meatless on the side

So one of my approaches to the side dish challenge has been to find meatless meals and cut them in half. I picked this recipe, Couscous with Dates, Raisins and Almonds to complement this salmon. It was kind of tricky to keep my orange zest, orange juice and cinnamon straight, so I'll recommend making sure you're fully awake and alert to do this. Once I marinated the salmon, there was no stopping until dinner was served.

But back to the couscous. I omitted the dates but I didn't really feel their absence. Even with the recipe halved it still cooked correctly in an 8x8 pan. Yes, there's a lot of steps but it's definitely worth it. Especially the toasted almonds. I can't believe I'd never toasted almonds before. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I can't really put into words what toasting does to sliced almonds but if I hadn't, the dish would have been more bland. More blah.

Oh, and don't be afraid of the cinnamon. It doesn't make the dish taste dessert-y at all.