Moroccan Salad with Nitro Lemon "Cous Cous"

To intrigue our guests at the 2015 PACE Awards, we wanted to dazzle them with a savory rendition of our Moroccan salad using a liquid nitrogen freezing griddle to freeze a lemon juice mixture that turned into little bits of cous cous before guests’ eyes. Liquid Nitrogen has been in the culinary scene for quite some time, but by adding a twist to recognizable elements, guests had the opportunity to indulge in an unforgettable salad.

Caviar makers are a staple in molecular gastronomy, but instead of making another caviar out of lemon juice, we decided to see what would happen if we dropped the mixture onto a liquid nitrogen freezing griddle. The result was astounding and that day the concept of our nitro lemon "cous cous" was created. Around the same time, we were experimenting with home-made cheeses and came across a great Middle Eastern labneh cheese recipe. Going with the Middle Eastern theme, we decided to fuse the two ideas together and make a Moroccan inspired salad that uniquely complemented the lemon nitro cous cous.

Once the liquid nitrogen sat in the containers for at least 20 minutes, it was ready to freeze the lemon mixture into little cous cous like pieces. The lemon mixture was placed in a caviar maker and carefully dropped onto the liquid nitrogen freezing griddles which froze instantly. The attendant then used a small metal spatula to transfer the lemon cous cous onto the prepared Moroccan salads for the guests to enjoy.

Photos by Erin Hession Photography & Nathaniel Edmunds Photography.