Pearl Couscous Antipasti Salad
Salads have a bit of a reputation for being boring, bland, and a bit unappealing. Not any longer, I am about to show you a salad that will forever change your view on salads forever!
It is my pearl couscous antipasti salad.
Now, before diving into the recipe, let’s talk about some of the wonderful ingredients in this salad and how they come together to form such a tasty plate.
Pearl Couscous
Pearl couscous, also referred to as Israeli couscous, is a type of couscous that features large grains that, when cooked, form these little beads of love that are great for salads or served on its own as a side dish.
Pearl couscous isn’t that hard to find, most grocery stores will keep it in the grain aisle with rice and dry beans, it can also be found in the kosher aisle near the condiments and pickles.
Pickled pepperoncini peppers
You probably recognize these as the little peppers that people put on salads or with pizza in Italian restaurants. They’re sweet, somewhat spicy, and have a wonderful briny flavor that can add wonderful acidity to any dish.
For this salad, I’ll be chopping up some of these peppers, removing the seeds to keep it from getting too spicy, and also using some of the brine in the dressing, that brine has emulsifying agents which help give you a pleasantly thick dressing that will coat the salad beautifully.
Mortadella
A form of Italian cured sausage, mortadella is made with finely-ground pork packed into a sausage casing and is flavored with black pepper and pistachios.
If, for some reason, you can’t find mortadella at the deli counter of your grocery store, then just about any Italian cured meat like salami will work fine, of course, you can easily leave out the meat if you’re vegetarian.
Aged Gouda Cheese
Gouda is a cow’s milk cheese that originates in the Netherlands and has a wonderfully nutty, caramelly flavor.
While fresher gouda does exist and is quite tasty, this salad will be using the firmer aged gouda, which has little salt crystals like good parmesan and can easily be diced up and mixed into the salad.
Alright, now that I’ve gone over those wonderful components, let’s get to making the actual salad!
Pearl Couscous Antipasti Salad
Servings: 6 to 8
Salt
12 ounces of pearl couscous
6 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
6 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 cup of pickled pepperoncini, seeded and chopped, plus 1/4 cup of brine
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
8 ounces of mortadella, diced
8 ounces of aged gouda cheese, diced
4 stalks of celery, thinly sliced, plus 1/2 cup of chopped celery leaves
1/2 red onion, diced small
1/2 cup of roasted pistachios, roughly chopped
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
Start by cooking the pearl couscous.
Dump the couscous into a pot of salted boiling water and cook as the label directs, or until the couscous is soft but not mushy.
Drain the couscous, rinse under cold water, and leave to cool.
In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, pepperoncini brine, and oregano until a thick dressing forms. Season with salt.
To the dressing, add the cooled couscous, peppers, mortadella, cheese, celery, celery leaves, onion, pistachios, and parsley. Toss to combine, then let it sit for 30 minutes before serving.
This is no ordinary salad, this is a salad that’s full of texture, color, and flavor, and unlike leafy salads you can dress it hours in advance and it won’t wilt, so it’s ideal for parties.
