Curried Couscous Salad

Ever have one of those weeks (or two, or three) that is just non-stop activity, where you barely have time to breathe, much less cook?  That's how it has been around my house for the past couple of weeks.  The closer we get to the end of the school year, the more we seem to have going on.  This past week was absolutely crazy!  I did not cook a single family meal all week, unless you count the one night I scrambled a few eggs for my son on his way out the door to youth group and reheated leftover spagetti sauce for my daughter.  I will admit to having those weeks when we rely on take-out, even though it is expensive and pretty unhealthy.

Today, I have had a little time to breathe (and cook), so have spent a couple of hours in the kitchen prepping some foods for the coming week and cooking a few things for lunches.  I have sliced some lean pork for stir-fry, and mixed up some ground chicken for kefta meatballs, along with tzatziki.  I decided to make a salad to go along side the meatballs, and dug a recipe out of my file for Curried Couscous and Garbanzo Bean Salad, which I found on Epicurious a couple of years ago.  The first time I made it, I did according to the recipe, however, this time I made some of my own modifications.  The original recipe calls for cooking the vegetables in curry-spiced water, but I decided to roast mine instead.  I added the curry powder to the dressing, which makes for a lighter, less intense curry flavor, but still very tasty.  If I were to do this again, I would probably toast the curry powder in a pan before adding it to the dressing.  The original recipe calls for this, and I meant to do it myself, but forgot.  I did not have any fresh ginger, so used powdered ginger instead.  Finally, instead of the white wine vinegar that the recipe calls for, I used a mixture apple cider vinegar and lemon juice.  It works just fine, but feel free to use white wine vinegar if you want.

Curried Couscous Salad
Adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2004 via Epicurious.com
Makes about 6 servings

6 cups vegetables, cut into bite sized pieces (I used carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, and onions)
1 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 10 oz box plain couscous, prepared according to package directions
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
4-5 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Dressing:
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
 2 tbsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spread vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil.  Mix to coat vegetables.  Roast 10 mintues, stir, and roast another 5 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

2.   Toast curry powder in a pan over medium heat for a minute or so, or until fragrant.  Place in a bowl and add vinegar, lemon juice, ginger, and olive oil.  Whisk or stir to incorporate.

3.  Place cooked couscous in a large bowl and fluff with a fork to separate and break up any clumps.  Add vegetables and garbanzo beans and toss toss gently.

4.  Drizzle dressing over salad, add salt and pepper to taste and toss gently to incorporate.  Cool to room temperature.  Add green onions and feta cheese and toss.

Serve either at room temperature or chilled.  The flavors will meld and become a little more intense with time in the refrigerator.