Mediterranean Couscous Salad with Arugula and Spinach

Lately I’ve seen couscous take a back seat on the quinoa bandwagon, so I thought it was about time to bring it to the foreground again. Mixing the couscous with arugula and spinach stretched out the ingredients and we were able to get two delicious meals of it.

This was a great meal for a hot summer night, and was even better the next day after the flavours had soaked in. Add some sliced avocado for a little extra umph and put it into a whole wheat pita with humus for lunch the next day. Yummers.

Mediterranean Couscous Salad

1 cup couscous
1 big clove garlic, minced
1 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup each of cucumber, red, yellow, and orange peppers, finely chopped
red onion, finely chopped (to your taste)
4-5 depitted olives and a splash of olive juice
a big handful each of arugula and spinach
juice from half a lemon. Garnish with extra lemon slices and/or zest
fresh feta, to your taste.
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp olive oil

Pour 1 cup uncooked couscous into 1 cup salted boiling water. Remove from heat and let stand for 3 minutes. When cooked, drizzle with olive oil and fluff with a fork.

Chop tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, olives, and onion to similarly sized pieces. Add vegetables to couscous along with minced garlic, parsley, crumbled feta, and the juice from half a lemon. If you’ve bought bottled olives, adding a splash of the juices extends the flavour without having to use a lot of olives.

In a large salad bowl pour two tablespoons olive oil over arugula and spinach. Add couscous and mix. Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with lemon zest or additional lemon wedges.

I had every intention of making my own rosemary/garlic/thyme/lemon chicken, even bought all the ingredients… then I stumbled upon Jackson’s Rotisserie at The Public Market and everything smelt so good and it was all ready to eat … so I caved a bought a pre-made chicken. It was delicious, but next time I will make my own.

Lemon Dill Dressing

Still trying to use up that fresh dill before it goes bad. Here’s a simple salad dressing recipe:

Lemon Dill Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 salt
1/4 pepper

Whisk together ingredients and serve. I used this over couscous, very yum. To add some colour garnish your salad with grated raw beets, delicious not to mention beets are good for digestion and hinder garlic breath.

Here Comes the Sun, and Couscous Salad

Couscouse salad with cucumber, tomato, red beans and cilantro

I spent a beautiful afternoon with my cousin today; we went to a hatha yoga class at her studio, then back to her’s for afternoon tea. Had I been thinking ahead I would have brought a camera to take pictures of the delicious lunch she made: turkey soup with a plate of fresh baby tomatoes, cucumber and cheese, followed by a slice of her carrot cake. I haven’t been to yoga in a couple of months and getting back on the mat felt great, especially with the positive energy exuded by my cousin. She sees the beauty and love life  has to offer us even in our hardships and inspired me to come back and create beauty in my life. Of course this meant a meal!

Whilst yogaing, our teacher played “Here comes the Sun” by the Beatles, and it couldn’t have been more of an appropriate song for the day and our moods. I encourage you to put it on while reading, I’m listening as I type, and even provided a link.

I came home and made couscous salad, something I can enjoy for the next couple of days and bring over to my Mom to show her that I can make healthy meals. To cook the couscous I brought to a boil:

1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

** These were the ingredients on the couscous package, but I found 1/4 tsp of salt was too salty. I made another batch to dilute it, this time I left out the salt and substituted butter for olive oil. There really wasn’t much of a different flavour wise.

uncooked couscous

When the water boiled I added the couscous, stirred, removed the pot from the heat, covered, and let stand for 3-5 minutes. When the couscous was cooked I fluffed it with a fork to separate the grains.

In a large bowl I added diced cucumber and tomatoes to the couscous. Couscous salad traditionally calls for parsley but I had coriander on hand so I finely chopped that up too. For a dressing I mixed together:

2 minced garlic cloves
3 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
A splash of vinegar (not sure exactly how much I used, maybe 2/3 a cap full? I go by taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
I also added a couple scoops of red beans for fiber.

Couscous salad with olive oil and lemon garlic dressing