Tangy Tuscan Couscous Salad

Tuscan Couscous Salad

(Note that this makes 6 cups or so of couscous salad)

Dressing Ingredients:
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs water
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs fresh or frozen basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Salad Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous or couscous blend*
1/4 cup coarse bulgur wheat
1/2 cup quinoa
1/8 cup millet
1/3 cup pitted black olives, sliced
1/4 cup manzanilla (green) olives pitted or pitted and stuffed with pimento, sliced
3 tbs olive oil (less will work if you want)
1/2 small onion
4 artichoke hearts
1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes (the kind that come in oil)

1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar or dressing bottle, shake vigorously and set aside (the dressing is better if you make it ahead of time so the flavors can meld)
2. Boil 2 1/4 cups salted water, add couscous, bulgur, quinoa, and millet, return water to a boil, immediately cover and turn down to a simmer for ten-fifteen minutes, until all the water is absorbed. Take off heat and set aside, covered.
3. Roughly chop the artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. Dice the onion.
4. Sautee the onions and sun dried tomatoes in the oil over medium heat for 2 minutes, add the artichokes and continue sautéing until unions are slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
5. Combine the olives in a large bowl, add the onion mixture and couscous, mix to combine.
6. Drizzle the dressing over the couscous salad and stir well. Chill at least 2 hours before serving. 

I tried it with half a sliced avocado, sprinkled on a little lime juice, and added salt and pepper. (And yes, it was delicious.)

This is a HEAVILY altered rendition of Wolffie’s Pasta Salad from Sarah Kramer’s “La Dolce Vegan!”

I recommend letting your grain and pasta mixture sit for at least ten minutes after you take it off the heat so the millet will have a little more time to soften up. The pasta will get a little sticky during this time, but since the dish is heavy to begin with, and served cold I don’t think it negatively effects it. Also this would be a great addition to wraps or green salads, since you’ll probably have leftovers.

* I used the ‘Harvest Style Grain blend’ from Trader Joes for this recipe, which adds a little color as well as texture by way of orzo, baby garbanzo beans, and red quinoa (there’s not much quinoa in the blend, it’s about 90% pasta (couscous and orzo) so plain old Israeli Couscous will work about the same.)

Simplicity

When I think about the best foods I've ever had, it's rarely something time consuming or complicated (aside from the Leek and Bean Cassoulet with Biscuits in Veganomicon.) More often than not the best things are simple, have only a few ingredients, or... are constructed almost entirely of leftovers.

You heard me. Leftovers.

Rice and other grains, beans, odds and ends of veggies, a dollop of baba ganoush from when you broke down and ordered Indian, that handful of salad you couldn't bring yourself to throw away, they can all be reincarnated in so many ways, but my obsession of the moment it wraps. Maybe it's the portability thing again? Or maybe it's because I hate putting dirty silverware in my lunchbox, I don't really know, but they're quick to throw together (very important for lunches, since I'm usually already running late by the time I decide I should make a lunch to bring with me,) and can serve as a base for all kinds of flavors, limited only by your culinary imagination.

The wrap that inspired this post did take a little more work, I had a bell pepper that wasn't going to be usable much longer, so I just sliced it up and sautéed it with olive oil and some red onion (leftover from another recipe, for the record.) It probably took me less than ten minutes, and I actually sautéed way more than I needed, providing me leftovers to do other things with later.

After I was done cooking the peppers, I used the same pan to heat up leftover quinoa-chickpea pilaf, enough so that some of it browned for a little added flavor. Throw those with some leftover salad on a tortilla that's been warmed up in the oven for a minute and slathered with some hummus and eggplant garlic spread (basically baba ganoush in a jar.)

See? Ridiculously easy, tasty wrap that uses up the things that needed to be used before they went bad/ I was sick of eating/ there wasn't enough of to eat on it's own.

So here's a question for you guys, what's your favorite food? If you're feeling super motivated, I would also love to hear why.

Until next time,
Courtney