How about it? Will high school kids go for couscous? I mean 16- to 18-year olds who cut their molars on Big Macs and may not have eaten anything more refined than BBQ chicken sandwiches.

The chance to observe their reaction to couscous comes when I am asked to do a kitchen workshop with eight summer interns at Phipps Garden Center in Shadyside. The subject is herbal cooking. We're going to spend the morning together preparing a lunch to share with Kate Borger, who coordinates their project, underwritten mainly by the Grable Foundation, with help from the Pennsylvania Education Tax Credit program.

But why couscous? I have my reasons. First, I want a dish the kids aren't likely to know anything about. I want us to explore one food in depth. Something strange and interesting. Something with a history. Couscous happens to work well with a variety of herbs. And almost everybody likes pasta. The recipes I choose take lots of snipping and chopping and fluffing but no serious cooking. And, if you've ever seen the kitchen at the Garden Center, you know there's not much to cook with and only dilapidated stoves to cook on. So couscous seems a good choice.

The ingredients are assembled: bulk couscous from East End Food Co-op and Whole Foods; produce from farm markets here and there; staples from Giant Eagle; herbs from my back yard; odds and ends from home.

Now it's time to meet my fellow workers. I already know their names and schools: Robyn Hill, Northside Urban; Deondre Howard, Wilkinsburg; Madison Kress, Andrew Street Propel; Jenny Lei, Woodland Hills; Andrea Lewis, Westinghouse; DeVon Nesbit, Allderdice; Alexandra Porter, Wilkinsburg; and Michelande St. Cyr, Allderdice.

I arrive with my copy of Paula Wolfert's "Couscous and Other Good Foods from Morocco" clutched in one hand, the other arm loaded with bowls, spoons, graters, whisks -- about half my kitchen. Deondre is there to help me unload. Everyone's looking really sharp. Of course, they know they're getting their pictures taken.

The plan is to work in three teams of three, then two for the shortest, easiest recipe. Who can handle a sharp chef's knife? Okay, Jenny, you're on Team II for the Algerian couscous. Who's good at mincing? Alex, you can get started on the couscous Nicoise. And so on.

For two hours, like an executive chef, I oversee the measuring, prepping, peeling, coring, seeding, chopping, juicing, mincing, sauteing, stripping, toasting, plucking, mashing, grating, segmenting and garnishing, without once lifting a finger. The interns are doing the work, keeping themselves and their teammates on track. My job is repeating, over and over, "Keep fluffing that couscous. Here, take two forks. Keep fluffing."

As a result, we help ourselves to three appetizing salads for lunch, out on the side porch. We take a vote, and the hands-down winner is Couscous Salad a la Nicoise, the one I almost eliminated because the ingredients are so exotic, the effect so sophisticated. How about it!

AUTHENTIC ALGERIAN COUSCOUS SALAD

PG tested

This refreshing salad is all you need for a filling summer lunch or light supper. It's best when made in the morning for the evening meal. The original recipe calls for couscous that requires rubbing between your fingers, steaming in a couscousier, a specialized double boiler-like pot, and several hours of work and waiting. Precooked couscous bypasses that effort.

--Nancy Hanst

• 1 pound precooked Israeli couscous
• 3 quarts aromatic water (see below)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from cobs
• 2 cups fresh sugarsnap peas, cut into thirds
• Salt, divided
• Freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• A bunch of cilantro (coriander) or parsley
• 1 (more or less) Anaheim pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons minced scallions
• 1 1/2 cups vinaigrette (3-to-1 oil-to-white wine vinegar, with 1 small clove mashed garlic)
• 2 grapefruit
• 3 tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges

To 3 quarts water, add small onion, celery stalk, parsley sprig, carrot and (if you have it) a piece of turnip; or you can throw in a handful of parsley and an onion. Bring water to the boil and add couscous. Simmer for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring most of the time.

Turn off heat and fish out vegetables. Drain if there's water in the pot. Add butter and olive oil while pasta is still warm. Toss with two forks to prevent clumping. Add corn kernels and peas and keep tossing occasionally. Add about 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper.

In a 325-degree oven, toast cumin seeds until fragrant and brown; toss into the couscous. When the salad is cooled off, add the cilantro. Season with 1/2 teaspoon salt and as much pepper as you like. Add Anaheim pepper and scallions. Toss well.

Save 2 tablespoons of vinaigrette and add the rest to the couscous. Toss again. Taste to see if you want more salt, toss again and refrigerate the salad for one hour.

Peel grapefruit, remove skin from segments and cut in chunks.

When you are ready to eat the couscous, top with grapefruit and tomato wedges, sprinkle with saved dressing.

Serves 8.

-- Adapted from "Cooking with Lydie Marshall" (Knopf, 1982)

COUSCOUS SALAD A LA NICOISE

PG tested

Here's an exotic version of a French salad, with the scent of fruits and fresh herbs and the crunch of pine nuts.

-- Nancy Hanst

• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Pinch of saffron
• Pinch of dried lavender
• 3 whole sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips
• 1 cup couscous
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano)
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon raspberry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
• 6 Nicoise olives

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, bring broth to the boil. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, saffron, lavender and tomatoes, then couscous. Stir once, remove from heat and cover for 5 minutes. The couscous should be plumped and cooked. Fluff it with two forks until any lumps are broken up. Do this several times as couscous cools.

In a small fry pan over low heat, saute onion and garlic in remaining olive oil until translucent. Add to couscous and fluff again. Wipe out pan with a paper towel, return to heat and toast nuts, shaking the pan. Set nuts aside.

When couscous is cool, add the herbs. Blend olive oil with vinegar and orange zest; add to couscous on the final fluff. Transfer salad to a bowl. Garnish with nuts and olives.

Serves 4.

-- Adapted from Lyeth Vineyards and Winery recipe in "Sonoma County Showcase & Wine Auction Cookbook" (1988)

SEASONED COUSCOUS SALAD (Taboule Provencal)

PG tested

"Couscous, the pasta usually made from granular semolina, originated in North Africa and appears in Middle Eastern cooking as well as many French bistro recipes," writes Patricia Wells, who says this French recipe is "a refreshing summer salad that can be served as is, or as an accompaniment to a platter of raw vegetables or crudites, such as red bell peppers, strips of fresh fennel, carrots, cucumbers and scallions."

• 1 cup medium-grain precooked couscous (semolina or whole-wheat)
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1 cup fresh mint leaves (or 1/4 cup dried, crushed leaves)
• 4 medium tomatoes, peeled, cored, seeded and chopped
• 10 thin scallions, cut into thin rounds
• Salt
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Combine couscous with 2 cups cold water. Let stand at room temperature until all liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. If any liquid remains, drain the couscous in a sieve. (In a hurry? Pour on 2 cups of boiling water, let stand for 5 minutes before draining.)

Chop parsley and mint. Add to couscous with tomatoes and scallions and toss to blend. Salt to taste. Place couscous in a bowl; fluff with forks to separate the grains.

Shake or whisk together lemon juice and oil. Stir in the dressing and taste for seasoning. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour but not more than 4 hours. Adjust seasoning before serving, adding lemon juice or salt to taste.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

-- "Bistro Cooking" by Patricia Wells (Workman, 1989)

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