Israeli cous cous salad

To go along with the chicken tagine that I made up in Whistler I made some Israeli cous cous salad.  I have seen this on the cooking shows on TV a lot but I had never actually had any.  So this was a great opportunity to give it a try. It is like regular cous cous a pasta, but the balls are much larger than regurlar cous cous resembeling tapioca if you remember that from your child hood.

This fed 4 with really no left overs

1 cup israeli couscous (you could of course use regular cous cous as well)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
3 garlic cloves
1/4 cup parsley, Italian flat leaf, chopped
Small bunch of mint leaves, slivered
1 bunch of green onion chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 cup snap peas cut up


Cut cherry tomatoes in half and place cut side up on a foil lined roasting pan,  along with unpeeled cloves of garlic.

Roast in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until you see bits of brown around the tomatoes. No need to turn. Hint - you are roasting with the cut side up to allow more liquid to evaporate from the tomatoes.

Meanwhile, cook Israeli couscous according to package directions. Another grain could be substituted, such as bulgar or barley. You should have about 3 cups cooked. Allow to cool slightly before combining. This is the package of cous cous we used, as you can see they called it Mediterranean cous cous for some reason, when it is normally called Israeli cous cous,  even though it was actually made in Israel

Make dressing: combine olive oil, vinegar, soft insides of roasted garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together.

Combine tomatoes, herbs, and onion with the dressing.

Toss in the cous cous and refrigerate until ready to serve.  This went very well with the chicken tagine.  If the chicken did not have olives in it, I would probably have added them to the salad.