Fork it Over: Israeli Couscous Salad

Today's Fork it Over comes courtesy of a much more talented chef-slash-blogger than I: Joy the Baker. She is one of my favorite food blogs to follow - although, scrolling through her posts immediately makes me ravenous, which is not good at a place with free food. Hello, portion control. Anyway, I tried this recipe of hers this summer, and my friend Amy tweeted at me post-haste raving about it (yes, that was a little pat-on-the-back of me to mention it, but you have to have some of those moments once in a while!), so I thought I'd finally share it with all of you. Go here for the original Joy the Baker recipe, or follow these easy steps...! I swear they're easy.

Ingredients:

- israeli couscous (the big kind, for those who don't know what it is) - spinach leaves - blueberries - pecans - shredded parmesan - capers - whole grain mustard - 1 lemon plus zest - parsley - olive oil, salt, pepper

Sorry for the blurry photo, but you need at least one arty shot of all the ingredients together! Right? Right.

Cook 1 cup of the couscous (it yields A LOT, I promise) according to your brand's directions. Set aside in a strainer when cooked and rinse cold water over it to cool. Leave it in the strainer while you do all of these other things.

Collect and chop up/zest your: 1/2 cup parmesan, 1/4-1/3 cup olive oil, juice of 1 whole lemon plus some zest set aside, 1/4 cup chopped parsley.

Mix 2 tablespoons mustard, zest, and 1 tablespoon (or more if you prefer) capers in a bowl.

Collect 1/2 cup blueberries (I would add more next time I make this) and 1/2 cup pecans. You can toast the pecans in advance if you like - I think I was too hungry that day to do so, but I may try this again tonight and toast those puppies!

Go get your couscous - it should approximately look like little round pastas! Like above.

Mix the parmesan, salt and pepper, olive oil, and couscous in a big bowl.

Add your other bowl of mustard, capers, and zest.

Finally, add the blueberries, pecans, and parsley.

Mix mix mix... and plate!

Top some fresh spinach leaves with this "salad" and you get an incredibly easy, incredibly tangy, delicious dish.

The best part about this is you can adjust any of the flavors or ingredients to suit you - because there's little-to-no cooking or baking involved, you don't have to worry about messing up the chemistry of the ingredients. Just pick what you like, and throw it in! Sometimes that's the most fun way to cook.

Maybe I'll make this again tonight...any suggestions for what else I could put in it?

Thanks again to Joy the Baker for sharing her original recipe!