Couscous Salad
This is not so much a recipe as a vehicle for using up some of the vegetables in my fridge. Dom liked it so much when I brought it to Mom and Dad’s for dinner last night that he asked me to blog it.
½ cob worth of corn, kernels removed, and the “milk” from scraping the bald cob with the back of your knife
1 small can (7¾ oz) chick peas, about 1/8 full, chick peas drained and rinsed
About 2 inches of a cucumber, cut into little cubes
About ¼ cup red onion that had been minced finely with a bit of cilantro
A few leaves from the inside of a head of radicchio, cut in chiffonade
½ large clove garlic, very finely chopped
About 8 – 10 grape tomatoes, quartered long-wise
About 1 inch worth of a small banana pepper (Thanks, Merle!)
½ small, red, sometimes spicy pepper whose name I forget, deribbed and deseeded
- both peppers cut into tiny cubes
Salt
Black pepper
Good Seasons Italian dressing, prepared as directed, but with Pinot Grigio vinegar (Thanks, Jen Paine!). I probably used about ½ cup.
1 box plain couscous, prepared according to package directions, with olive oil, and a little dried oregano thrown into the cooking water. I cooked it all, but probably only used about ½ of it.
Combine all vegetables in bottom of bowl. When couscous is done cooking, fluff with a fork, and add about half of it to the bowl while still hot. Add some salt and pepper, the salad dressing and mix everything together with the fork. The hot couscous will wilt the veggies a little and absorb a lot of the dressing. Taste, and add more salt, pepper, or salad dressing as needed. You want the salad to be full of flavor, but you don’t want a puddle of salad dressing at the bottom of the bowl.
When we were finished dinner, there was some of this salad left, as well as some other food from the meal. Mom cut up and added a few leftover slices of tomato and onion, some grilled shrimp and peppers, possibly a slice of breaded and fried zucchini, and I don’t know what else. Dom threw in a bit of fresh basil, and a new salad was born. Ah, the circle of life. Its a beautiful thing.
-Elena
½ cob worth of corn, kernels removed, and the “milk” from scraping the bald cob with the back of your knife
1 small can (7¾ oz) chick peas, about 1/8 full, chick peas drained and rinsed
About 2 inches of a cucumber, cut into little cubes
About ¼ cup red onion that had been minced finely with a bit of cilantro
A few leaves from the inside of a head of radicchio, cut in chiffonade
½ large clove garlic, very finely chopped
About 8 – 10 grape tomatoes, quartered long-wise
About 1 inch worth of a small banana pepper (Thanks, Merle!)
½ small, red, sometimes spicy pepper whose name I forget, deribbed and deseeded
- both peppers cut into tiny cubes
Salt
Black pepper
Good Seasons Italian dressing, prepared as directed, but with Pinot Grigio vinegar (Thanks, Jen Paine!). I probably used about ½ cup.
1 box plain couscous, prepared according to package directions, with olive oil, and a little dried oregano thrown into the cooking water. I cooked it all, but probably only used about ½ of it.
Combine all vegetables in bottom of bowl. When couscous is done cooking, fluff with a fork, and add about half of it to the bowl while still hot. Add some salt and pepper, the salad dressing and mix everything together with the fork. The hot couscous will wilt the veggies a little and absorb a lot of the dressing. Taste, and add more salt, pepper, or salad dressing as needed. You want the salad to be full of flavor, but you don’t want a puddle of salad dressing at the bottom of the bowl.
When we were finished dinner, there was some of this salad left, as well as some other food from the meal. Mom cut up and added a few leftover slices of tomato and onion, some grilled shrimp and peppers, possibly a slice of breaded and fried zucchini, and I don’t know what else. Dom threw in a bit of fresh basil, and a new salad was born. Ah, the circle of life. Its a beautiful thing.
-Elena
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