Israeli Couscous with Lemon & Parsley

First things first, Happy Earth Day! I've been really making an effort in the past few years to be kinder to Mother Earth. Firstly, I've been cutting back on my meat consumption; I do my best to maintain a plant-based diet for breakfast and lunch and only indulge in meat during dinners. The meat industry requires lots of energy and water and produces a lot of waste so even though it's not a huge sacrifice on my part, it is a step in the right direction. I also recently purchased a composter so that I could put food scraps to good use instead of letting them take up unnecessary space in our already disgusting landfills. I only wash my hair twice a week, take navy showers in the summer, and I rely on rain to water the lawn (who really cares if it gets a little yellow here and there?).

Anyway, in honor of Earth Day, I'm keeping it really simple and using some really nice, fresh ingredients to add some oomph to a bowl of Israeli couscous.

I typically make Israeli couscous with lots of vegetables but on this particular occasion, it was meant to be a subtle side dish for kebabs so I just used a little lemon, parsley, and olive oil and ended up loving the result. It was bright and delicious, but a neutral enough flavor that it didn't compete with the super flavorful main (which I'll posting soon). And, it was good enough that I decided it was worth sharing. It isn't a novel idea by any means, but hey, this is my blog; I can share what I want.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Israeli couscous
1 cup chicken stock
zest of 1 lemon
juice of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Basically, you just cook the couscous and then mix in the seasonings. To make the couscous, heat a pan with a little olive oil and garlic over medium. Once the garlic perfumes the oil, add in the couscous and stir and allow the pasta to toast a little. Then, pour in the chicken stock, stir, pop on the lid, and then reduce the heat to low. Let the couscous cook until it absorbs all of the liquid and becomes tender.

In a bowl, combine lemon zest, chopped parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil and stir in the hot couscous.

Serve the couscous hot or cold; that's the beauty of couscous, it can either serve as a rice-like dish or like a pasta salad.

Here's the recipe page: