Hey hey pretty friend!
One of life’s great pleasures is sharing a salad over lunch. You know… one of those leisurely lunches that involve pink wine and lots of bread baskets. The kind of lunch that lasts until at least 3:30 in the afternoon. The kind of lunch where you almost run out of things to talk about… but that never happens. I covet those lunches, especially on a Monday.
Let’s share a salad! I should tell you now that I put blueberries in it. Trust me on this one. Also… call me the salad whisperer.
We’re in the game! Meet our new friend Israeli Couscous… it’s actually a tiny pasta and boils up to be so satisfying and supremely fun to eat.
We’re going to combine our couscous with salty, lemony, and herby ingredients… then we’re going to add crunchy toasted pecans, and berries! Heck yes.
Every kind of cooked pasta benefits from lemon, salt, pepper and parmesan. You know it’s true.
Oh heeey new flavor friends! I love how capers and whole grain mustard taste together. Totally complimentary. Good olive oil is always the move. I love California Olive Ranch.
This is when things get interesting! Blueberries, pecans, and parsley and a big ol’ stir.
This salad feels like a surprise. What kind of salad also combines parsley and blueberries? What kind of salad mixes mustard and pecans? This kind of salad. Somewhere in this madness is delicious success. It’s actually pretty cool that all of these savory flavors so easily welcome sweet fruit.
This is one of those salads you should take to your friend’s end of summer barbecue. You’ll get weird looks, followed by high-fives. Who doesn’t like high-fives? I mean… total win!
Toasted Pecan and Fresh Blueberry Couscous Salad
makes about 2 cups
1 cup dried Israeli couscous
2 cups water
¼ cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh cracked pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
juice on 1 lemon
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon capers
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup toasted pecans
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
small handful coarsely chopped fresh parsley
large handful salad greens
Bring water to a boil. Season water with a good pinch of salt and add dried couscous. Cook until couscous is tender through, about 12 minutes. Drain couscous from water (there may only be a bit of water remaining), and rinse couscous in cool water. Pour into a medium bowl.
Add cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice to the couscous. Stir to combine. Add mustard, capers, and lemon zest and stir to combine, making sure the mustard is evenly distributed. Finally, stir in the pecans, blueberries, and parsley. Season to taste.
Chill until ready to serve. When ready to serve, toss in a handful of salad greens and toss to combine.
Heather
This salad was simply divine and just simple!! It’s probably my new favorite salad, I ate it for half of a week, it was so good!! Thanks again for sharing!
katie
A little too lemony for me but my husband loved it. He kept asking me to figure out something else with the couscous. Love the blog, btw
The Queen of Dreaming
Yummy!!! Can’t wait to try it!!
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