Greek Couscous Salad
This Greek Couscous Salad recipe is a light and healthy side dish for lunch or dinner. It’s quick and easy to make and is full of delicious flavors of Feta cheese, vegetables, olives and fresh herbs.
Earlier this summer, we were having a dinner at my parents house. I can’t remember what the occasion was but we had all brought a dish to pass and were having a great meal with my parents and in laws. I had made this fantastic Tomato Salad but had made the mistake of adding two jalapenos instead of one, resulting in an extremely spicy salad.
So we were all eating it and as everyone began to taste the tomato salad, you could see us all looking around the table with the same mouth-on-fire look on our faces. Everyone was clearly trying to keep it cool (see what I did there?) but it was painfully obvious that I had rendered the salad spicy to the point that it was very difficult to eat.
Luckily, my mother in-law had made a Greek-style pasta salad that she had originally gotten from Bon Appetit that was not only delicious, but also helped cool our mouth while still bursting with fresh summer flavors.
When she was making the salad in my kitchen before we headed over to my parents house, she had assembled the ingredients in a bowl and poured hot pasta. I was initially skeptical of this process because anytime I’ve make a pasta salad in the past, I’ve always cooled the pasta before mixing it with the other ingredients, sine these type of salad are often served cold.
Vicky assured me that adding the hot pasta was a very good move because it caused the cheese to melt a bit and helped the flavors meld together and once I got a taste of this salad I realized just how right she was and I was also thrilled to enjoy such a delicious salad in the wake of my Tomato Salad snafu (which is normally so delicious when there isn’t all that extra heat!).
There are two big takeaways here. The first is never doubt a mom when you already know she’s a good cook. Not only did her pasta salad save the day for these tomato-loving Western New Yorker’s but it added a new perspective on pasta salad and a seriously delicious side dish for that dinner.
The second take away is this fantastic Greek Couscous Salad recipe. I was really inspired by the delicious flavors in this pasta salad that I just had to create my own. I wanted to be a bit healthier so I used Wegman’s Golden Jewel blend which includes Israeli Couscous, Tri-colored Orzo, split baby Garbanzo Beans and Red Quinoa. If you cannot find this, regular Israeli Couscous or a similar blend works just fine. FYI, it’s an 8 oz. package.
The flavors come together so beautifully between the salty Feta cheese, the briny olive and the veggies and herbs. This lasts for the week in the fridge, making it an excellent option to make on Sunday and take to work with lunch each day. It’s also also an excellent dish to pass.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/4 cups of cucumber, diced
- 1/2 cup of Kalamata olives, rough chopped
- 1/3 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/3 cup of fresh dill, chopped
- 1/2 cup of scallions, chopped (dark and light green only)
- 1 1/2 cups of grape tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 tsp. of salt
- 1/4 tsp. of pepper
- 1-2 Tbsp. of lemon juice
- Plain couscous mix of choice (mine ended up equaling around 3 cups)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cook the couscous according to the package directions.
- Mix together all of the ingredients except for the couscous.
- Top the ingredients with the hot couscous and mix well.
- Enjoy!
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