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This Mediterranean Couscous is filled with artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, feta and other goodies. It’s a snap to prepare and makes a fantastic side dish for dinner, or even a main dish lunch. And, it makes a great pot luck dish too!
A few weeks ago while trying to eat up food in my pantry to prepare for our move to Florida, I quickly threw together a Mediterranean flavored inspired Couscous. Wow, was it delicious, so much so that I had to make it again to photograph and share here on the blog. It’s a perfect side dish with any grilled (or baked) fish or meats, and perfectly wonderful on it’s own as a vegetarian main dish. It earns bonus points its my book because it can be served at room temperature, which makes for a great dish to take along to a pot luck (think spring/summer picnics…we’ll be there soon!).
I had one of those big jars of marinated artichoke hearts from Costco so I used about half of them in this dish along with some sun dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta cheese, garbanzo beans and chopped almonds. I was going to use pine nuts but couldn’t find any so almonds it was. However, I think any nut would be good… gives it a really nice (and needed) crunch factor. I didn’t use any dressing with the couscous, just some of the artichoke marinade and additional seasonings but if you want, you could easily add some vinaigrette or greek salad dressing if you’d like a “wetter” couscous.
This Mediterranean Couscous is one of those flexible recipes so feel free to adjust the amounts of any of the ingredients to your liking. This is just a general guide of how I made it. You could even toss in some cooked chicken if you want. And, as always, taste and adjust seasonings, you might feel like you need to add a little salt & pepper or more greek seasoning. I added some of my favorite balsamic glaze (balsamic reduction) which was fantastic on this…well, who am I kidding, I love that stuff on everything!
Mediterranean Couscous
Ingredients
- 1 10oz. box couscous
- 2 C. chicken (or Veg) broth
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 Tbls. olive oil
- 1/2 C. sun dried tomatoes, roughly chopped*
- 1 1/2 C. marinated artichoke hearts (I sliced them each in half and used some marinade as well)
- 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- 20 Kalamata olives, sliced in half
- 1 4oz. block feta cheese, diced
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1/3 C. chopped nuts
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 1 tsp. greek seasoning
- handful of chopped, fresh Italian parsley
- Juice of 1 lemon (use zest too if you like)
- salt & pepper, to taste
- Drizzle of balsamic glaze, if desired
Instructions
- Add chicken broth, garlic and olive oil to small sauce pan. Bring to boil. Add couscous, turn off heat, cover and let sit as directed on package directions.
- Fluff couscous with fork, then add to large bowl.
- Add remaining ingredients to couscous and stir to combine.
- Taste and adjust seasonings or drizzle with balsamic glaze, as desired.
Notes
*I used sun dried tomatoes not packed in a jar with oil so I added them to the chicken broth to plump up a bit. If you’re using sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, just chop them up and add them with the artichoke hearts and other ingredients.
No need to rinse artichoke hearts or sun dried tomatoes. I added about 1/4 c. of the marinade from the artichokes as a dressing. If you want a “wetter” couscous, add more, or some greek salad dressing or vinaigrette.
