3/30/11

Whole Wheat Pearl Couscous with Roasted Sweet Peppers and Tomatoes



I love colorful dishes. Often times, when I'm thinking of what things I want to add to a dish, I think in terms of color first. Take this dish for instance - I saw these beautiful red and yellow sweet mini peppers at the market and decided I couldn't leave without them. At that moment in time I wasn't sure what I'd make but I knew I wanted them.


Mini Sweet Peppers


Roasting them sounded good because I love how it brings out the natural sweetness as they caramelize. Same with cherry tomatoes. Yum.


To Roast: Toss with olive oil, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, then roast in oven at 450 degrees F
until tender and browned, about 30 minutes.


So I had decided to roast the peppers and tomatoes but then what? Well, I've had this whole wheat pearl couscous sitting in my pantry for quite awhile just waiting for the right accompaniments to bring it to life. This round-shaped couscous once cooked, is tender like pasta. It's hearty, nutritious, and simply delicious. And it cooks pretty quickly, too.




Now, I was still thinking in terms of "color", so in my mind of course it needed some green. I was thinking some nice Italian parsley would be wonderful but the only thing I had on hand was cilantro. No problem! It worked perfectly.


Lastly, I just topped it with a little Greek feta (goat cheese would have been lovely, too) and I was in business. The best impromptu lunch in a long, long while.




Whole Wheat Pearl Couscous with Roasted Sweet Peppers and Tomatoes

Serves 2-3 (more as a side dish)

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat pearl couscous, prepared according to package directions
1 5-ounce package sweet mini peppers, stemmed and split
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup crumbled Greek feta cheese to garnish
crushed red pepper (optional)

Toss peppers and tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, then roast in oven at 450 degrees F for approximately 30 minutes or until tender and lightly browned.

Toss roasted peppers and tomatoes with cooked couscous, then gently mix in cilantro. Top with crumbled feta cheese and crushed red pepper, if desired. Serve warm or refrigerate and serve cold. It's equally delicious both ways.



11 comments:

  1. Beautiful and Delicious....wonderful and colorful meal!!Yummy!

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  2. This looks so fresh and tasty! I love roasting tomatoes & peppers for dishes! It takes the flavors to a whole new level!

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  3. That looks like a wonderfully tasty & healthy meal... Congrats on Top 9!

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  4. This looks so delicious! I can't get pearl couscous here but I think I'm going to try it with lentils. They look like lentils anyway! Thanks and congrats on Top 9!!

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  5. Yum! This looks fantastic, I love that you can get wholewheat pearl cous cous.

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  6. Lovely!!! This will be a frequent visitor to our house this summer. Thank you!
    I haven't noticed the whole wheat pearl cous cous, but that brand of rice is at one of my local stores. I bet they carry the cous cous too.

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  7. Now that is one inspiring good-looking meal.

    The Souper

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  8. I'm not a fan of the texture of reg couscous but had a sample of a similar pearl couscous salad---to die for! Had no idea how to cook, so willl definitely try this soon. Yum. thank you!

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  9. Those peppers are just gorgeous, as is this dish! It looks and sounds so tasty! Thank you for linking it to Let's Do Brunch. The linky is up now for this week so I hope you will come along and join in again if you haven't already :)

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  10. I just bumped into your blog and I really liked it - great recipes YUM YUM.
    We would like to follow your blog if you like mine plz follow mine :)

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