Couscous Daisy with Three Pestos
Dear friends, good morning and happy Monday!
Here we are with the new recipe for Light and Tasty. Today the Team did not specify a specific ingredient, but a recipe that contains an ingredient representing spring for us.
Mmmm… mumble mumble…
You know I thought about it a lot?
And I came to the conclusion that I actually don’t have my own spring ingredient that is evocative of spring for me. I never thought about it!
There followed a certain impasse on what to do, which lasted several days, almost making me give up on participating in this appointment, simply due to lack of ideas.
Um… actually also because of a lack of adequate ingredients at home 😄 since (in these pre-red-zone days, first, and certainly-red, later) I had decided to go out as little as possible and not to frequent definitely crowded supermarkets, but in the end, even with what the pantry offers, something can always be improvised, thank goodness!
And it happened that after much thinking, I had a flash: I remembered a lunch many years ago at a restaurant that no longer exists, where I ate pasta with rose petals. And this made me realize that for me, what best represents spring is not a specific food, but flowers. The flowers in the meadows, the flowers on blooming trees, all the flowers.
With this in mind, it would have been wonderful to devise a recipe with some edible flowers! But unfortunately, I don’t have suitable flowers on my terrace or in my micro garden.
So… ta-dan!!
Even though it’s not a rose… I thought of reviving my daisy mold! 😃🌼
In the end, rummaging through the fridge looking for the most suitable ingredients, I managed to create a colorful couscous daisy that for me has the spring air that it 😊 What do you think, do you agree?
Before moving on to the recipe, I want to thank my friend Pinuccia who gave me the Palestinian whole grain couscous that I used in this recipe, produced by YWCA-Palestine for LiberoMondo.
I didn’t know about this variety of large-grain couscous, very different from the couscous we usually find on the market. Palestinian couscous arrives in Italy thanks to fair trade and the collaboration between fair trade shops and cooperatives that support the right to work and social equality of Palestinian women. An area where my friend Pinuccia puts a lot of effort and passion. 🌼
And now… ready for the recipe? 🙂
👇 For more couscous ideas, here are 3 more recipes: 👇
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 15
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 14.11 oz couscous
- water (equal volume to the couscous)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 zucchini
- 1.06 oz walnuts
- 0.35 oz basil
- 1 clove garlic (small)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- to taste chili pepper
- 1 carrot
- 0.71 oz almonds
- 0.71 oz toasted hazelnuts
- 1 sprig parsley
- 1 clove garlic (small)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 5.29 oz cherry tomatoes
- 1.06 oz sunflower seeds
- 4 black olives
- 2 tsp pickled capers
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 clove garlic (small)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- to taste chili pepper
Tools
- Chopper
- Mold daisy-shaped silicone
Steps
Cook the couscous using a 1:1 couscous-water ratio (one cup of couscous and one cup of water) by adding a tablespoon of oil to the water.
For cooking the couscous, I recommend following the instructions on the package.
When the couscous is cooked, fluff it with a fork.
Prepare the three pestos.
Strictly speaking, they are sauces, not exactly pestos. Apologies to the defenders of the right name for things, but ‘with three pestos’ seems to convey the sense better than ‘with three sauces’. 🙂
Zucchini Pesto: Place the zucchini, basil, a small clove of garlic, walnuts, and a tablespoon of oil in the cup of a small food processor. Pulse to roughly chop. Add oil as needed. Add chili pepper to taste.
Carrot Pesto: Place the carrot, parsley, a small clove of garlic, almonds, hazelnuts, and a tablespoon of oil in the cup of a small food processor. Pulse to roughly chop. Add oil (and a bit of water) as needed. Add chili pepper to taste.
Tomato Pesto: This is a slightly modified version of the sunflower seed red pesto already on the blog. Place the cherry tomatoes, parsley, oregano, a small clove of garlic, olives, capers, a tablespoon of oil, and sunflower seeds in the cup of a small food processor. Pulse to roughly chop. Add oil as needed. Add chili pepper to taste.
Note: To make the sauces lighter, I usually add some water instead of part of the oil, which is why I indicated only one tablespoon of oil per pesto in the ingredients.
Divide the couscous into three parts and season it with the three pestos.
Fill the daisy mold by alternating colors.
Press the couscous with the back of a spoon or teaspoon to compact it well and not leave air gaps.
—
I have had this daisy mold for a long time, and although I found it on Amazon, I recently discovered it is no longer available. There are now other flower-shaped molds which have been marketed more recently and are equally charming. Like this 6-flower mold:
or this one with a Silikomart daisy
Take a look, if you like 😊
—
Let the couscous daisy rest for about an hour (possibly in the fridge) so the couscous absorbs flavors.
Unmold the daisy onto a plate and serve as an appetizer, a cold main course, or a decorative dish at a buffet.
I recommend serving at room temperature. At least now in this not yet very hot season. Then during the sweltering summer heat, we can try the recipe in its cold summer dish version 🙂
For decoration, I had fun carving rounds of zucchini, carrots, and tomatoes. I still have much to learn in the decoration field, but in the end, I felt satisfied!
But this couscous daisy with three colorful pestos is very beautiful to me even without decorations. What do you think? 😀
And for those who don’t have a flower-shaped mold or any particular shape… you can try it this way too, as I did with the leftover couscous: simple muffin molds, or… a glass!
Enjoy!
Salt-Free Tips
Today’s salt-free tips are very simple: you can vary the recipe as you like! 😄 You can use plenty of chili pepper, you can add other aromatic herbs to the individual pestos, you can use a larger quantity of basil in the zucchini pesto, or add it to the tomato pesto as well. You can also transform the recipe from vegan to vegetarian by enriching it with cheese pieces. In short, adding flavors to this recipe is very simple even without adding salt! 😃
And all that’s left is to wish you bon appétit!!
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
▫ Decrease the salt gradually, the palate should gradually get used to it and should not notice the progressive reduction.
▫ Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
▫ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
▫ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
▫ Use spicy vegetables or fruits. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
▫ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
▫ Prefer fresh foods.
▫ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
▫ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
▫ Occasionally allow yourself a break from the rule. It is good for the mood and helps to persevere.
If you don’t want or can’t give up salt:
▫ You can try my recipes anyway, seasoning according to your habits.
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In my new WhatsApp channel and on Instagram, on the Facebook page, on Pinterest and in my two groups: Catia’s Group, in the Kitchen and Beyond and Just What I Was Looking For! and if you like… subscribe to the Newsletter.
And now here are the tasty spring suggestions from my colleagues at Team Light and Tasty!
Carla: Chicken Sliced with Broad Beans and Stracchino Sauce
Daniela: Fruit and Pea Salad with Yogurt
Elena: Asparagus Soup with Ginger
Franca: Colorful Quinoa
Milena: Shrimps and Asparagus with Lemon
