Balsamic Roasted Tomato, Baby Spinach & Giant Couscous Salad

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I love combining giant couscous with a few simple ingredients and a tasty dressing to make a dish that works equally well as a side or on its own. This simple but delicious giant couscous salad with classic Mediterranean flavours can be served hot, warm or cold as you like.

The tomatoes are roasted until their flavours intensify and the sugar in the tomatoes and the balsamic caramelises a little. Baby spinach is perfect for this recipe as you don’t need to cook it – it wilts very quickly once mixed with the hot couscous. The dressing takes only moments to make – I favour the jam jar method though you can whisk the ingredients in a bowl if you prefer. You can also make double the dressing and store in the fridge for a couple of days to dress a different salad later in the week.

Balsamic Tomato Spinach Giant Couscous Salad on Kavey Eats (c) Kavita Favelle (A)

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Balsamic Roasted Tomato, Baby Spinach & Giant Couscous Salad

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 2 people

Ingredients

For the roasted balsamic tomatoes:

  • 250 g cherry or baby plum tomatoes , halved
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • generous sprinkle sea salt

For the couscous:

  • 150 g giant couscous (dried weight)
  • 100 g baby spinach , washed and patted dry

For the dressing:

  • 1 tbsp French mustard (or 1 tsp mustard powder)
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Notes

Tip: Make double the volume of dressing and save half to dress another salad later in the week. It will keep for 2-3 days in a sealed jar or box in the fridge.

Instructions

  • Prepare the ingredients for the roasted tomatoes, weigh the couscous and baby spinach, and place the spinach into a large bowl.
  • Preheat your oven to 180C (fan). 
    Note: If you’re roasting the tomatoes in the same oven as you are cooking a Simply Bake meal, your oven will already be on at 170 °C (fan) which is fine; your tomatoes may take a few minutes longer.
  • Lay the tomatoes out on a lined baking tray, cut side up.
  • Combine the balsamic vinegar and olive oil (for the tomatoes not the dressing), and drizzle over the tomatoes.
  • Sprinkle the tomatoes with a little sea salt and cook for 25-30 minutes until the tomato halves have wrinkled, partially collapsed and taken on a darker colour.
  • Once the tomatoes and in the oven make the salad dressing. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small jam jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake hard or whisk together in a bowl. Taste and adjust the balance of vinegar and sugar as you prefer.
  • Once the tomatoes have been in for about 15 minutes, put the couscous on to cook according to the packet instructions - usually you will need to bring it to the boil and then simmer for 6-7 minutes. When it's ready, drain thoroughly before adding to the bowl with the baby spinach. Stir together gently so that the heat of the couscous wilts the spinach.
  • When the tomatoes are ready - slumped and wrinkly with some colour from the caramelised balsamic and natural sugars - remove them from the oven and stir gently through the couscous and spinach.
  • Drizzle the couscous salad with dressing just before serving. Use only as much dressing as you like, the rest can be stored in the fridge for a few days to use on another salad.

Save for later on Pinterest:

Balsamic Tomato Spinach Giant Couscous Salad on Kavey Eats (Pinterest)

Young’s Seafood, the UK’s leading supplier of fresh and frozen seafood, recently launched a new range of cook-from-frozen 100% cod fillet ready-meals called Simply Bake. This simple recipe is my suggestion of a delicious side dish to serve alongside one of the meals.

Kavey Eats was commissioned by Young’s Seafood Limited to develop a recipe and participate in their Bake Off event.

Please leave a comment - I love hearing from you!
28 Comments to "Balsamic Roasted Tomato, Baby Spinach & Giant Couscous Salad"

  6. Katherine

    I really love giant couscous, tomatoes and spinach, so this side dish is perfect for me. My daughter loves cod (and all fish!), so together it sounds like a great meal.

    Reply
  8. kaveyeats

    I love the texture too. The regular tiny cous cous doesn’t do much for me but I love the giant stuff!

    Reply
  10. Lisa

    This looks and sounds fantastic! I love roasted tomatoes – they taste so much more tomato-ey! 😉 I’ll have to keep my eyes open for the giant cous cous…what fun to eat!!!

    Reply
    kaveyeats

    Thanks Lisa! Some shops call it giant cous cous and others call it Israeli cous cous so it’s worth searching on both. Hope you can find some, we love it!

    Reply
  12. kaveyeats

    Thanks! We have often fallen back on boiled new potatoes and veg so it was lovely to get more inventive myself and to see the creative ideas from everyone else!

    Reply

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