Chicken & Couscous Recipe.

Here it is friends! The recipe for the dish I posted on my Instagram (@shadiabrown) a few days ago. This takes about twenty to thirty minutes to make, a complete win in my book.

I don't think Jack was so sure at first when I showed him the recipe and told him that's what we were going to have for dinner one of the week nights. I've mentioned before that we do all of the meal planning and shopping on Sundays to make it easier on ourselves during the week. Sometimes we would forget what we were making and so now after we are done grocery shopping, I stick the meal plan to the fridge for reference. I don't know if it's because we are always so tired but we would end up making a different dish and using ingredients from all meals planned and we would end up with having nothing to make on one of the days. Eating out is so expensive and it just gets so old, besides the fact that there are very few healthy options out there.

I have a few cook books with lots of healthy recipes that I've been collecting over the last couple of years and I go through them to find new meal ideas for the week. This is one of them.

I first eat with my eyes (who doesn't) and flip through the pages until I find something that looks good. Then I look at the ingredients and make sure my grocery store carries that stuff and if it will take me more than thirty minutes to prepare. I usually go for the books that have quick, easy, delicious and healthy meals which is no easy task but I find them!



Here's the recipe for 4 servings, two for dinner, two for lunch. ;)

1-2 saffron strands
1 3/4oz (50g), dry weight, couscous
2 tsp golden raisins
1/2 cup boiling hot chicken or vegetable stock (I used vegetable stock)

For the dressing
1 tsp finely chopped cilantro leaves
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp olive oil

Approximately 2 chicken breasts cut into strips (I used a rotisserie chicken and it saved me an insanely amount of time)
1/4 cup corn kernels
1 tsp pine nuts
about 15 cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths or halves
2 scallions, trimmed and chopped
fresh cilantro leaves, to garnish

1. Put the saffron, couscous, and golden raisins in a heatproof bowl and pour over the hot stock. Stir once and let it sit for 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together the dressing ingredients.
3. Brown the chicken strips on all sides in a preheated nonstick skillet over high heat for about 4 minutes, or if you're doing it my way, pull apart the entire rotisserie chicken into strips and heat up in skillet. :)
4. Reduce heat to medium, add corn and pine nuts and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside. A little trick- roast the pine nuts first for a couple of minutes before adding the to the chicken. The recipe tells otherwise but they are so good roasted!
5. Fluff up the couscous with a fork and add to the skilled with the tomatoes, dressing and scallions. Heat for 1 minute, or until warmed through, stirring gently.
6. Spoon onto a plate, then top with the chicken and garnish with cilantro.
Don't stir this dish too much, kind of fold it over.

I promise this is so quick and so good!

Enjoy! :)