386190 Thu Mar 29 08:53:11 -0700 2007 2 31 Home Cooking 0 2431839 I am making a chicken tagine with sweet tomato sauce on Saturday (friends coming over for dinner). I want to stick with the Moroccan/North African theme for the sides and a starter salad. Probably a cous cous, but I confess to usually just buying the boxed, flavored cous cous for weeknight meals. So, I am looking for a good cous cous recipe. And also some sort of Moroccan vegetable. And I'll probably make a green salad to start the meal. Any suggestions to make the salad more interesting and fit the theme of dinner? Is this the universe telling me that I need to go out and buy Arabesque? Thu Mar 29 08:53:12 -0700 2007 75002 Megiac 1 2431903 If you don't want to serve a totally plain couscous, you can make the lemon and herb variation (below). It's light and lovely and would go nicely with any tagine recipe - chicken or whatever. But just so you know, in traditional Moroccan cooking, the couscous prepared entirely plain so that it can soak up the sauce from the tagine without any interference. Either way would be fine. As a side dish, I've made roasted sweet potato chunks, tossed in olive oil and spiced with ras-el-hanout or another aromatic Moroccan spice mixture before roasting. And a salad that includes some citrus - like oranges - would go well. Lemon and Herb Couscous 1 tbsp. 15 mL olive oil 1 cup 250 mL couscous 1/4 cup 50 mL chopped fresh parsley 2 tbsp. 30 mL chopped chives or green onion tops 1 tsp. 5 mL grated lemon zest 1/2 tsp. 2 mL crumbled dried thyme 1/2 tsp. 2 mL salt 1/4 tsp. 1 mL black pepper 1-1/4 cup 300 mL chicken broth, heated to boiling 2 tbsp. 30 mL lemon juice Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the dry couscous, the parsley, chives, lemon zest, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for one minute, until well combined. Add the boiling chicken broth and the lemon juice, stir, cover and remove from heat. Let the mixture sit, covered, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the couscous is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve. Makes 4 servings. Thu Mar 29 09:10:11 -0700 2007 2431839 12383 Nyleve 1 2431983 You need some of the many Maghrebi salads - roasted red peppers is a well-loved one - grated carrots with orange, oranges with olives, cucumbers (sorry, those Maghrebi recipes are in French, and I really don't feel like translating them). I'm sure those words with salad and Maghreb or Morocco will help you google them. Also try http://www.paula-wolfert.com/recipes.html she has some lovely and appropriate recipes from her books on her sites. I also have the three Mediterranean Jewish cookbooks by Joyce Goldstein, and her book on cooking of the southern Mediterranean has fine ideas too (virtually no difference between such dishes among Muslims and Jews from that region, and the main one in couscouses and tagines would be the no milk and meat)... This is one nice Wolfert recipe: http://www.paula-wolfert.com/recipes/org_wal_salad.html Typically, tagines are NOT eaten with couscous - though of course a sumptuous feast could include a couscous, tagines, a méchoui of lamb etc... My Maghrebian friends eat them with bread from their region - easy to buy here in Montréal, but not hard to make at home. You will find many easy recipes under Moroccan bread. As it is not a bread that rises very much, it is not easy to make successfully. Normally a tagine includes vegetables and meat, poultry or fish (or legumes) so it doesn't really require a "side dish", but it is typically Maghrebi to have many small dishes, served at different points in the meal. Thu Mar 29 09:30:00 -0700 2007 2431839 84119 lagatta