Couscous & Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

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My husband and I have been building our dream home for the better part of the year and we realized very early on that gluten filled sandwiches and traditional lunch options were just not going to give him the sustained energy he needed for all the daily manual labor he’s outputting. I’ve been making him a variety of hearty salads and this is the latest which while it does contain gluten in the form of couscous, is loaded with a ton of veggies and has been a delicious dinner option too for hot summer nights!

Salad Ingredients

Makes 4 Servings

1 cup pearl couscous

1 Tbl plant based butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 red pepper diced

1/4 red onion diced

1/4 cup minced kalamata olives

1/4 cup minced pepperocini peppers

1/2 small cucumber diced

1/4 cup green cabbage diced

4 cups fresh arugula roughly chopped

1.5 cups shelled edamame steamed and cooled

  • Optional Toasted sliced almonds to top it all off

Salt & Pepper to taste

Dressing Ingredients

1 Tbl Aged Sherry Vinegar or any mild/sweet vinegar

1 Tbl Pepperocini juice from the jar of peppers

6 Tbl Olive Oil

Juice from 1/2 Fresh Squeezed Lemon

1 Tbl Dijon Mustard

In a medium saucepan bring 1.5 cups of water to a rolling boil, add the vegan butter and salt and couscous and reduce temp to simmer covered for 8 min. Remove from heat and fluff couscous with a fork in a large shallow bowl to cool, drizzle with a touch of olive oil to break up the pearls if it’s clumping.

Combine all dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk or in a mason jar and shake until well combined. Taste and if it’s a bit too acidic add a touch more olive oil and vice versa. Depending on the grade of your olive oil and the strength of your vinegar you may need to balance your dressing a bit. Remember the dressing will be quite potent to taste on its own but it’s coating a large bowl of salad so it won’t be as overwhelming when combined.

Mix all chopped veggies in a large bowl and add cooled couscous. Store covered and refrigerate until ready to eat, otherwise drizzle with dressing and toss to coat and serve immediately. While you can add the dressing and let the salad sit overnight , some of the vibrancy of flavor from the dressing will be absorbed by the couscous so I prefer to dress the salad just prior to eating. Top with toasted almonds for some crunch and enjoy!

As always feel free to substitute the salad veggies for any veggies you have in your fridge and the edamame can be swapped out with chickpeas or black beans as well!