Israeli Couscous "Circle Salad"

A pasta salad that gets its name from its round ingredients. MORE+ LESS-

By The Food in My Beard

May 11, 2017

Ingredients

cup Israeli couscous

can chickpeas

1 1/2

cups peas

1/2

cup pine nuts

package grape tomatoes

package pearl mozzarella

lemons

1/4

cup red wine vinegar

1/4

cup olive oil

handful parsley

small onion

clove garlic

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1

Bring salted water to a boil. Toast raw couscous in a dry frying pan until browned. Pour into boiling water and cook like pasta until tender. Strain.
2

Dice onion and garlic. Add the oil and onions to the frying pan and cook until onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic followed by the peas and cook 2 minutes while stirring. Add the vinegar to the pan and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
3

Mix the couscous with the pea mixture. Add the lemon juice, pine nuts, strained/rinsed chickpeas, and tomatoes. Mix well. Allow to cool.
4

Before serving, add the chopped parsley and mozzarella.

No nutrition information available for this recipe

As springtime approaches, my mind wanders with pasta salad ideas. That’s right, for some reason pasta salad says spring to me. It’s the perfect thing to bring to a BBQ or picnic of any sort, everyone loves it, and the possibilities are endless once you get past that mayo-laden variety that's so common. When developing recipes, I usually start with flavor combinations. Sometimes, however, I like to start with texture ideas, colors – or in this case, shapes. There is something very interesting about a bowl of food with 5 different ingredients that all have the same shape and texture. This circle salad is filled with tasty round food. This is a super flavorful and healthy pasta salad that would be impressive at any picnic!