Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Israeli Couscous Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing

I was watching the Food Network a couple weeks ago (sitting down with a bagel from the local place, a cup of coffee, and Food Network/HGTV has become a weekend morning tradition) when I saw Giada de Laurentiis prepare this recipe: Israeli couscous salad with smoked paprika dressing.
I've never been a particular Giada fan--we have disparate opinions on eating meat and frying things, among other points of culinary contention--but this recipe I absolutely had to make. I love Mediterranean salads in general, and this one made use of two of my favorite ingredients: smoked paprika and Israeli couscous, also known as ptitim.


For the most part, I made the salad as written--but I couldn't help making a few little changes:
  • more spinach (and as you can see, the salad still isn't all that green)
  • fewer cherry tomatoes (just not crazy about them)
  • half as much cheese (it's a salad, after all)
  • a can of rinsed and drained garbanzo beans (for extra protein and tastiness)
  • whole wheat couscous rather than white (since I had some on hand, and since I prefer the flavor)

The finished product was wonderful, savory and smoky and sweet. I think the salad could use a little kick to balance out the two types of sweet pepper (roasted and paprika), so next time I'll add a pinch of cayenne, or maybe some Aleppo pepper, but there will definitely be a next time.


1 comment:

  1. Looks amazing! I'm going to see if we have whole wheat ptitim here in town, but I don't remember seeing it. I can order it online. And I agree with you about the cherry tomatoes.

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