Couscous with Caramelized Onions and Feta

After a reasonably long break, I decided to come back with a post about what I had for dinner today. It was a light summer dinner, flavorful and refreshing for the warm summer nights. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised at just how much flavor caramelized onions can add. I've made this caramelized onion bread a few times since I waxed on about how great this cooking technique was.. this time inspiration arrived in the form of this recipe at Vaishali's blog. I made my own tweaks, and made a simple salad with just a few ingredients that is definitely worth sharing.

Ingredients
1 C Whole wheat Couscous (or regular)
1.25 C salted boiling water
1T olive oil
1 large onion (white or red), thinly sliced
1 large tomato, chopped
1/4 C feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 C nuts, toasted and chopped (pine nuts/walnuts/almonds/hazelnuts)
1-2 T balsamic vinegar


Cook couscous separately(add boiling water, stir, cover and fluff with a fork after 15 minutes). Heat olive oil in a saute pan and add the onions. Add salt and pepper to taste and allow to cook on medium heat for a few minutes until onions turn translucent. Now reduce the heat to low and add the balsamic vinegar and stir well. Allow to cook on low heat for a long time - it took about 30 minutes for me on low heat and an occasional stir(once every 5 minutes) for the onions to completely caramelize without burning and turn that gorgeous deep brown color.

Fluff the couscous, add the rest of the ingredients and add salt/pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly and chill for at least 30 minutes before serving. The salad tastes better cold and also the chilling allows the flavors to combine thoroughly.

I loved how easy this was to put together. I have always liked the combination of roasted onions and feta and this salad was packed with that flavor.