Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Couscous Salad

I went to a dinner party this past weekend and wanted to find a new side dish recipe to make.  Our dinner was Italian themed so I thought, why not make a couscous dish?  As I was looking for inspiration I stumbled up this great recipe from Skinny Taste.  It was almost perfect.  I just had a couple tweaks I wanted to make to it.

Since I’m not a big tomato fan and I’m pretty picky about asparagus, I decided to roast both and it turned out great!

Roasted Asparagus and Tomato Couscous Salad

1 C pearl couscous (dry)
1 bunch asparagus
1 C grape tomatoes
1/3 red onion, minced
kosher salt
1/2 Lg lemon
Olive oil
garlic powder

First thing I did was chop the ends off of the asparagus and cut the grape tomatoes in half.  Then I lined up all my asparagus and halved tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet.  Then I drizzled the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkled the garlic powder all over them as well.  Turn oven to 400 and put the baking sheet in.  I let the vegetables roast for about 20 minutes.

Once the veggies are in the oven get the couscous going.  Follow the directions on the packaging.  Once it is ready put the couscous into a large bowl and add about a tablespoon of olive oil and stir to coat the couscous.  Next chop up your red onion. I only did about 1/3 of the red onion but add as much or as little as you want.  Be sure to chop the onion finely.

After the veggies were roasted I tossed the tomatoes into the bowl with the couscous and then chopped the asparagus.  I didn’t want my pieces too big so I cut them about a half inch and added them to the bowl.  Next I juice half of a lemon.  The one I bought was HUGE so I only did half but again this is up to you on how much you’d like to add.  Sprinkle in some kosher salt and stir.

Truth be told, I didn’t try this dish before serving it at the dinner party but I was asked for the recipe so I’ll take that as a sign it really was good.  I envisioned serving it warm but by the time we ate it was room temperature and delicious.  It’s even great left over!