Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil Couscous Salad

"A lovely light salad from Cooking Light! You’re used to seeing the cheese/tomato/basil combination, but have you had it with couscous before? Delicious! Prep time includes marinating."
 
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photo by Mildred D. photo by Mildred D.
photo by Mildred D.
photo by Fearless Baker photo by Fearless Baker
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
5
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ingredients

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directions

  • In a large bowl combine the tomato, mozzarella, shallots, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and garlic, toss well then refrigerate, covered, to marinate for 30 minutes.
  • In a saucepan bring the water to a boil and gradually stir in the couscous; remove from the stove, cover, and set aside for 5 minutes.
  • With a fork, fluff the couscous then let cool.
  • Add the cooled couscous and chopped basil to the tomato mixture in the bowl and toss.
  • Garnish with whole basil leaves and serve.
  • Note: part-skim mozzarella cheese can be substituted.

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Reviews

  1. Fantastic! I skipped the shallots but added chopped avocado. DELICIOUS and SUPER EASY. I'm going to make this again tonight.
     
  2. A lovely light-but-satisfying summer salad. I added more lemon (1/2 lemon = maybe 1 tablespoon?) and more basil (maybe 1/3 cup rather than 1/4 -- a bunch, at any rate), but we tend to go for stronger flavors. A great way to use our newly-ripened tomatoes!
     
  3. I used Israeli couscous, cut thc shallots down to 2 tbs, fresh lemon juice, and used a whole clove of garlic, next time I would only use maybe a half. The garlic overwhelms the salad a bit. Other than that I LOVE this recipe. It's hard for me to say if the pepper could be cut down to 1/8tsp because the garlic is so heavy. I can't decide if the heat is from the garlic or the pepper. The flavor is amazing. I love the salad before I even added the couscous. I could eat that alone! Thanks for sharing it's so very good!
     
  4. Absolutely delicious! Great side dish and can be served hot or cold. I did need to add more lemon juice, salt and pepper because it was a tiny bit bland without it. Thank you....will be a regular recipe for us!
     
  5. Oh Fantastic! I make a marinaded mozarella, tomato and basil salad fairly frequently but it's never enough - what a fabulous way to make it stretch and savour the flavours! (usually the oil and dressing isn't used unless mopped up with bread) Took it to work for lunch! (Oh and I never measure so I do a drizzle of this and a bit of that and it was PERFECT!) XX Thanks Jules!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I have mixed feelings on this recipe. I really enjoyed the flavor and the use of couscous (I used Israeli) but I thought the tomatoes made it a little watery. Next time I think I will use italian tomatoes instead of slicer tomatoes and drain some of the liquid. It was a great side dish to my grilled veggie paninis but it didn't hold well so I wouldn't recommend serving it after it has sat for a while.
     
  2. I love this recipe! I occasionally enjoy switching things up by using feta cheese instead of mozzarella, and I found that flat parsley is a great substitute for guests that don't like basil. I also add more lemon as I like a little more zest in mine. Thanks so much!
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<p>It's simply this: I love to cook! :) <br /><br />I've been hanging out on the internet since the early days and have collected loads of recipes. I've tried to keep the best of them (and often the more unusual) and look forward to sharing them with you, here. <br /><br />I am proud to say that I have several family members who are also on RecipeZaar! <br /><br />My husband, here as <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/39857>Steingrim</a>, is an excellent cook. He rarely uses recipes, though, so often after he's made dinner I sit down at the computer and talk him through how he made the dishes so that I can get it down on paper. Some of these recipes are in his account, some of them in mine - he rarely uses his account, though, so we'll probably usually post them to mine in the future. <br /><br />My sister <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/65957>Cathy is here as cxstitcher</a> and <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/62727>my mom is Juliesmom</a> - say hi to them, eh? <br /><br />Our <a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/member/379862>friend Darrell is here as Uncle Dobo</a>, too! I've been typing in his recipes for him and entering them on R'Zaar. We're hoping that his sisters will soon show up with their own accounts, as well. :) <br /><br />I collect cookbooks (to slow myself down I've limited myself to purchasing them at thrift stores, although I occasionally buy an especially good one at full price), and - yes, I admit it - I love FoodTV. My favorite chefs on the Food Network are Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, Mario Batali, and Giada De Laurentiis. I'm not fond over fakey, over-enthusiastic performance chefs... Emeril drives me up the wall. I appreciate honesty. Of non-celebrity chefs, I've gotta say that that the greatest influences on my cooking have been my mother, Julia Child, and my cooking instructor Chef Gabriel Claycamp at Seattle's Culinary Communion. <br /><br />In the last couple of years I've been typing up all the recipes my grandparents and my mother collected over the years, and am posting them here. Some of them are quite nostalgic and are higher in fat and processed ingredients than recipes I normally collect, but it's really neat to see the different kinds of foods they were interested in... to see them either typewritten oh-so-carefully by my grandfather, in my grandmother's spidery handwriting, or - in some cases - written by my mother years ago in fountain pen ink. It's like time travel. <br /><br />Cooking peeve: food/cooking snobbery. <br /><br />Regarding my black and white icon (which may or may not be the one I'm currently using): it the sea-dragon tattoo that is on the inside of my right ankle. It's also my personal logo.</p>
 
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