I recently posted a wonderful recipe I discovered on Delicious magazine’s site for North African Chicken Stew with Honey and Saffron – definitely worth trying! It was such a flavorful, tasty meal. The recipe included the ingredients and directions for this rice dish – which was amazingly delicious on its own. With a beautiful blend of butter, lemon, mint, toasted sesame seeds and almonds – this rice dish makes for a wonderful side dish for seafood, beef, lamb or poultry. I would imagine it would be pretty great as a vegetable main course as well – just add cubed butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and pomegranates for a more robust meal – YUM!
Lemon and Mint Rice or Couscous
Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp butter, plus 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 cup slivered or flaked almonds
- 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 2 cups organic couscous or rice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- Finely grated zest of 1 small lemon and 1-2 tbsp juice
- 4 small preserved lemons, pulp discarded, skin finely chopped
- 1/8 cup coriander/cilantro, coarsely chopped
- 1/8 cup fresh mint, leaves finely chopped
- salt and fresh ground pepper
Directions:
- Melt 2 tbsp butter in a small frying pan, add the almonds and fry gently, stirring all the time, until golden. Tip onto kitchen paper and leave to cool.
- Toast the sesame seeds in a clean dry pan over a medium-high heat, shaking now and then, until golden. Tip onto a saucer, set aside to cool.
- Cook the couscous or rice per directions. Uncover and fluff with a fork, then stir in the 2 tbsp melted butter, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice to taste, preserved lemon skin, fried almonds, sesame seeds and three quarters of the herbs.
- Salt and Pepper to taste
