10 May 2009

Chickpea and Couscous salad

All it takes is a week without Internet access to make me realise two things:
1) I look up far too much trivial nonsense
2) I spend far too much time trivial nonsense

The number of times I wanted to grab the laptop to look up everything from the
renewal status of Life (No: they didn't but at least the series finale made sense) to my area's hardiness zone (Yes: my front patch of dirt really really needs tending. No: I don't know what I'm doing) to the G&S version of Baby Got Back (Yes: really).

Zippy's back and she's behaving (mostly). They couldn't replicate the problem (sound familiar, anyone) but they made her a mostly cat-hair free machine.

Even though the weather's warmed up a bit, I'm still daydreaming about the Medeterranean. Normally my thoughts turn to France, Italy, Morrocco and their neighbours in winter's depths or when mired in muck...But my mind still wanders to my idealised world of azure skies, hilltop villages, fields of lavender and shorelines dotted with beach umbrella'd owners spying lapping waves (and each other).


Since my bank balance hasn't magically grown to accommodate a jaunt, my kitchen will have to allow a virtual trip.

My recent reacquaintance with couscous was a happy accident. Meandering the bulk food shop aisles saw me returning with a bag of teeny wheaty granules. Usually it's a side dish, sometimes prepared with dried fruits, it's accompanied roast pork and chicken. After a few meals, when the meat and other sides have long disappeared, I'm usually left with anywhere with an orphaned third- to half-cup of couscous.

Waste not, want not.

Like most salads, this one is thrown together with whatever I've found in my fridge or pantry. And like most salads, I don't measure when I combine ingredients, so just use it as a rough guide. The result is delicious paired with merguez sausages or eaten on its own for a deskside lunch.

Chickpea and Couscous salad
1/2 c cooked couscous
1c drained chickpeas
1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2-3 sundried tomatoes, chopped
3 Tbsps chopped olives
1/2 onion, slivered
1 garlic clove, minced
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
salt, pepper


cheers!
jasmine

What I'm reading:
The Children's Book by A.S Byatt


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4 comments:

Deetsa said...

Ahhh... a dish right up my alley. I'm sure it went really well with the merguez. Sure wish I had some merguez right now. mmmmmm

NKP said...

I love a good couscous and chickpea salad! So versatile. I have recently discovered that you can get whole wheat couscous and that it tastes pretty much the same as regular.

Fitness Foodie said...

Love the combo of chickpeas with couscous, a great spring or summer time salad.

Rumela said...

I made this for dinner last night, and it was so good! Even my meat-loving husband liked it. I'm trying to do several meatless meals chickpea and couscous salad a week both for our health and our budget, so I really appreciate easy, veggie packed meals. Great blog!