Another easy Israeli couscous salad

[1Bigg_ER]

So my buddy called me talking about "I have a bottle of single Malt Laphroaig whiskey" I said bring it over, we'll enjoy it while watching the game.
I quickly went to my refrigerator for pulled out my emergency dry brined bird. I'll always keep one ready to go ever since I got the PBC.



Fired up the PBC, hang the bird then I realized that I didn't have a side dish.
Went into the pantry, saw a jar of Couscous.
Great, warmed up my Dutch oven, put some ghee, started toasting the Couscous. Poured some chicken stock. Added a pinch of saffron. Brought that to a boil then reduced heat and let it simmer covered.
Now what? Ok, decided to dice some red onions. Looked around in the refrigerator and found some zucchini, diced those. Diced some sweet peppers. Dumped all that mess in a bowl.
Next, need some crunch and sweetness. So I toasted some pine nuts. Grabbed a handful of craisins. Dumped all that in the bowl with the onions.
At this time my couscous was done. I turned off the heat and let the couscous balls soak in all the stock. Dumped that mess in the bowl and mixed it all up. Adding lemon juice, salt and Aleppo peppers as I mixed and taste. Drizzled some olive oil and plated.





My apologies for not writing this as a proper recipe as I was making stuff up as I went along.

Man it was fantastic. We sat down and watched the Seahawks beat the cheese heads while sipping on some whiskey

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Great looking bird, nicely done. 

[sliding_billy]

Man, that looks all kinds of good.

[HighOnSmoke]

That looks real delicious!

[muebe]

Great salad and beautiful chicken!

[1Bigg_ER]

Thank you for you compliments good people!!

[N. Ontario Smoker]

Delicious looking. Nice pictures.

[Smokerjunky]

WHOA - NICE!!!

Please explain the 'dry brine' that one is new to me

[1Bigg_ER]

WHOA - NICE!!!

Please explain the 'dry brine' that one is new to me

I don't really think that it qualifies as a brine but it works like one.
You just heavily salt the bird and leave it alone for one or two days in the refrigerator. The salt draws moisture out of the bird then it disolves and gets absorbed right back into the bird.
Bird has a more intense flavor than wet brined bird.
I do this with all large cuts of meat

[Smokerjunky]

WHOA - NICE!!!

Please explain the 'dry brine' that one is new to me

I don't really think that it qualifies as a brine but it works like one.
You just heavily salt the bird and leave it alone for one or two days in the refrigerator. The salt draws moisture out of the bird then it disolves and gets absorbed right back into the bird.
Bird has a more intense flavor than wet brined bird.
I do this with all large cuts of meat

Thanks!  Makes sense. Going to have to give that a try

[africanmeat]

great looking bird . love israeli couscous .

[RAD]

I've done the same with steaks but I like the idea of doing this with yard bird. Do you rinse it well or go right to the cooker with it?

[1Bigg_ER]

I've done the same with steaks but I like the idea of doing this with yard bird. Do you rinse it well or go right to the cooker with it?

No rinsing necessary and it would be counter productive since I purposely leave the bird uncovered to dry out the skin.
It never comes out salty.

[spuds]

WHOA - NICE!!!

Please explain the 'dry brine' that one is new to me

I don't really think that it qualifies as a brine but it works like one.
You just heavily salt the bird and leave it alone for one or two days in the refrigerator. The salt draws moisture out of the bird then it disolves and gets absorbed right back into the bird.
Bird has a more intense flavor than wet brined bird.
I do this with all large cuts of meat

Thanks!  Makes sense. Going to have to give that a try

x2,thanks Bigg,fine cook.

[muebe]

The salt is great for drawing out the moisture on chicken skin! I usually rinse it off when I do it but next time I might just leave it on like Bigg said.