Couscous Salad With Lemon-Soaked Grilled Chicken

An Easy and Elegant Lunch

By Dara O’Brien
Creative Director, Lake Isle Press

I am lucky enough to have friends with second/vacation homes, and am always delighted when they invite me to visit. It’s great to lounge in the sun by the water or hike the trails, hang out on the deck, check out the charming local shops, and count the stars at night. And with any luck, I’ll receive the most coveted invitation of all: my friends will ask me to cook.

Cooking for a crowd—or for anyone at all, for that matter—is something I never get enough of. I live alone, and not only do too few of my friends live in my neighborhood, many consider my home in upper Manhattan too big of a schlep to come by for dinner on a regular basis. So I don’t get to cook for others nearly as often as I’d like.

This feeds my fantasy of having a well-appointed kitchen in a rambling country house that regularly overflows with visitors. When they arrive I will always have an easy, elegant lunch waiting for them. Breakfasts may very well include pancakes. And dinners can be many things, but will probably involve a trip to the farmers’ market to find what’s good.

I also have an alternate fantasy of living in a centrally located Manhattan townhouse (or at the very least, a classic six) complete with cook’s kitchen and possibly an outdoor room where I host frequent parties and a weekly salon. Guests are eager to accept my invitation, and no one complains about the subway ride or suggests we meet in midtown instead.

With the realization of either fantasy as yet on a very distant horizon, a guest chef gig at a friend’s home and occasional entertaining at my place will do. My friend Jessie’s recent weekend visit offered just such an occasion. I knew that since she was visiting she would want to eat out (New York = restaurants), but since we had a busy schedule, lunch at my place would be a time-saver on the day she arrived.

I settled on serving Couscous Salad with Lemon-Soaked Grilled Chicken from “Raising the Salad Bar” by Catherine Walthers, published by Lake Isle Press. It met my easy and elegant quotient, and also felt a little special, not something she’d eat every day.

I marinated the chicken the night before, and the salad was easy to prepare the next day. I subbed Israeli couscous for Fregola, popped the chicken breast halves under the broiler to grill, and timed everything so that the composed salad would be cooled and ready to eat by the time Jessie arrived. It’s also an easy make-ahead; the refrigerated leftovers, brought to room temperature, tasted just as good as when the salad were freshly made.

I never cared much about food, cooking, or entertaining when I was a kid, but somehow over the years they’ve crept up on me and have now become some of my greatest pleasures. A busy parent with little mouths to feed on a daily basis might suggest it’s precisely because I don’t have to do it every day, and can more or less pick and choose when and what I cook, that it brings such joy. That may be true, but whatever the reason, if you want to give me a real treat invite yourself over to my place for dinner.

Couscous Salad With Lemon-Soaked Grilled Chicken

Click here for printable recipe.

INGREDIENTS
CHICKEN
1 and ½ pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise
2 cloves garlic, crushed 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1 teaspoon pepper 
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Juice of 3 lemons, rinds reserved

COUSCOUS
1 pound Italian Couscous (Fregola Sarda)
5 cups chicken stock
½ cup minced Vidalia onion
8 ounces baby spinach, washed and dried
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
Juice of 2 or 3 lemons
Pepper
½ cup grated Asiago or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Chopped scallions for garnish
1 lemon, thinly sliced

Serves 4-6

PREPARATION

In a large bowl, toss chicken with garlic, salt, pepper and parsley, then squeeze the juice from the lemons over all. Add the reserved rinds, toss with the chicken mixture and let marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Remove chicken from the marinade; discard marinade and lemon rinds.
Preheat an outdoor grill to high. Grill the chicken breasts over high heat, with the grill lid open, for about 7 to 9 minutes on one side. Do not move the chicken for at least 5 minutes—this allows the sugars to crystallize and form a nice brown crust. Turn the chicken and cook for an additional 5 minutes more, or until it is cooked through, 160° on an instant-read thermometer.
Cook the couscous in chicken stock according to package directions. When it is al dente, or just firm to the bite, remove couscous from heat and drain, leaving some of the starchy stock in the pot. Immediately add the onions and toss; then add the spinach and toss, and lastly, add the oil. Continue to toss pasta to help it cool faster and stop the cooking.
When couscous is cool, add the garlic, parsley, juice of 2 lemons and pepper. Test for flavor and add salt to taste, add additional lemon juice if needed. Transfer the salad to a serving platter and top with a sprinkling of grated cheese; garnish with scallions.
Serve atop or alongside the lemon-soaked grilled chicken and garnish with thinly sliced lemon.

ITALIAN COUSCOUS is a large toasted couscous about the size of tapioca pearls made from durum wheat semolina. It is available in some supermarkets or from specialty products importers as well as some online sources. You can substitute Israeli or Middle Eastern couscous, the large but untoasted kind.

Recipe from “Raising the Salad Bar” by Catherine Walthers, Lake Isle Press, 2006