Yesterday I was indirectly challenged by Marks boss. Sounds a little weird, doesn’t it? Well he was summoned to work almost three hours earlier than expected, for yet another life and death meeting, which meant I had just 30 minutes in which to cook and pack some sort of dinner for him to take to work.

Now originally I wasn’t planning any sort of quick dinner but as it turned out I was left with no choice… I had to improvise. After a rummage through the fridge and pantry I came up with an idea, Honey & Mustard Chicken Couscous Salad. It ended up being extremely tasty so I have decided to share it with you.

Ingredients:

For the couscous salad:

• 2 cups couscous
• 1 small tin of pineapple
• 1 small tin of garden peas
• 1 small tin of sweetcorn
• 150g cherry tomatoes
• Handful of cashews nuts
• Small bunch of fresh coriander

For the chicken:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 Knorr chicken stock cube
• 1 Knorr 3 peppercorns flavour pot
• 3tbsp of sesame oil
• Pineapple juice
• 2tsp honey
• 2tsp Dijon mustard

You might feel the need to comment when you notice my total lack of spices. Well as I used a pre-spiced version of couscous there was no need for anything extra. If you only have plain couscous you might want to add a good pinch of salt, some fresh cracked pepper and maybe some sweet paprika.

Method:

In a small bowl mix 2tbsp of sesame oil, chicken stock cube and flavour pot until you achieve a smooth texture.

Wash and cube the chicken breasts.

Add the chicken into your earlier prepared flavour mixture and make sure each piece is fully coated properly.

Set it aside for 5 minutes or more to marinate and make a start on your couscous.

Prepare your couscous as per the packaging instructions. My one took only 10 minutes to “develop”.

Heat up a heavy bottomed pan, as you know I like to use cast iron, add the remaining 1tbsp of sesame oil and once hot pop your chicken in. Fry it for about 10 minutes, stirring or tossing from time to time to make sure all pieces are evenly cook.

Open and drain the peas and sweetcorn.

Open but do not drain the pineapple, save the juice as we will need it.

Chop the pineapple into smaller chunks if required or use them as they come if you have already bought them in chunks, roughly chop the nuts so they aren’t too big, quarter your cherry tomatoes and finely chop the coriander ready to go into your couscous.

Now for the sauce; in a small bowl mix the pineapple juice, honey and mustard; stir until all ingredients are combined.

Once your chicken is cooked (it should not take more than about 10 minutes) add the sauce and let it simmer for a couple of minutes.

Use a fork to fluff your couscous, add all the earlier chopped ingredients plus the peas and sweetcorn and once you ready add chicken, sauce included.

Mix it well and serve immediately… or like in my case put some into a lunch box ready to be munched later.

Do you like couscous?

What’s your favourite way of serving it?

Yum