitting your cherries. Occasionally, some pits can be firmly stuck inside, so you may have to dig into the sides a bit more with your knife to dislodge them. Try your best to keep your cherries as uniform in size as possible, We want to keep them looking pretty!

Next, take your dates and chop them into small bite size pieces. These dates should already be pitted. If you buy the ones with seeds by accident, you can easily remove them from the dates pretty quickly. Now, take your pitted dates and line up a few together. Using a sharp knife, cut down the line several times. Turn them and repeat to get small bite size pieces. Prepare your almonds by toasting them to enhance their nutty, crunchy flavor. Chiffonade (slice) your fresh basil to cut them into strips. You can put several basil leaves on top of each other and slice across to make the basil strips.

Dress up the Couscous

Now it’s time to dress up the couscous! Cook the couscous, replacing the water called for in the package instructions with the chicken broth. The chicken broth will add additional flavor to your couscous. If you don’t have chicken broth, you can simply use water and prepare the couscous according to package instructions.

It will only take about 5 minutes to cook the couscous. Once done, set aside for a few minutes to continue steaming. Using a fork, fluff up the couscous so it’s not sticking together. Add in your prepared cherries, dates, almonds and basil. Prepare your dressing and pour evenly over the couscous.

Your couscous is dressed up and ready to serve! Try serving it alongside our Grilled Citrus Basil Shrimp! Enjoy!