Golden Couscous Salad

For pasta salads using couscous, I prefer to use the giant sized variety known as Israeli couscous, and that is what I did when making the "Golden Couscous Salad" (page 86). This did require me to change up the recipe directions somewhat because when I cook Israeli couscous, I boil and drain it like other pastas, rather than letting all the cooking liquid soak in like you do with rice. For that reason, I added the turmeric to the boiling water in order to impart the golden color onto the couscous. There are many shades of golden in this salad, including the turmeric, yellow bell pepper, carrot, apricots, and golden raisins. Even the chickpeas are a bit golden. This salad is just bursting with color and flavor. I did have to improvise on the dressing ingredients, because as written, the recipe calls for ¼ cup olive oil. Instead of that, I combined 2 tablespoons each of sherry, light veggie broth, and lemon juice. Fantastic! This salad holds up well in the refrigerator, so we were able to enjoy it several times over 3-4 days.

 

"Keeping it McDougall Friendly" checklist:

ü Substitute 2 tablespoons each of sherry, light veggie broth, and lemon juice for the ¼ cup olive oil.

ü If you can find it, use the whole wheat variety of couscous. I've seen this in the small cut variety, but so far, not in the Israeli variety.