Healthy Eating 101

Summer Gardens are Ready and Willing to Give you their Best!

Summer gardens are ready and willing to give you their best as the warm sun rays kiss your garden! It’s that delightful time of year when fresh produce bursts into life, gracing our kitchen tables with vibrant colors and tantalizing flavors. There’s something extraordinary about harvesting vegetables and herbs straight from your own backyard, knowing that the journey from garden to plate is only a few steps away. Today, we’ll celebrate the abundance of our garden by creating a delicious recipe featuring the star ingredient of this Israeli couscous recipe, complemented by the freshness of our just-picked produce of Japanese cucumbers, grape tomatoes, green onions, basil, and fresh thyme right from the Edible Garden at the Atlanta Botanical Garden! Let’s dig into this tasty little Summer Garden Israeli Couscous Salad with what you have in your summer garden!

Summer Garden Israeli Couscous

Chef Megan

Summer Garden Israeli Couscous brings together the best of summer garden favorites like cucumber, tomatoes, green onions, basil, and thyme. Easy to make this pearled couscous combined with all the best of summer!

5 from 1 vote

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Course Salad, Side Dish, veggie side

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 6

Ingredients

  

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• 1 cup pearled Israeli couscous pan toasted
• 1 lemon zested
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 2 cloves fresh garlic minced
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 seedless cucumber peeled, sliced, seeded, and quartered
• 1- pint grape tomatoes halved
• 3 green onions finely chopped
• 1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled
• 10 large leaves fresh basil chiffonade cut
• ¼ cup toasted pine nuts

Instructions

 

• In a 2-quart saucepan, sauté 1 cup couscous over medium heat to lightly toast until fragrant. Slowly add 1 ½ cups of water to pan and return to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
• In medium bowl, whisk together lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, thyme, sea salt, and pepper. Drizzle vinaigrette over couscous and toss to coat. Add diced cucumber, tomatoes, scallions, feta, fresh herbs, and toasted pine nuts. Toss to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Keyword garden couscous, israeli couscous salad, summer garden pearled couscous

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