Mushroom Couscous Salad
Try this delicious hearty winter salad with flavorful squash, greens, and grains.
- 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 cup couscous, uncooked
- 1 bunch chard, spinach, or kale, thinly sliced
- 1 winter squash, (acorn, kabocha, delicata, or butternut), 1 to 2 pounds, peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch roasted cubes
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- Olive or walnut oil
- Salt
Peel and seed squash and cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Toss with oil and salt to taste - we used walnut oil to bring out the nutty flavors in this dish, but use any oil that you enjoy! Roast at 350°F for 20-30 minutes. Squash should be fully cooked while still firm enough to hold its shape.
While the squash is roasting, wash and slice mushrooms. Use 2 tablespoons of oil to sauté mushrooms, but cook them slowly so that they render out all of their water. We used maitake mushrooms from Far West Fungi, but you can substitute any fresh mushroom.
Prepare couscous. With 1 cup dry couscous, toss 1 teaspoon of salt, the juice of 1/4 lemon and 2 tablespoons oil. Add 1 cup of boiling liquid, either water or stock, stir, and seal air-tight with a lid or plastic wrap. Let this sit for 15 minutes, then remove the seal and toss with a fork.
After washing, slice greens thin, about 1/4-inch. If the leaf is more than 2-1/2 inches across, cut it down the middle as well, for ease of eating. Coating with remaining juice of lemon, massage the greens, using the pressure of hands to tenderize them.
Add 1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts, massaged greens, and as they are ready, couscous, mushrooms and squash. This will marry the flavors and wilt greens! For a gluten-free option, omit the couscous.
