I'll admit that the actual recipes we used did not come from Pinterest, but the images we salivated from did and that led us on a scavenger hunt for the original recipes which would make the beautiful things we were looking at on the screen.
For anyone who wants to trace the blog, these came from Punchfork - but the actual recipes lives at www.simplyrecipes.com and www.lovefood.com (respectively).
And so, tonight's adventure included Caprese Corn Salad and Roasted Vegetable Couscous (we threw in some garlic bread, fried plantains, and plain steamed corn as well, to fill out the dinner plate).
Please note, we modified both moderately.
Caprese Corn Salad (and you thought you've had good caprese salad!)
Ingredients (our measurements):
2 ears worth of raw sweet white corn kernels
2ish cups cherry tomatoes, cut in halves
1/2 cup scallions, chopped
8 ounces (1 package) of fresh mozzarella, cubed
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (could go with less, it's a pretty dominant flavor)
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbs sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
Some salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Cut em all up and whisk together salad dressing (in separate dish), then pour it all in and mix well.
Seriously, so delicious with the crunch of the corn and the smoothness of the mozzarella and the acidity of the tomatoes, we just about swallowed the bowl whole.
Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Ingredients (our version, based pretty much on the recipe but with a few omissions):
1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1 butternut squash, peeled and finely chopped
1 red onion, chopped (not as finely as the rest, it will cook down)
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tbs thyme (we used dried)
2 tbs zatar seasoning (this was our addition - if you don't know this spice, look it up, it will change your world!)
2-4 tbs olive oil
1 package couscous (we used the quick-cook kind with its own spice packet and followed directions on the box)
Some salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions:
Chop all vegetables, put in big bowl, and mix with garlic, salt and pepper, olive oil, zatar and thyme. Mix well so everything is coated. Spread on cookie sheet (we covered ours in foil) and cook until vegetables are well roasted (browned at the edges) on about 375. Make sure to stir them often so they don't stick and burn.
Separately, follow directions for cooking couscous. When both are done, mix vegetables and couscous together in large bowl. We added an extra tbs. of olive oil for good measure.
As sides, we cooked some corn (steamed), some garlic bread out of a box (gasp, I know, the travesty), which added a really nice flavor to everything, and friend some sweet plantains in regular vegetable oil (sprinkle with sugar, salt, or both after frying them until they are a golden brown).
The Caprese Corn Salad and Couscous were AWESOME and now I have a super-easy recipe for super-great and SUPER-easy roasted vegetables!
