Summer Stone Fruit Couscous Salad.

This stone fruit summer couscous salad is a lovely lunch, BBQ potluck dish or light dinner to enjoy when it’s warm out. Juicy stone fruit, couscous tossed with an herby lime dressing, grilled corn, feta and pistachios make this one incredible bowl.

These throw-everything-together salads are some of my favorites!

This summer stone fruit couscous salad is tossed with an herby, citrusy vinaigrette and then topped with peaches, cherries, grilled corn, crumbly feta and chopped pistachios. It’s no secret that I love bowls like this but WOW. This is a good one. 

See, you can’t go wrong with couscous. It’s chewy and has a wonderful texture, but tiny enough to be enjoyed grain bowl-style. I love to use pearl couscous for the base of this salad, toss it with some of my favorite cilantro lime dressing until it’s a vibrant green shade and then throw in allll the summer produce.

Really, whatever you can find works! 

Grain bowls like this – whether they are big enough to feel a crowd or a smaller portion for dinner tonight – are one of my go-tos in the summer. I make combinations like this all the time to complete our dinners and then we use what’s left for weekly lunches or even a quick snack.

And one of the reasons I love making a dish like this is because you really don’t have to COOK!

Every week I love to prepare one type of grain to have on hand to make weeknight meals easier. It may be quinoa, couscous, farro or ever some orzo. I store it in a large resealable bag in the fridge, and it gives me a blank slate for a salad like this. Which is perfect when I’m not feeling super creative. 

Sometimes we eat that grain with just some butter or olive oil and butter. Other times I do a clean-out-the-fridge side with it. And then occasionally, I’ll make some sort of huge seasonal bowl which has all sorts of ingredients that we love to enjoy. 

Juicy stone fruits, some sort of nut, a crumble of cheese, a vinaigrette that I have on hand. 

That’s how easily it comes together. 

This grain bowl can be a lovely light little lunch or it can be a side dish accompanying just about anything for dinner. It can be your pasta salad at a BBQ or eating straight from the fridge as leftovers. 

The flavors are so summery – sweet and tangy, tart and savory. Bright and refreshing and crisp too. 

This is what you need to make the summer couscous salad:

• Pearl couscous
• Cilantro lime vinaigrette – or your favorite dressing
• Ripe peaches, sliced
• Juicy cherries, pitted
• Grilled corn on the cob
• A bunch of fresh herbs, like chives and basil
• Crumbly cheese, such as feta, goat or even cotija

All of this combined in a big bowl is just straight up summer heaven. It can all be tossed in the dressing and last a day or so in the fridge – possible even longer. In fact, it may even taste BETTER after a day in the fridge. As long as your fruit isn’t too ripe, it will be perfect.

This salad + a hot sunny day + some chilled rosé = the dream combo! (more…)

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Jessica June 20, 2022 at 04:05PM