Cous cous with blood orange, kale and toasted cashews

I'm not quite sure what's happened to me. Suddenly I'm craving, making and enjoying salads. (I'm not pregnant again). I've always liked them, but they were never in quite the same league as a steak for me. I'm not a converted health food freak quite yet, as I realised while bewilderingly watching some friends salivate over granola, but, I certainly have a different outlook. Maybe pregnancy did change me, as it did my feet, now 1 size bigger, all my beautiful heels squeezed on like Cinderella's ugly sisters trying on her slipper. I suspect, though, that the recent rediscovery of the joy of toasting nuts has prompted this change and the fact that throwing them onto just about anything makes it instantly better.

For this I used Israeli couscous, (sometimes called Sardinian), which has larger grains with more meaty bite and nuttiness. I also used dehydrated carrot pieces found in my local store, but regular carrot cut into tiny dice would be fine. The baby blood oranges were bought at a local cafe and were incredibly sweet with no tang whatsoever and the kale, harissa and red pesto dressing was partly borrowed from a previous post adding the tang and spice it needed.

Recipe : Blood orange, carrot and toasted cashew salad

1/2 cup Israeli or regular cous cous, (wholewheat if you really want to be good)

1.5 cups chicken or vegetable broth, (or water)

1 tbsp butter

4 sun dried tomatoes, torn or cut into slivers

1 tbsp dried carrot flakes or 1/4 of a carrot, peeled and cut into tiny dice

2 small or 1 large blood orange, peeled and cut into segments

1/2 cup shredded kale

a handful of cashew nuts, dry roasted in a pan until brown

Dressing

1/4 cup white miso

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp harissa paste

2 tsp sun dried tomato pesto

juice of half a lemon

Bring the stock to a boil over medium - high heat and add the couscous. Reduce heat and simmer for about 12 minutes until the couscous is soft. Remove from the heat, drain and add the butter, stirring through to coat. Once the cous cous has cooled slightly, transfer to a serving bowl and add the carrot, (rehydrate in boiling water for 10 minutes if dried - leave raw if regular, I threw mine in with the couscous), blood orange and tomatoes and stir well. 

To make the dressing, stir everything together until smooth and add the kale, stirring again to completely coat it, (the kale will soften slightly if you leave it for a few moments). Pour the dressing with kale over the salad, stir well to mix and then add the finishing touch: the roasted cashews.

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