Beet, Citrus, & Israeli Couscous Salad
Today’s gluttony comes in the form of a salad that combines the sweetness of roasted beets, the bright flavor/acidity of mandarin oranges, and the wholesome goodness of Israeli couscous. But it’s the incorporation of tangy caramelized red onions that adds a deeper level of satisfaction to the salad. Yes…tangy caramelized onions.
The tanginess comes from replacing the standard use of beer or butter to caramelize the onions with apple cider vinegar. It creates a unique tangy flavor that harmoniously balances with the beets and mandarin oranges.
The salad can be made for immediate consumption, but actually improves as it sitting over night and the flavors meddle together.
It’s a great side to most any meal and an ideal “dyed” salad for your Easter festivities.
Enjoy!
The Necessities:
- 2 medium sized beets (cleaned)
- 6 mandarin oranges*
- 1 large red onion
- 1 1/4 cup of Israeli couscous (cooked)
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- Olive oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley (roughly chopped)
*Blood oranges also work great in this salad.
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Chop up the beets into small cubes and toss em with a generous amount of olive oil, salt, and pepper.
- Spread the dressed beets onto a large cookie sheet.
- Place in your preheated oven and cook for roughly 40 minutes or until the beets are softened.
- Remove from the oven and set aside.
- While the beets are cooking prepare the tangy caramelized onions by hacking that onion into small pieces.
- Toss the onions into a large frying pan over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt.
- Begin the slow process of caramelization by continuously stirring the onions.
- Once the juices of the onions have cooked off and they begin to stick, stir in roughly 1-2 tbsps of apple cider vinegar.
- Continue to add additional amounts of the vinegar as the onions cook down.
- The whole process should take about 30 minutes and the result should be tangy, and subtly sweet caramelized onions. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
- Slice the mandarins in half.
- Toss the beets, onions, mandarins, and couscous into a large bowl.
- Squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over the ingredients, add around 1-2 tbsp of olive oil, and generously season with salt and pepper.
- Thoroughly stir everything together and do a taste test. Add more salt until a balance of sweet, citrus, tangy, and salt has been reached.
- Finish the salad off with the fresh parsley, plate, serve, and enjoy.
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This looks marvelous. I love to use beets in salad making….the colour is just wonderful. This combination sounds perfect.
I love beets as well, but sometime the wife places restrictions on my beet purchasing…too many beets she says!
Sounds like a wonderful salad, and that the Israeli couscous is died intentionally is genius! Instead of struggling to keep it clean, it’s a perfectly gorgeous pink colour. I love the texture of Israeli couscous.
Wasn’t my original intention, but it worked out well.
This is a great looking salad with so much colour and Israeli couscous is wonderful. I made a huge batch of caramelised onions at Christmas time to serve with our hot ham and I have a large container of it left over. I’ll make this salad with the leftovers – thanks for sorting me out on that front xx
You got it Charlie. Hope you enjoy!
Oh, but my caramelised onions were made with red wine vinegar, not apple cider – I’ll try that next time xx
I think it will work out.
This looks fantastic! There’s nothing better than beets + citrus. I put them in protein shakes. Don’t judge me.
I never do!
Looks alone, this salad is incredible. It looks like a holiday dish and the flavors are pretty special, too. So often a beet recipe has some sort of restriction to prevent or lessen the dye effects, This recipe embraces it. How empowering for the beets.
I’m a secret member of the Beet Alliance organization.
Love the vibrant color of this salad and I’m intrigued by the apple cider vinegar with the caramelized onions. It would seems the perfect flavor for a salad though, so I’m in. The touch of parsley is an eye-catching contrast–all good.
I’d never use apple cider vinegar to caramelized onions til now, but it works brilliantly to balance the sweetness of the beets in this salad.
Gorgeous! This is the second israeli couscous I’ve read about this morning and it’s now official — i want some israeli couscous ASAP! I had forgotten how much I love it, and all these salads are lookin’ delicious. Love the colors of it, too!
Thanks Amy! Israeli couscous is a staple in our house…can’t do without it.
What a beautiful salad. I use Israeli couscous all the time but never thought to use it in a salad. You are right…it would be perfect at Easter.
Thanks Karen!
I love it! I’m eating a lot of salads lately (ehem… yes, I’m still fighting with some Christmas “issues”), so beets maybe isn’t the best option for an everyday salad, but I’ll make an exception
Thanks for sharing Jed!
Don’t tell anyone but we’re eating healthier around here too.
Thats a colorful couscous! Love all the flavours on it