Close your eyes, breathe in the salty fresh sea air and grasp a one way ticket to the Mediterranean, via your salad bowl.
My vegan feast includes a Mediterranean Couscous with dried figs, citrus, spinach and parsley. As well as a Medi-Chopped Salad with crisp cucumbers, red onion, sliced kalamata olives and sweet tomatoes. The perfect salad topper for this feast: my sweet and zesty Creamy Tahini Dressing. Toast some pita, scoop some hummus and pour some sangria, this perfect-for-a-warm-spring-evening feast is easier than you think. Get my recipes...
The Inspired Flavors:
Citrus Fig Spinach Couscous:
Pita and Lemon:
Creamy Raw Tahini Dressing:
Medi Chopped Salad:
European Cucumber:
Side of Hummus:
Let the Feasting Begin!
Pack a Pita and Eat!
Greek? Italian? Middle Eastern? So where exactly are we travelling in the Mediterranean region for this feast? Well, nowhere specific to be honest. This is another fusion recipe. I won't call in traditional, but I will call it inspired.
I adore the authentic 'pita, hummus and falafel joints' in NYC. Places like Taim, Mamoun's and Ashkara have just about perfected these foods: falafel, hummus, tabouli salad, tahini sauce and pita. But my feast is a bit lighter, a bit more veg-inspired and doesn't include any fried components. So no falafel today. (Even though I love falafel.) But it's not necessary here. The fresh flavors in these recipes will leave you feeling zestful about life! And that's what Mediterranean-inspired means to me. Escape and indulge. Recipes...
Citrus Spinach Couscous
1 box Lemon Spinach Couscous, Casbah brand
OR 1 cup couscous and your own blend of spices
*prepared with 1 cup of water + ⅓ cup lemon or orange juice
Fold-in's:
1 cup spinach, chopped
handful parsley, chopped
Handful of calimyrna figs, sliced
1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest
1 tablespoon EVOO
½ red onion, chopped
pepper (salt to taste)
Chopped Medi Salad
½ red onion
¾ cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 medium tomato or ½ cup grape tomatoes, diced
2 cups European Cucumbers, triangle diced
1 cup parsley, chopped stems and leaves
1 lemon, squeezed
1 teaspoon lemon zest
optional: 1 tablespoon EVOO
pepper
Creamy Citrus Tahini Dressing
2 tablespoon RAW tahini
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (see note if using non-raw tahini, or if you don't like an overly zesty vinegar taste)
2 tablespoon orange juice
¼ teaspoon paprika
1-2 teaspoon agave syrup
black pepper to taste
optional: cayenne for heat
NOTE: I use so much vinegar to cut through the pasty texture of RAW tahini. If this dressing is too vinegar-y for you, simply substitute 1 ½ tablespoon of vinegar with orange juice. If you are using NON-RAW tahini, you will simply need less acid liquid overall so only use 1 tsp-Tbsp of acv OR acv sub: OJ.
Directions:
1. Whisk together the tahini dressing. Set aside. Note: add more or less apple cider vinegar to modify consistency.
Raw Tahini:
2. Couscous: prepare couscous from box or plain from scratch. When couscous is fluffed and warm, fold in the figs, zest, parsley, spinach, red onion and EVOO.
Couscous:
3. Chopped Salad: Prep your veggies. Toss with lemon juice and zest. Toss with optional EVOO as well. Set aside.
Cucumber:
Medi Chopped Salad:
4. Plate your salad by layering a small amount of couscous on a plate. Spoon the chopped salad on top. Drizzle dressing.
Drizzle the dressing on top:
5. Serve with hummus and pita. Garnish with lemon sliced and chopped parsley. Plenty of black pepper.
Kevin says
What a nice looking tasty and healthy meal!
Anonymous says
Kathy,
Yep I used regular tahini! That must be what the problem was. I had this for lunch today with the dressing sans vinegar (I just used 2x orange juice) and it was delish!
Kathy says
Kim, Did you use raw tahini or regular tahini? The reason I use so much apple cider vinegar is because the raw tahini is so thick - almost like toothpaste - the vinegar cuts the texture and makes it drizzle-able. If this was too much vinegar taste for you - substitute 1 1/2 Tbsp of vinegar with orange juice. This will still cut the tahini without the overly "zesty" vinegar flavor.
I will put a note in my recipe about this as well. Thanks for the comment, Kathy
Anonymous says
Well I made this recipe and everything turned out quite good except the dressing. I am curious whether you meant 2 teaspoons of vinegar rather than 2 tablespoons? All I could taste was the vinegar so we had it without dressing. I did make up some dressing later though with just the tahini, orange juice, lemon juice and agave nectar and that was pretty good.
Harold (SMM) says
I absolutely love Couscous and these recipes have some zing! to them. You've got my mouth watering with the descriptions and pictures.
Kathy says
HI Kim,
I'd simply add in a lot of pepper, some sea salt, chopped parsley, additional chopped spinach and added lemon juice, lemon zest, some garlic powder and onion powder. Simple light flavors. Maybe some cumin if you want a more savory flavor.
Lemon. Pepper. Parsley and Spinach are the main flavors to let guide you. Orange juice/zest would be nice for a sweeter accent too.
A few chopped kalamata olives and apple cider vinegar will add some saltiness. Taste as you craft it.
Hope that helps! ~Kathy
ps..this meal really is divine.
Anonymous says
Hi I was just wondering for the couscous if you can not get the lemon spinach casbah brand what spices would you recommend for this?
Patty says
That looks great I love Mediterranean food, nice pictures thanks for posting the recipe!
Stacy says
Looks delicious. Makes me yearn for summer.
Couscous in the a.m. with a bit of honey is nice too.
Amanda says
Let me bow down to you for sharing this amazing post. Your pictures are so bright and beautiful, and the couscous looks so refreshing! I can't wait to try this as the weather warms up, thank you!
Kathy says
Foster,
Raw tahini, to my taste buds, is a bit more pungent and bitter tasting - but the flavor is so uniquely intense! And if you get a good quality raw tahini - it won't be poorly bitter. The brand I purchased at Whole Foods says this about their product:
"Artisana Raw Organic Tahini is made from the husked (out of shell) sesame seed. It is uniquely made into a raw sesame seed paste. We select the best seeds because raw sesame seeds can be very bitter. Tahini is sure to fortify your diet with calcium, protein and iron.
But like I said, you can also make the dressing with regular roasted tahini butter. Whatever suites your taste buds and lifestyle! (And pocketbook - raw tahini is in some cases double the price of regular tahini sauce).
~K
Foster says
I've never tried raw tahini, does it taste different than normal tahini?
Scarlette says
So many beautiful pictures. It is all very delicious looking. Thank you!