Southwestern Couscous

After some recent long days at work, Kevin and I decided to celebrate his Spring Break with a night of being manly by grilling steak and drinking beers. We thought it'd probably be best to cut all the red meat with a side featuring colorful, healthy things, so we came up with the idea of making a Southwestern couscous (after several minutes of me trying to remember the difference between couscous and quinoa).

Southwestern Couscous
Adapted from All Recipes
Servings: 8 (or more realistically 4 as you will eat a lot)
Time: 30 minutes

1 1/2 cups uncooked couscous
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
Juice of half a lime
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 red onion, diced
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 avocados, chopped
2 jalapenos, seeded and diced
1 can black beans, drained
10-15 cherry tomatoes, quartered
Ground cumin to taste
Cajun seasoning to taste

And this is how I remembered what all the ingredients we put in were.

1. Make the couscous according to the instructions (usually simmer the couscous in the chicken broth for 10 or so minutes until all the liquid is absorbed then set aside to cool).
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with the couscous.
3. Eat large amounts paired with delightful grilling.

   
   

   Our couscous went nicely with Kevin's masterfully grilled filet, but I would've gladly just eaten bowl after bowl of the Southwestern side. The picture is made extra manly by the dirt bike in the background.

   There really is nothing quite like ending a long day by grilling outside with a beer. The filets were perfectly medium rare and only required a simple sprinkling of coarse salt and pepper, but the couscous stole the show from our expensive entree. All the various components that helped morph standard couscous into an amazing Southwestern dish came together magnificently. Special recognition goes to the creamy avocado and juicy cherry tomatoes that really helped make this a memorable side that will surely become a staple for us.

The night was made even more delicious by the surprise discovery of large bottles of Ruby Redbird well before its usual summer season.

Coming up next: The Massive 200th Post: Brinner of the Gods!