Mediterranean Couscous Salad - serves 4-6

The salad is great as a standalone dish but also complements many other dishes, especially some grilled/cast iron salmon. There’s not much else to say here - if you have a craving for some mediterranean cuisine, it definitely scratches that itch.

This stuff keeps pretty well - it does great as a side for lunch the next day as well. The flavors really get to know each other even better overnight and it doesn’t get as soggy as you might thing with all the wetter ingredients. It keeps for 3-4 days without any issue.

Things to watch out for/take note of:

If you don’t have chicken stock and want to use it for the couscous, some Better than Boiullon does wonders, as does regular chicken boiullon powder added to the water.

If you don’t have fresh parsley, you can sprinkle in some dry stuff you have in the spice cabinet as well - about double. We still tend to just stick to 1/2 cup of the dry stuff since that is still quite a bit and it doesn’t seem to affect the end result all that much.

We also have had great success just using lemon juice - a splash or two - in place of the lemon.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup dry couscous
  • 1/2 cucumber, diced
  • 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1/4 of a red onion, diced
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup black olives, sliced - we like to use Kalmata olives for this
  • 1/2 cup parsley, chopped roughly (or 3/4 - 1 cup of dried parsley)
  • 1/2 cup feta
  • 1/2 lemon (or a splash or two of lemon juice)
  • 1/4 tsp salt (who are we kidding - a couple sprinkles)
  • Cracked black pepper - to taste

Directions:

  1. Cook the couscous according to directions (use chicken stock for extra flavor)
  2. When the couscous is about halfway done, get the veggies prepped. By the time you’re done the couscous should be close to done.
  3. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper in a bowl and set aside to let the flavors get to know each other. This is our dressing for later.
  4. With the couscous fully cooked, fluff with a fork and add it to a large serving bowl. Add the cucumber, tomatoes, bell pepper, red onion, olives, and parsley and mix it all up/toss to combine.
  5. Mix in the dressing once things are pretty close to fully combined and keep mixing to incorporate those flavors.
  6. Top with feta and add additional salt/pepper if desired. Enjoy!