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.
