Israeli Italian Couscous

This tastes like a fresh summer salad with the tomatoes and the bright taste of the basil and balsamic. It makes a perfect lunch. Today, I am dreaming of hot summer days picking handfuls of fresh basil and warm tomatoes from my backyard.

Israeli Couscous is a pearl like pasta. I have added the flavours of Italy to my pasta salad, You can easily make this completely vegetarian by using vegetable stock and leaving out the cheese if you do not eat dairy.

What you need:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup Israeli couscous
• 2 cups broth or water

•  tomato
• 5-6 basil leaves
• 5-6 bocconcini cheese 
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• lemon juice (1/2 lemon squeezed)
• 2 green onions
• 1/2 cup grated zucchini
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp sliced red onion
• 1/2 - 1 garlic clove crushed 
• salt and pepper

This is the way the Israeli Couscous looks in a package. Regular couscous is very fine and a completely different product.

Step 1: in a pot fry couscous in olive oil for 1 minute. Add broth or water and cook approx 20 minutes until cooked. Drain any liquid leftover. Cool.

Step 2: chop and grate all ingredients.  Tomatoes, green onions, red onions, fresh basil leaves all get chopped. Grate the zucchini and chop the bocconcini- I have used a medium sized bocconcini but you can actually buy tiny little ones that would work perfectly here.

Step 3: combine all ingredients.

Step 4: add the dressing ingredients directly to the bowl. Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Toss and serve.

The fresh basil with the balsamic and lemon go perfectly with the pearls of pasta and tomato. It tastes great the next day and makes a great lunch.