Grilled Vegetable Salad with Couscous and Herb Pesto

This is their version.
Photo by Con Poulos, courtesy of Woman's Day online.

This is mine. Looks pretty good!

I read this and the only thing that comes to mind is, "Isn't Couscous the name of the Emperor/Llama in The Emperor's New Groove?" If you don't know what that is, it's pretty much the worst Disney movie ever. Other than that I'm sold--grilled veggies and pesto I can handle. Maybe it could use some protein though. I am a Minnesota farm girl after all--we like meat on principle.

Grilled Vegetable Salad with Couscous and Herb Pesto

Woman's Day Magazine Online, January 2015

Active: 35 minutes                        Total: 35 minutes         Level: Easy

Serves: 4                                        Cost per serving: $2.69

Ingredients:

• 1 c. couscous
• 2 c. fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 c. fresh mint leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 4 oz. Feta cheese
• 2 small zucchini
• 1 ear corn
• 2 medium portobello mushroom caps
• 1 red pepper
• 4 scallions
• 1 can chickpeas
• 2 c. baby spinach

I'm confused by this recipe. I'm pretty sure that Pesto is mostly oil, basil, and pine nuts. Hold on. Yes, Wikipedia agrees: pesto definitely made from basil and pine nuts. This has neither, so can it really be called pesto? I think not. Also, we have a problem: HyVee is completely out of fresh mint. Freeze dried mint is almost $5 for a cup. Not happening--I'll use my jarred mint and cut the amount down. Crisis averted.

I have never had couscous in my life. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what it is (something similar to rice?); how is it possible that on the night I plan on making something for the first time ever, my mom decides to make it for lunch. Yep, Lila ate couscous for lunch and is not keen on having it again. Although, she keeps saying she doesn't want meatloaf (the other half of lunch), so what do I know? Maybe she loved couscous.

Directions:

1. Heat grill to medium-high heat. Cook couscous according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, make the dressing: In a food processor, pulse the parsley and mint until chopped. Add the lemon juice, 3 Tbsp oil, 2 Tbsp water, 1/2 tsp pepper, and feta. Pulse until nearly smooth.
3. Brush the zucchini, corn, mushrooms, red pepper, and scallions with the remaining 2 Tbsp oil; season with 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper. Grill the vegetables just until tender and slightly charred, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to cutting board and cut into 1/2" pieces (cut the corn off cob).
4. Fluff the couscous with a fork and fold in veggies and chickpeas. Divide the spinach and couscous mixture among the plates. Drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with additional feta, if desired.

Couscous mixture

OK. Great. More grilling. Slight problem--it is thundering, lightning, and downpouring right now. Guess that means I'm using my crappy grill pan again.

This recipe ended up being super easy! And disgusting. Andy thought it was even worse than the gazpacho. I had a slightly higher opinion of it, but not by much. We both had a couple of bites and then decided, yet again, to feed it to the chickens (they'll eat anything). I didn't even make Lila try it, it wasn't worth the argument. We had frozen pizza instead (I'm telling you Tombstone pepperoni pizza may be the most delicious piece of cardboard I have ever eaten). In fact, it was so bad this mint-lemon-parsley pesto may make it onto the top five worst sauces list (I'm thinking in sriracha's place). Also, couscous kind of reminds be of those bobas they have at yogurt shops (definitely not a fan of either).

Tips: I used dried crushed mint in place of fresh, 1/4 c. mint + 3 Tbsp water to make the sauce able to drizzle. The grilled veggies were delicious, but I wasn't able to pick them out of the sauce so make sure you try the sauce before committing. 

Verdict? Taste of Day FAIL!