Summer is here, everyone is happy and finally tomatoes taste like tomatoes again! Could that be the reason why everyone is happy?
Happy and good mood is definitely made by this couscous tomato salad from the wonderful cookbook "Genussvoll vegetarisch" by the British-Israeli celebrity chef Yotam Ottolenghi, which was published by Dorling Kindersley. It is of course healthy and light, looks wonderfully colorful and is quick to make. One more reason to be happy. That way you have more time for other nice things ...
In this recipe, as the name suggests, besides various tomato varieties – here it is vine tomatoes, yellow cherry tomatoes, green tomatoes and wild tomatoes, but simply take the ones you like best – couscous takes the main role. Our large-grain couscous M'hamsa from Tunisia fits wonderfully with this recipe. With its large grains, it offers more bite in the mouth and ensures a more interesting interplay of textures than conventional couscous. (Although it naturally does too ...)
The author emphasizes in the book that the selection of tomatoes below is just a suggestion. So if you do not have so many different varieties at hand, simply add up the quantity and adapt it to your liking.
Ingredients for 4 people:
- 275 g Couscous
- Salt
- Olive oil
- 300 g medium-sized vine tomatoes, quartered
- 3/4 tsp raw cane sugar
- Black pepper or Piment d'Espelette (for the color!)
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp coarsely chopped oregano
- 2 tbsp coarsely chopped tarragon
- 3 tbsp coarsely chopped mint
- 1 clove of garlic, crushed
- 1 small green tomato, cut into wedges
- 100 g small wild tomatoes or halved red cherry tomatoes
- 150 g yellow cherry tomatoes, halved
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 170 °C. Cook the couscous in salted water for about 18 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Allow to dry completely and mix with 1 dash of olive oil.
Meanwhile, spread the quartered vine tomatoes over half of a large ovenproof dish and sprinkle with sugar, salt and pepper. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and a little oil and put in the oven. After 20 minutes, take out of the oven and increase the temperature. Spread the yellow cherry tomatoes on the still empty half of the oven dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.
Put the dish back in the oven and roast the tomatoes for another 12 minutes. Then take the tomatoes out and let them cool.
In a large bowl, gently mix the couscous with the herbs, garlic, the roasted tomatoes (including the juice), the green tomatoes and the small wild tomatoes. Ottolenghi recommends doing this with your hands instead of with salad utensils.
Taste and season with salt, pepper and olive oil if necessary.
Freshly baked bread tastes great with it, for example. And don't forget the wine!
Our tip: If you like, you can also cut the dried tomatoes from Mahjoub into small pieces or strips and mix them into the salad. As a complement to the salad and accompaniment to the fresh bread, we recommend the artichoke hearts, the garlic confit and the pickled, marinated pepper.
Our wine recommendation: The Contraste Rosé from Douro pairs particularly well with this summery salad. It is fresh, refreshing and lively. The color is intense and bright, in the mouth the wine is full-bodied and complex with great elegance. The finish is medium-length and fruity. The bottle: €8.95 | the 6-bottle case for €48.00 (instead of €53.70).
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The recipe comes from this book: "Genussvoll vegetarisch. Mediterran - Orientalisch - Raffiniert". Yotam Ottolenghi, photos J. Lovekin. Dorling Kindersley Publishing (2011).
