Toasted Israeli Couscous with Grilled Vegetables

We’ve been having some fabulously rainy weather here in our part of the South. After such a parchingly dry summer, it’s the kind of rain you just want to go party in. Pull out the colorful umbrellas and rubber boots, fire up the grill – or bonfire – and dance away in the mud puddles.

It reminds me of our rainy stay on the Cinque Terre, Italy.

I’ve been re-editing my Taste of Europe Series (since, after moving from Blogger to WordPress, the pictures are all too small) and going through pictures of our Europe travels. Sigh…good memories!

Love this one of the locals hanging out with their colorful umbrellas!

Anyway, back to our rainy day party!

We already have the Honey Mustard Marinated, Butterflied Grilled Chicken on the menu.

The grill’s still hot and we’ve got a pot of steamy, rich chicken stock simmering on the stove.

And the zucchini and red peppers are cut in half and quarters, respectively, and are soaking up the sea salt I sprinkled on them about 15 minutes ago.

I found the inspiration to this recipe over on the Food Network – Bobby Flay’s Toasted Israeli Couscous Salad with Grilled Summer Vegetables . However, his recipe was all together too time consuming, considering I found it shortly before dinner. Not to mention I was missing some key ingredients.

So here’s my take –

2 zucchini, sliced in half long ways

2 red pepper, quartered

3 c. Israeli couscous

chicken stock to cook couscous

2 c. cherry tomatoes, quartered

fresh basil, sliced

sea salt & pepper to taste

olive oil

Put a tablespoon of olive oil into a pot. Add couscous and a dash of salt.

Toast on medium heat until couscous is golden. Cover with chicken stock and let cook until al dente. Drain remaining liquid, toss with olive oil – to keep from sticking and add flavor – add tomatoes and basil and set aside.

Just have to share my Blue Basil with you here! It’s a beautiful plant and adds a nice dimension to an herb/flower garden.

Brush vegetables with olive oil and grill briefly. A few minutes will do depending on the heat of your grill. Basically, you just want some  grill marks showing.

Cut in half again length wise, then cut into bit-sized pieces. Add to couscous.

Salt and pepper to taste and it’s ready to serve!

So what’s your favorite rainy day memory? Was it spent in a different country or at home on your front porch?

Did you soak it all in? :D

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