Laila Gohar conjures a couscous party to kick-start summer
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Every year, I like to throw a celebration to commemorate the start of summer. This year, I reached out to my friend Zohar Benjelloun, co-founder of Souvenir Shop, a production studio for film, fashion and the arts, about hosting the party together at her home in Brooklyn. Zohar’s dining room overlooks a beautiful garden that I thought would make a fitting backdrop. She kindly agreed and began planning a special menu with me.
Zohar is from Casablanca and suggested we make a version of her family’s couscous and lamb tagine. Initially, the plan was for the two of us to cook the meal together. But as the date approached and our schedules filled up with work and parenting commitments, we thought: why not lean on someone else for the actual cooking.
People are always surprised when I say that dinner parties are not only about cooking. The cooking is one part of the equation. But there is also so much more. My advice to people who want to throw more dinner parties is to be sympathetic towards yourself. You don’t need to do it all. Call on friends. That could be for anything from the cooking itself to asking a friend to make a flower arrangement or help decorate the table. The idea, of course, isn’t to burden anyone with a task they find daunting, but instead make people feel included and lean into their interests. From my experience people love getting involved.
Zohar asked her business partner Sam Bloom, who enjoys drawing, to illustrate name cards with a quick drawing for each guest. This added a nice personal touch. For the food, we called on Siham Bourhane, an accomplished Moroccan chef who prepares elaborate Moroccan feasts with her husband. Our menu featured lamb tagine with prunes, chickpeas and caramelised onions, alongside couscous with vegetables. The lamb felt festive and made for a beautiful centrepiece on the table. Everyone gasped when Siham brought the big steaming platter to the table. We also served Moroccan salads, including a carrot salad, zaalouk (aubergine salad), grilled pepper salad, and a tomato and cucumber salad. These salads are common throughout Morocco and offer nice acidity to counterbalance the rich lamb tagine. We ended on a sweet note with Zohar’s mother’s recipe for pastilla à la crème — a dessert of fried warqa dough, crème anglaise, almonds, berries and vanilla ice cream.
Siham made the couscous itself from scratch, like many people do in Morocco. Zohar grew up watching her mother steam semolina with water to make the couscous every Friday. This is a tradition in many Moroccan homes. Couscous itself is made from semolina flour and is somewhat similar to pasta (there is no grain called couscous). Traditionally semolina is hand-rolled and steamed using a couscoussier (couscous steamer) to form small steamed granules. The process is time-consuming and repetitive, which to me felt meditative. Alternatively, commercial couscous is also available (see my guide to how to cook this below), but if you enjoy couscous, buying a couscoussier is a worthy investment. The vessels also tend to be quite beautiful. Everyone was crowding around the couscoussier, which became the heart of our party.
How to cook perfect couscous
The trick to getting couscous to be fluffy is the water-to-couscous ratio – it should be 1:1. Once the boiling water is added to the grain, it is also essential to cover the pot. The steam is what fluffs up the couscous so trapping steam is vital. I add salt to the water. Once the water is absorbed, the couscous should be fluffed with a fork, and a couple tablespoons of butter (or olive oil) can be added for flavour.
The guests were a mix of friends and others who came as strangers and left as friends. There was a wide range of ages — and many children. Mixing generations adds depth to a dinner party. I always tell people not to be afraid to invite guests of different ages. You’d be surprised how much people can share with one another. There was also a mix of backgrounds, religions and ethnicities.
Everyone at the party also happened to be an immigrant — not by design, but by chance. At a time when America feels like it’s closing in on itself, and when politics can feel alienating to us as immigrants, it’s more important than ever to band together in solidarity and in resistance — while remembering that life continues to renew itself. Politicians and governments come and go. But there will always be a summer.
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