Salad recipes range from the very basic to the highly elaborate, but most good salad recipes fall somewhere between those two extremes. A basic salad, for example, can be a combination of four ingredients like lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion or lettuce, pineapple chunks, peanuts and scallion. There are also gourmet salads with lots of ingredients and an extensive preparation time.

If you want to make a gourmet salad, which does not take much time or effort to put together, something like a lamb and couscous salad would be ideal. If you have some leftover lamb or you find some discounted lamb in the store, you can make this salad with ease.

How to Use Couscous

Couscous is a fast-cooking grain. You add it to hot water or broth, stir it and it will be ready in a few minutes, unlike pasta or rice, making it ideal for meals in a hurry. Couscous is often used in Arabic and Moroccan salad recipes, sometimes with dried fruit or fresh mint.

It is a very versatile and suits many different flavors. Couscous can also be served hot, as an accompaniment to meat, fish, or poultry, or it can be used instead of pasta or rice in some recipes.

Lamb often features in Greek recipes and perhaps you have enjoyed a hot lamb stew or even a roast lamb dinner with garlic and rosemary. The following recipe uses feta to enhance the Greek flavor and aromatic ingredients like cilantro and oregano to give the salad a fresh and gourmet flavor. Garbanzo beans, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes, currants and more are used to finish this salad off in style.

What you will need:

• 2 minced cloves garlic
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 sliced green onion
• 1 chopped green bell pepper
• 1 cup couscous
• 15 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• 1/2 lb cooked leg of lamb, in thin slices
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

How to make it:

Add half the garlic to the broth then bring it to a boil. Take the broth off the heat and stir in the couscous. Cover the mixture and let it stand for five minutes, then transfer it to a big bowl and fluff it with a fork.

Let the salad cool, and then stir in the green onion, currants, beans, bell pepper, and two tablespoons of the oregano. Season with salt and pepper and toss well.

Divide the couscous between four serving plates, and then arrange the tomato wedges and lamb on top. Stir the remaining garlic with the remaining oregano, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. Drizzle this dressing over the salad and decorate it with the crumbled feta cheese and some the cilantro. Serve immediately.