Goodbye-Summer Couscous

The last official day of summer is Monday. Tear. I really can’t believe it. Where did you go, summer? Come back … I’m still pale!

I’m not prepared for it to start getting dark at 6 p.m. And I’m really not ready to say goodbye to my loves: strawberries, peaches and, oh it breaks my heart, ….tomatoes. I know I’ll get over you when I have a sweet potato or some winter squash. But for now I’m sad. It’s like realizing Christmas is over, or knowing you have to wait a whole year for the next season of “Lost.”

So here’s one last tomato fix. When I followed the recipe for this lemon-basil couscous it had way too much onion and lemon. So here’s a scaled back version. I also swapped in cherry tomatoes because I love the red and yellow mix. And they’re just cute.

Here’s what you need:

1 cup whole wheat couscous

1 cup water

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas)

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/2 small red onion, chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup lemon juice

1-1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Here’s what you do:

To prepare the couscous, boil 1 cup of water with 1 tsp salt in a medium pot. When the water comes to a boil add the couscous, remove the pot from heat, cover, and let stand 5-10 minutes. When the couscous is done all the water will be absorbed and you can fluff it with a fork. Stir in a few drops of olive oil to prevent the grains from clumping.

Transfer couscous to a large bowl and mix in all the other ingredients: garbanzo beans, red onion, tomatoes, basil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Put it in the refrigerator to chill at least 1 hour before serving.

This yields a big bowl’s worth so you can make a lot, store it in the fridge and have it for a few days.

So long summer, until next year….