Fruitful – A Jeweled Couscous Salad
I knew we had to reimagine my couscous salad with all the fruits of the land. Traditionally, the holiday is marked by eating fruits and nuts, honoring what grows and sustains us.
Twenty years ago, I was watching Bobby Flay make tabbouleh on the Food Network and that inspired me. I had leftover couscous sitting in my fridge and I thought maybe that could work just as well as the wheat bulgur traditionally used in tabbouleh. Bobby’s version included parsley, tomatoes and cucumbers, but I upped the flavor by keeping those veggies and adding mint and dill, as well as colorful bell peppers and fresh green onions. Then I took it a step further, throwing in finely diced preserved lemons, Kalamata olives and toasted pistachios, dressing it with extra virgin olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice. My couscous salad was a hit, bright and briny, herby and fresh and completely addictive!
My friends and family loved it. So much so, that I made it for every social gathering. It was simply a perfect make-ahead salad, colorful, satisfying and always totally devoured.
Whenever friends asked for the recipe, I happily shared. One day, our friend Mona called, excited to prepare the salad for a family party. I walked her through the recipe, step by step, listing every ingredient. The next day, she reported that it was a hit, but that her sister-in-law Hayley had remarked, “This doesn’t really taste like Rachel’s salad.”
When I asked why, Mona explained that she had added broccoli and skipped all the herbs except for the parsley. She also left out the preserved lemon, olives and pistachios.
Dear reader, I love Mona dearly, but I had to take a deep breath. I said, “Please keep making the salad. It makes me very happy. But if you change all the ingredients, please don’t tell anyone it’s my recipe!”
To this day, we still laugh about her revised couscous salad. Sometimes she will tell me proudly, “I made the salad, but I didn’t say it was yours.”
A few years later, Mona was the one who suggested making the salad with quinoa. Also delicious, and I made it for a while. But now I have returned to couscous. I am no longer fearful of carbohydrates, especially when they are paired with fresh herbs, crispy veggies and dried fruits. Fiber and carbs just go together.
Growing up Moroccan, there was always a bowl of dried fruits and nuts on the coffee table. The Moroccan Arabic word for the mixture of dried fruit and nuts is fakya. We didn’t speak Arabic, but we took great pleasure in saying fakya when we moved to America. It made us laugh uncontrollably because it sounded like a very bad English word. My brothers and cousins still love saying it. Fakya.
When Sharon and I discussed our Tu b’Shvat recipe, I knew we had to reimagine my couscous salad with all the fruits of the land. Traditionally, the holiday is marked by eating fruits and nuts, honoring what grows and sustains us. Adding the dried fruits and nuts gave the salad a seasonal context and a deeper connection to the holiday.
—Rachel
True confession. I have an unreasonable obsession with dried fruits and nuts. I have a big pantry and three refrigerators and a lot of that space is devoted to the storage of all the nuts and dried fruits that I purchase at Costco, Trader Joe’s and the Persian markets.
Not to be overly dramatic, but my relationship with dried nuts and fruits is partly a way to hold onto my childhood memories and the Middle Eastern traditions of my mother and grandmother. A beautiful dish filled with an assortment of nuts and dried fruits is a family tradition.
I love including these ingredients in my recipes. Every Shabbat, I love imagining which pairings of nuts and/or dried fruits will enhance my salads.
In one of my favorite commentaries on Sefer Bereshit (Genesis 43:11), it says that Jacob instructed his sons to bring pistachios, almonds and other delicacies native to the Land as gifts to the Viceroy of Egypt (Joseph). How relatable is that? Every Middle Eastern or North African Jew has given or received nuts as a hostess gift.
As you can imagine, I love the tradition of the Tu b’Shvat Seder, a mystical 16th-century Kabbalist tradition. The “New Year for Trees,” which is celebrated on the 15th of Shevat, falls on the evening of Sunday, Feb. 1 this year. The holiday honors nature and the Land of Israel. Like Passover, there is a Hagaddah and it involves drinking four cups of wine. There is also an emphasis on eating fruits, especially the Seven Species native to Israel.
I love that our Jeweled Couscous Salad includes so many of the symbolic foods—wheat (couscous), green grapes, dried figs, ruby red pomegranate arils, salty kalamata olives and rich fleshy medjool dates. We included roasted slivered almonds, tart dried apricots and cool mint. We made a dressing of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder.
This salad is a feast for the eyes and so fresh and lovely to eat. What a wonderful way to express our gratitude to the Creator of the Universe for his gifts of incredible, healthful bounty.
—Sharon
Jeweled Couscous Salad
Dressing
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 lemons, juiced
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp granulated garlic powder
In a jar or a small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Set aside.
2 cups cooked couscous
1/2 cup dates, finely diced
1/2 cup figs, finely diced
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely diced
1 cup green grapes, halved
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1 small bunch mint, chopped
1/2 cup pomegranate, for garnish
Place the couscous, dates, figs, apricots, grapes, pistachios, almonds and mint in a serving bowl.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well.
Garnish with pomegranate.
Note: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Sharon Gomperts and Rachel Emquies Sheff have been friends since high school. The Sephardic Spice Girls project has grown from their collaboration on events for the Sephardic Educational Center in Jerusalem. Follow them
on Instagram @sephardicspicegirls and on Facebook at Sephardic Spice SEC Food.
