Cous Cous Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries
Today’s Week of Cranberries recipe features dried cranberries again. I know I say this a lot, but when I saw this recipe pop up in my Google Reader, I knew I needed to make this recipe. It has some of my favorite flavors all in one bowl. Hubby and I absolutely love butternut squash. We can’t get enough of it. I’ve made risotto, bisque, pie, soup, chili, and even quesadillas with butternut squash! And we couldn’t get enough of this salad! I enjoyed it cold better than room temperature, but Hubby prefered it at room temp. Either way it’s delicious.
The combination of these flavors is great. When I was mixing up the salad, I thought the chickpeas seemed a bit off, but they were one of my favorites in the salad. They add a nice dimension of texture to the salad. The spices in the dressing are an amazing combination which enhances the fall flavors of this salad. The other great thing about this salad is how easy it is to throw together. I plan on bringing this as a side dish for a holiday potluck because you can definitely make it the night before.
Cous Cous Salad with Butternut Squash and Cranberries
Yield: ~5 servings
Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash (or other hard winter squash), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks - I used the pre-peeled and pre-cut butternut squash
3/4 cup uncooked cous cous
1 cup water
1 onion, diced
4-5 tablespoons white wine vinegar - I didn't have any, so I used 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar and 2 Tbsp white wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
Zest of one orange
1/2 teaspoon coriander - I left this out because I didn't have any
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cumin
1-3 teaspoons salt (to taste)
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F. Toss squash with a bit of olive oil and spread on a baking sheet. Roast squash, stirring occasionally, until tender - about 30 minutes. Allow to cool before combining with other ingredients.
Heat water in sauce pan to boiling. Add cous cous and stir. Remove pan from heat, cover with a lid, and let sit for about 15 minutes until the cous cous has absorbed all the water. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Saute onion in a skillet over medium-high heat until translucent. Set aside and allow to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, olive oil, zest, spices, and 1 teaspoon of salt. In a large bowl, combine squash, cous cous, onions, garbanzo beans, and cranberries. Pour on the vinegar-oil dressing and stir to combine. Taste to check seasoning and add salt if needed. This salad can be served room temperature or cold.
Recipe from Erin's Food Files
Check out my week of Cranberries here.
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
fig vinegar? i am assuming this is the balsamic vinegar?
beantownbaker — February 7th, 2013 @ 6:34 am
I fixed the recipe to be consistent. Any dark flavored vinegar that you enjoy would be perfect in this recipe.
This dish sounds delicious, I love roasting veggies.
beantownbaker — February 8th, 2013 @ 10:14 am
Me too. In fact it’s pretty much the only way I prepare veggies…
I love roasted veggies, especially beets! Looks beautiful.
beantownbaker — February 11th, 2013 @ 11:21 am
Beets are one of my favorites too. Can you believe I had never had one until a couple years ago?!?
I used 4 tbs butter and 4 tbs olive oil.
Tossed vegatables, oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, 2 tsp or so dry sage and 2 tsp or so dry rosemary in large bowl and then spread on two baking sheets.
Roasted for 30 minutes and then rotated cooking sheets in oven and roasted for another 30 minutes. No stirring required
Added 4 smoked Polish sausages cut into 1″ pieces for last 30 minutes.
Next time I will line cooking sheets with foil to make cleanup simpler.
A real keeper!!
beantownbaker — October 28th, 2013 @ 8:25 pm
What a great addition with the sausages!!
I had a beet that was wasting away in the fridge and a lonely turnip too. So I added them and 2 large carrots, all peeled and chunked, into a baking dish. Topped with 2 Tbsp sliced butter, coated with 2 tsp dried sage, half tsp rosemary, salt & pepper. After 1 hour in the oven, stirred, splashed with apple cider vinegar, and served. Very satisfying, and a nice accompaniment to roast chicken. Thanks for sharing!
beantownbaker — April 16th, 2014 @ 6:00 pm
Yum!