~ spring couscous salad with basil vinaigrette ~

A spring couscous salad that’s light and refreshing! Loaded with feta cheese, fresh parsley, blanched peas, and chopped walnuts and drizzled with the most delicious homemade basil vinaigrette! Serve it as a side salad or the main course!

Last month I held the team tennis dinner at my home, where I cooked the entire dinner for the confirming 15 women. Thirty were invited, but it's always hard to pull that large a crowd together. I rented 6 large chafing dishes, bought 2 folding tables and cloths to cover. There were enough place settings and food incase 19 showed.

Pork Shoulder with Cilantro-Citrus Adobo
Lemon Chicken (here)
Warm Couscous Salad with Peas and Basil
Roasted Potatoes
Kale Salad

I purchase large packages at Costco.

I add chopped cucumbers, red onions, maybe some apples to the mix. It comes with a wonderful poppyseed dressing in the package along Kale, green cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chicory, roasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.

This time I also offered Gorgonzola dressing on the side or a oil/vinaigarette.

This was delicious and a big hit with the girls. I doubled the recipe since I was feeding 15-16 people. In fact, with all the leftovers, I had another dinner party the next night for 6.

All I know is, I’m utterly in love with the way fresh peas and basil vinaigrette taste together. Cooking is another passion of mine and I love searching recipes on Pinterest to create a mix-and match of tastes for my guests. And yeah, you can say I'm a Martha Stewart at home - but, I NEED you to make this salad too.

INGREDIENTS:

COUSCOUS SALAD:

½ cup uncooked couscous (not pearl couscous)

½ cup water or chicken broth

16 ounces (about 3 cups) frozen peas

½ cup chopped parsley

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

BASIL VINAIGRETTE:

1 cup packed basil leaves

½ cup olive oil

1 shallot, cut in half

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 pinch red pepper flakes

salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:

COUSCOUS SALAD: In a medium saucepan, bring the cooking liquid to boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the couscous, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork.

While the couscous is cooking, heat a large pot of water to boil. In a medium bowl, create an ice bath with lots of ice and water, set aside. Add the frozen peas to the boiling water and let blanch for 1-2 minutes or until the peas turn bright green and are warmed all the way through. Drain in a colander, and immediately drop the peas into the ice water bath so they stop cooking. Drain from ice water before adding to salad.

In a serving bowl, combine the fluffed couscous, peas, parsley, feta and walnuts.

BASIL VINAIGRETTE: Combine the ingredients for the basil vinaigrette in a blender, using a big pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until the dressing is smooth. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper to taste. You can also add additional honey if you want your dressing to be sweet, the 1 tablespoon was enough for us.

ASSEMBLY: If you want to serve this salad warm, dress immediately and serve. If you want to serve this salad cold, I suggest refrigerating the dressing and the salad ingredients separately for at least 1-2 hours before serving. Toss dressing in with the salad ingredients and adjust salt and pepper to taste.