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Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes

A couscous dish with olives, roasted tomatoes, herbs, and a garlic‑olive oil dressing.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes

Oven250°F
Timeabout 1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the tomatoes

  1. Preheat oven to 250°F.

  2. Halve tomatoes through the stem ends, arrange cut sides up in one layer in a large shallow baking pan, add garlic to the pan, and roast in the middle of the oven until the tomatoes are slightly shriveled around the edges, about 1 hour.

Make the dressing

  1. Peel garlic and puree with oil, water, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and 1/2 cup roasted tomatoes in a blender until the dressing is very smooth.

Cook the couscous

  1. Bring broth to a boil in a heavy saucepan.

  2. Stir in couscous, then simmer, uncovered, for 6 minutes.

  3. Cover the pan and remove from heat.

  4. Let the couscous stand for 10 minutes.

Combine and serve

  1. Transfer the couscous to a bowl and combine with the remaining ingredients, dressing, roasted tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

541Calories
12 gProtein
15 gFat
97 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 15 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Couscous1 cup cooked (157g)176
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cherry1 cup (138g)87
Red Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Olive1 large (4g)4
Thyme1 tsp dried (1.4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pearl (israeli) couscous
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs the broth as it cooks and stands.
Red grape or cherry tomatoes
Roasting concentrates their sweetness and softens their texture for the dish.
Garlic cloves
Roasting mellows its sharpness, giving a sweeter, nuttier flavor to the dressing.
Olive oil
Carries flavor and adds richness to both the dressing and the couscous.
Kalamata olives
Add salty, briny flavor that contrasts with the sweet roasted tomatoes.
Broth
Cooks the couscous from within, adding savory flavor as it is absorbed.

The step that matters

Simmer the couscous briefly, then let it stand covered. Pearl couscous needs a short simmer and a covered rest so it absorbs the liquid evenly. Stopping early leaves it firm; over-cooking makes it gummy and mushy.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, garlic, clove, olive, lemon, pepper, chicken):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, garlic, clove, olive, lemon, pepper, chicken. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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