Israeli Couscous with Grilled Vegetables and Vinaigrette

[GotGarlic]

Israeli Couscous with Grilled Vegetables and Vinaigrette

Couscous
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced (divided use)

Vegetables
1 onion, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick (divided use)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and quartered
1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and quartered
1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and quartered

Vinaigrette
1/4 cup champagne or white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. fresh thyme -- minced
1 tbsp. fresh parsley -- minced
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Chop one quarter of the onion. In a saucepan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil and saute one clove minced garlic (reserve other clove for dressing) and the chopped onion. Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous and cook till couscous is tender, about 10 minutes.

Toss remaining onion and peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill 8-10 minutes or until tender. Dice into 1/4-inch pieces.

In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, thyme, parsley, salt, pepper and reserved minced garlic. Whisking constantly, drizzle oil into dressing. Combine couscous with grilled vegetables; drizzle with dressing and toss to combine.

Servings: 6

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

I think Jerusalem artichokes are the perfect accompaniment to Israeli couscous

 

[taxlady]

Oh that does sound good. I've printed the recipe as a PDF. I bet it would be good with brown rice if I can't find any wholewheat couscous.

 

[Mad Cook]

When I was clearing out the old house I found an unopened poly bag of giant couscous at the back of a drawer. I threw it away because I could remember when and where I bought it........In the Safeway supermarket in Amman, Jordan, in 1992!!!!

I thought it might be just a tiny bit stale even though it was in a sealed bag.

I'm quite pleased to see that it's available in Britain now. I must try it in your recipe.

 

[GotGarlic]

taxlady, like a lot of recipes, this one can take a lot of tweaking Use different herbs, or rice, or another small pasta like ditalini - it's all good.

Mad Cook, I hope you like it.

 

[CWS4322]

I love Israeli cous-cous. Thanks for posting the recipe.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Thanks GG, C&P'd. I'm changing up our diet and want several like this.

 

[CWS4322]

PF--have you thought of black chickpeas? Supposedly 3/4 c a day lowers one's cholesterol level. I have dried black chickpeas on my shopping list for the next time I hit the Indian grocery store. And plan on making a black chickpea-Israeli cous-cous-arugula-red/green peppers, fresh fruit (pineapple or roasted strawberry) salad dressed with EVOO and lime juice, some fresh grated ginger. Might have to add some fresh mint. Don't have a recipe, just an idea....dehydrated some fresh pineapple the other night (do this at night because of our high power rates), OMG, wonderful--very pineapply (sweet) but am waiting for strawberry season because I've been reading about recipes with roasted strawberries and can't wait to try them. I do sometimes make Israeli cous-cous for my morning grain. Love the stuff. Can you get rice of the prairies? I know you would like it. It has more of an "oaty taste" than steel-cut oats and is chewy. It would make a nice grain in a salad. Yes, I have champagne vinegar, but bought some black vinegar last week--it would also be good with an Israeli cous-cous salad, provided I have any left--I keep adding it to my sodastream "club soda." My new favourite vinegar....

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Never heard of or seen black chickpeas, sure am interested in that. What is
black vinegar"? I need something for the soda stream water, too!

 

[GotGarlic]

I have Chinese black vinegar. Maybe CWS is referring to that. It has an interesting, complex flavor.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I'll look for it. Cost Plus World Market is opening here this week, I will scan their shelves before looking online.

 

[Mad Cook]

Never heard of or seen black chickpeas, sure am interested in that. What is
black vinegar"? I need something for the soda stream water, too!

Not sure if they are the same thing but black peas are something of a Lancashire tradition
Black peas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Incidentally, re the reference in the above link to Stalybridge Station, if you've ever seen the film "Yanks" (Richard Gere - be still my beating heart!)you'll have seen a bit of the station. The scenes at the end of the film when the GIs are moving out to go to the front were filmed at Stalybridge Station.

The location shots for the film were done in the area around where I used to live. S/bridge was the next town over from the one I lived in and Dobcross, where much of the outside action took place is up in the hills above Oldham.

Sorry, off the point.

 

[CWS4322]

I have Chinese black vinegar. Maybe CWS is referring to that. It has an interesting, complex flavor.

That's it and it is my new favorite for my soda stream water. Black chickpeas are usually sold dry in Indian markets. Supposedly one can buy them canned, but I've only seen dry. There is also black chickpea flour.

 

[CWS4322]

Black chickpeas might be labeled Desi, Bengal gram, or kala chana. Supposedly they are good to include in a diabetic diet--low GL index. Not the same as black beans, they are chick peas. There are also green dry chickpeas. I haven't tried those yet either.

 

[Cheryl J]

Thanks for the recipe, GG. It sounds good. I just made something similar to this last week but used orzo, cuz that's what I had on hand, and added some leftover chopped artichoke hearts I needed to use up. Copied and pasted. I need to buy some couscous, I know I've seen it at Albertsons.