I have two summer food favourites at the moment – fresh fruits and salads. I love how my favourite fruits in season can be used in salads other than desserts or just eating them on their own. Lately, I have been obsessing over vinaigrette dressing. Red wine vinegar is a must in my pantry and so are bottles of olive oil and the latest addition, pomegranate molasses. Pomegranate molasses is a fruit syrup made from pomegranate juice. It is very thick and tart but when mixed with the right amount of olive oil and wine vinegar, you will get a lovely concoction of a flavoursome salad dressing.
Much as I love simple mixed green leaves, couscous salad has been rocking my boat lately. Great thing about couscous is you can pretty much add anything to it. Fresh chopped vegetables and herbs and even fresh fruits like raspberries. I made this easy to prepare salad dish a few weeks ago. Fresh raspberries, zucchini, toasted walnuts and fried halloumi cheese. Drizzled with pomegranate dressing, I loved the sweet and almost tart raspberry flavours, the sweet zucchini and the saltiness of the halloumi cheese. Toasted walnuts added that crunch I wanted in my salad. The dressing was perfect as it cuts through all the flavours you get with every spoonful of this summery salad. Did I mention this looked pretty, too? Fresh and vibrant, this screams summer goodness!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups couscous
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 1 punnet fresh raspberries
- 200g halloumi, fried then cubed
- 1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- 100g walnuts, toasted
- small bunch of fresh basil, shredded
For the dressing
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt and pepper
Method:
- In a medium saucepan, bring stock to boil. Remove from heat; add couscous and stir well. Cover then let it stand for 5 minutes or until all stock has been absorbed.
- Transfer couscous to a large serving bowl. Use fork to fluff it and break up any lumps.
- Add the cheese, zucchini, onion, raspberries and walnuts. Stir in shredded basil. Gently toss all the ingredients together.
- To make the dressing, put red wine vinegar, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice in a screw-top jar. Season with salt and pepper. Screw on the lid and shake well until blended.
- Pour dressing over salad and serve immediately.