Spring Pea Feta Couscous Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
A spring Feta Couscous Salad that’s light and refreshing! Loaded with feta cheese, fresh parsley, sweet peas, and nutty walnuts and drizzled with the most delicious homemade basil vinaigrette! Serve it as a side salad or the main course.
Servings: 8 sides or 4 main
Calories: 281kcal
Ingredients
Couscous Salad:
- ½ cup uncooked couscous not pearl couscous
- ½ cup water or chicken broth
- 1 pound frozen peas
- ½ cup chopped parsley
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
Basil Vinaigrette:
- 1 cup packed basil leaves
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 shallot cut in half
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- kosher salt and black pepper
Instructions
- COUSCOUS: In a medium saucepan, bring the cooking liquid to boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the couscous, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Fluff with fork.
- PEAS: While the couscous is cooking, heat a large pot of water to boil. In a medium bowl, create an ice bath with lots of ice and water; set aside. Add peas to the boiling water and blanch for 1-2 minutes or until bright green. Drain in a colander, and drop the peas into the ice water bath. Drain before adding to salad.
- COMBINE: In a serving bowl, combine the fluffed couscous, peas, parsley, feta, and walnuts.
- BASIL VINAIGRETTE: Combine the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a blender, using a big pinch of salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper as desired. Add additional honey if you want your dressing to be sweet, the 1 tablespoon was enough for us.
- ASSEMBLY: If you want to serve this salad warm, dress immediately with the desired amount of dressing and serve. To serve cold, refrigerate the dressing and the salad ingredients separately for at least 1-2 hours. Toss half the dressing with the salad and adjust with additional dressing, salt, and pepper to taste.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 281kcal | Carbohydrates: 18g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 21g | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 6g
