Couscous With Pine Nuts and Mint

  3.8 – 4 reviews  • Side Dish
Level: Easy
Total: 25 min
Active: 10 min
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  1. 2 tablespoons good olive oil
  2. 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
  3. 1 cup chopped yellow onion
  4. 3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
  5. 1 1/2 cups couscous
  6. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  7. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  8. 1/2 cup julienned fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
  9. 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the couscous, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and remove from the heat. Cover the pot tightly and allow the couscous to steam for 10 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork and stir in the mint and pine nuts. Taste for seasonings and add about 1 teaspoon salt, depending on the saltiness of the stock, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Serve hot.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 of 6 servings
Calories 330
Total Fat 13 g
Saturated Fat 3 g
Carbohydrates 43 g
Dietary Fiber 4 g
Sugar 3 g
Protein 10 g
Cholesterol 9 mg
Sodium 496 mg

Reviews

Amy Parker
This is one of my new favorite side dishes! I cooked the couscous as the directions instructed and it came out perfect. I used a couscous I bought from Whole Foods. The butter, olive oil, onion, and chicken broth adds great flavor. 
Kayla Nelson
I want to give this recipe props because taste-wise, it’s pretty great. However, I’ve found that the cooking times and broth amount are pretty far off, at least when using Israeli couscous (Whole Foods bulk type). The first time I made it as the recipe directs, and ended up having to pour broth off at the end and cook well beyond the 10 minutes. Also felt that it was heavy on the pine nuts and salt.

Second time around, used 2 cups broth. Brought to a boil and turned the heat off but left the saucepan covered on top of the hot burner as it cooled. Ten minutes still wasn’t enough even without removing from the heat. Added about 1/4cup more broth and brought it to a boil again, cutting off the heat and leaving the pan on the hot burner again for another 10 minutes. This was just about right. I added 1/4cup pinenuts and mixed in some parsley with the mint; I did not add the final teaspoon of salt. It turned out really well. So be prepared to use the recipe as printed as a rough guide and experiment as needed.

 

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