Who knew the balls were so big…

One of the holiday parties that I went to this past season was the boyfriends work party.  The party was a pot luck and those doctors and nurses did it right.   There was a very wide range of dishes – sashimi, lumpias, ham, cakes, pies and on and on.  The show stealer of the night was this amazing couscous salad.

This was no ordinary couscous salad.  The couscous was about 10 times the size of normal couscous, who knew the couscous balls could be so big.  Now I’m not a total size queen, but this changed the texture and the taste of the dish.  Apparently this is a special type of couscous called Israeli Couscous.  The balls are almost the size of peas!  Those Israeli’s are clever and packing.

The boyfriend persuaded his colleague to email us the recipe and I thought of a few modifications.  I really wanted to be able to eat this as a meal and not just a side salad.  The addition of the chicken helped with that.

Here goes:

• 4 chicken breasts with bone in and skin on
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 6 ounces Israeli Couscous
• 2 cups snow peas
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes – cut in half
• 2 cups English cucumber- seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup Kalamata olives – pitted and cut in half
• 2 large green onions – diced
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves  – minced
• 6 ounces crumbled Feta cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts, skin side up, on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. Set aside until cool.

While the chicken is cooking bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Mix in couscous.  Cover it, reduce the heat to low and leave it alone for 10 minutes.  Once it’s finished transfer it into a large mixing bowl, season to taste with salt & pepper then set aside until the chicken is ready.

Now while the couscous is doing it’s thing you can get the veggies ready.  Dice, mince and chop them all and combine them in a bowl (NOT the garlic and lemon).

Once the chicken is cooked  let it cool for about 10 minutes.  Once cooled remove the skin and the chicken from the bone.  Cut the chicken into bite size pieces.  Combine the chicken with the couscous and then add the veggies.

In a small bowl add the garlic, lemon juice and mustard.  Wisk in the olive oil.  Season with salt & pepper to taste.  Pour the dressing over the couscous and mix.  Gently fold in the crumbled Feta.  Taste to make sure it’s seasoned appropriately.

This can be served right away, but tastes much better the longer it sets.  I suggest making it the day before you are going to serve it.

This is also fairly healthy!