Couscous Mango Mousse

Serves 6

I demonstrated this recipe on Sara’s Secrets with Sarah Moulton of the Food TV channel. Kids LOVE this! Use peaches if you don’t have mangoes.

1 cup water
3/4 cup couscous
4 tablespoons sugar
2 juice oranges, preferably Valencia
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur
1 ripe mango (about 1 1/4 pounds)
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream, chilled
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
One 8-ounce container vanilla yogurt

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water to a boil. Add couscous in a stream. Stir once. Remove from the heat. Cover and let stand until the couscous is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Mix in 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Cover tightly and set aside.

Scrub one of the oranges under running water and pat dry. With a vegetable peeler, remove the zest, being careful not to peel away any of the white pith. Finely mince the zest. Set aside.

Squeeze the oranges to obtain about 3/4 cup of juice. Strain through a medium meshed sieve into a small saucepan. Over medium heat, boil down the juice until it has reduced to about 2 tablespoons, and has the consistency of molten honey, 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the Cointreau. Set aside.

Peel the mango and cut the flesh away from the seed. Cut half into thin wedges and coarsely dice the rest. Set aside.

Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold in the vanilla and remaining sugar. Refrigerate one cup of whipped cream for serving. In a medium bowl, combine the rest of the whipped cream with the yogurt and diced mango. Refrigerate.

Immediately before serving, combine yogurt-mango mixture and couscous. Spoon equal amounts into 6 parfait glasses. Top each one with a dollop of the reserved whipped cream and a mango wedge. Drizzle with orange-Cointreau sauce, sprinkle with minced orange zest, and serve.

From Couscous: Fresh and Flavorful Contemporary Recipes. Chronicle Books, 2000.