Below are the ingredients.
Israeli Couscous: This is also referred to as pearled couscous. It is essentially a pearled pasta. However, it absorbs water a bit more and is beautifully fluffed when cooked. It’s perfect for warm or cold salads, and it is fantastic to make in large batches and keep in your refrigerator for leftovers. I always like to dry toast the couscous before adding any liquid. The pearls are placed in the saucepot with no oil or butter and toasted over the heat. This is called “blooming.” It will bring out the natural sweetness in the couscous and give it a fabulous “nutty” flavor.
Water: You can either use water, vegetable, or chicken stock as your liquid to cook the couscous. The dish will be delicious with either. Obviously, the stock will give it a bit more flavor.
Salt: I always use kosher salt for all my cooking and baking. Adding the salt to the water with the couscous will help the cooking process. The salt acts like a chemical agent, cooking the couscous from the inside out. Salt is also needed to “season to taste” after everything has been cooked and added. I never give exact measurements when I state “season to taste” in the instructions. This is because everyone has slightly different palates. I believe it is CRITICAL to taste your food before completion and before serving it to anyone else. During this final step, as written in the recipe, the more you cook, the better you will become at defining your palate and seasoning a dish to its full potential.
Cherry Tomatoes: I love using Cherry tomatoes for this salad. They are so sweet, they almost taste like candy after they’ve been roasted. Also, the preparation is so easy, as they are just cut in half.
Garlic: Roasted garlic is pretty sensational on just about anything! The trick to proper roasting is to slice off the top of the head, so just a bit of every clove is exposed. This way, the heat can penetrate every clove. The drizzling of olive oil helps moisten the garlic and provides moisture for roasting. By wrapping the lobbed off garlic head in the tin foil, you are creating a steam pouch. This also helps the cooking process, and you’ll get perfectly browned and tender garlic. If you did not wrap the garlic in the tin foil and place it directly on the sheet tray with the tomatoes, it would burn from having too much heat exposure. After the garlic has roasted, it should be so tender that you should be able to press down on the skin and squeeze out each roasted clove.
Sweet Corn: Fresh sweet corn in the summer is heavenly! After it is steamed, it is basically like vegetable candy.
Green Bell Peppers: You can add any color Bell pepper that you have on hand. I happen to have an abundance of green peppers in my garden. I like to slice them in cubes that are roughly the same size as the couscous pearls and the corn kernels. That way, you have a uniform veggie composition in every bite.
Basil and Parsley: I chose to use these two herbs, as I love them paired with the sweet corn and roasted tomatoes. They are also growing in abundance in my garden. However, this warm salad will work with just about any herb you have on hand.
Olive Oil: Using a good quality olive oil is preferred for this warm salad. The flavor of the olive oil is used to coat the couscous pearls and directly adds flavor to the composition.
Butter: I always use unsalted butter for my cooking and baking. I feel it’s essential to be able to add my salt directly.
Warm Roasted Tomato, Corn, And Pepper Israeli Couscous
Ingredients
Couscous
Instructions
Couscous
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the couscous in a medium saucepot and dry toast over moderate heat for 2-3 minutes until you smell a wafting of nuttiness.
- Add the water and salt and bring mixture to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes until all the liquid has been absorbed and the couscous is fluffy.
- While the couscous is cooking, line a sheet tray and place the tomatoes down in one layer. Drizzle the tomatoes with a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Place the head of garlic on a piece of tinfoil and drizzle with olive oil. Wrap tightly and add it to the sheet tray with the tomatoes.
- Place the tray in the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes until the tomatoes are slightly browned and blistered on top, and the garlic is tender and browned inside the foil packet. (Note- if the tomatoes are ready and the garlic still needs additional time…just take the tray out and place the garlic foil patch back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes).
- Place the warm cooked couscous into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the roasted tomatoes, corn, peppers, basil. Parsley, the ¼ cup olive oil, and butter and mix thoroughly to combine.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the skin and roughly chop it into a paste. Add the paste into the couscous as well.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
