Nuts and Persimmon Couscous

There are many recipes for couscous dishes in the Mediterranean cuisine. Some are savory, with vegetables, and some are sweet, with nuts, fruits, or raisins. Today, here is my version of a traditional nut couscous dish. It is spicy but also almost sweet. It can be served with grilled meats, vegetables, or as a dish on its own. I like it on its own the most, because it is very pure and this way you can taste better its rich ingredients: the butter and the saffron, and better appreciate the flavor of the nuts in the couscous.

This type of couscous is also made with dried fruits, besides nuts. But instead of dried fruits I decided to use fresh persimmons, which are now in season. Because persimmons can be very sweet at the peak of the season, to contrast their sweetness, I added preserved lemons to the salad. Here it is a very simple yet flavorful dish.

Nuts and Persimmon Couscous

Ingredients:
1 cup couscous,
1 cup hot water,
1/4 tsp salt,
1/2 cup blanched almonds,
1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios,
4 dried seedless dates chopped (optional, if persimmons are very sweet),
a pinch of saffron threads,
1/4 tsp ground cumin,
1/4 tsp cinnamon,
1/4 tsp ground cloves,
1/4 tsp ground coriander seeds,
a pinch of cayenne pepper,
1 persimmon, peeled,
4 slices of preserved lemons, cut into small cubes,
2 tbsp olive oil,
2 tbsp butter,
fresh mint to garnish.

Preparation:
1. In a small pot bring to boil water with olive oil and salt. Take off the heat, add couscous, mix, cover, and set aside for about 10 minutes.
2. Heat the butter in a medium-sized frying pot. Add saffron and nuts and fry stirring until the nuts are brown.
3. Add dried spices to the nuts and cook for about a minute. Toss in the couscous and heat everything together for two minutes.
4. Cut persimmon into quarters and then in halves, and mix with the couscous.
5. Add preserved lemon cubes and mix everything together. Garnish with chopped mint.

Serve warm or room temperature.

Cooked Spinach Salad--Meditearanian Style

This salad, coming from a Moroccan cuisine, is not a typical spinach salad because spinach used in it is not fresh but cooked. It is also better to use large spinach leaves for it, which have more texture and a richer taste rather than baby spinach leaves, which are often is used in salads because they are more tender and delicate in taste.

The only challenge involved in preparing this salad is that it calls for many green ingredients and spices. They combine into a wonderfully rich taste. For me, preserved lemons and saffron are the ingredients that contribute most to defining this salad's flavor and saffron also adds a characteristic yellowish color to it. I did not have a preserved lemon when I first prepared this salad and I felt that something was missing. When I made it for the second time I added it and it made a big difference, making the salad more tart and more exotic.

In winter, this salad can be served in room temperature, but in summer it should be served straight from the fridge, as cold as possible.



Cooked Spinach Salad

Ingredients:
2 lb spinach leaves(regular, not baby leaves),
4 tbsp olive oil,
1 bunch flt leave parsley, chopped,
1 bunch cilantro,
2 garlic cloves,
2 medium tomatoes (heirloom as best as they are not so juicy) blanched, peeled and chopped,
a pinch of saffron,
1 tsp ground cumin,
1 tsp paprika,
1 preserved lemon (skin only) cut into very small cubes,
1/3 cup red olives,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Blanch spinach in a large pot of boiling, salted water for about 3 minutes. Drain well, squeeze out the extra water, let it cool and chop it.



2. In a large frying pan heat the oil. Add to the pan parsley, cilantro, saffron, cumin, paprika, garlic and preserved lemon. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, until a green sauce forms.
3. Add to the green sauce chopped tomatoes and let it simmer again for another 5 minutes.



4. Add chopped spinach and cook briefly on a high heat, stirring constantly.
5. Finally fold in olives and turn off the heat. Cool the spinach completely.
6. Garnish with cilantro leaves and cherry tomatoes cut in halves.