Couscous Salad

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup precooked couscous
• 1 cup white wine
• 3 whole cloves garlic
• 1/2 medium-size onion, diced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, whole
• 2 pounds mussels
• 1 medium-size head of red leaf or Romaine lettuce
• 4 scallions
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2 tomatoes
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper

1. In a pot, bring the water, salted, to a boil and add couscous and stir with fork.
2. Remove from heat.
3. The couscous, which will have absorbed all of the water, will be soft but should not be sticky.
4. In separate pot put wine, garlic, onion, parsley.
5. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
6. Add mussels to second pot.
7. Cover and cook until mussels open, 8 to 10 minutes.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Cut lettuce leaves into 1/2-inch strips.
10. Dice scallions and celery coarsely.
11. Slice tomatoes.
12. Remove mussels from shells.
13. Drain all juice into pot with white wine.
14. In a salad bowl arrange couscous, lettuce, tomatoes, mussels, celery and scallions.
15. To make dressing, strain the wine-mussel juice mixture and mix about half of it with olive oil and juice from one lemon, or to taste.
16. Salt and pepper.

water, couscous, white wine, garlic, onion, parsley, mussels, head, scallions, stalks of celery, tomatoes, olive oil, lemon, salt

Taken from cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/5234 (may not work)