Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Chickpeas

This salad is healthy (uses whole wheat couscous) and flavorful (sweet roasted vegetables and tart lemon). If you don’t like lemon, you could make your own balsamic dressing (see below) or use Newman’s Own Balsamic in place of the lemon dressing used in this recipe. If you don’t like cauliflower, you can replace the cauliflower with any root vegetable (squash, parsnips, celeriac, etc.). I may try that soon. I love roasted root vegetables.

Ingredients

1 pound carrots, sliced 3/4 inch thick on the diagonal
1 head cauliflower (3 pounds), cored and cut into florets
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup whole-wheat couscous
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from 3 lemons)
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
6 scallions, thinly sliced
5 ounces baby arugula (I use romaine)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place carrots and cauliflower on a rimmed baking sheet; toss with cumin and 2 tablespoons oil. Season with salt and pepper. Spread half the vegetables on a second baking sheet. Roast until browned and tender, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating sheets and tossing halfway through. Cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/4 cups salted water to a boil. Stir in couscous; cover and remove from heat. Let stand until tender, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork; set aside to cool, uncovered.
Make dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together lemon zest and juice and remaining tablespoon oil; season with salt and pepper.
In a large bowl, combine roasted vegetables with couscous, chickpeas, and scallions. Place arugula on a serving platter, and drizzle with 1 tablespoon dressing. Add remaining dressing to couscous mixture, and toss; serve over arugula.

The original recipe can be found here: Couscous Salad with Roasted Vegetables & Chickpeas

Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette (if you don’t like the lemon dressing in the recipe above):