In my continuing veggie cook-off I turned to Joe Yonan’s super sweet vegetable (but not vegetarian) cookbook to see what deliciousness I could find. Then I stumbled across his recipe for a warm curried broccoli salad, and thus began my love affair with broccoli cooked under the broiler. When you use the broiler your broccoli get gorgeous color and flavor, but still keeps its crunch which is sometimes hard to do when roasting. Just like when you roast broccoli you do have to serve it fast in order to keep it warm, but with this recipe the cooked Israeli couscous and other veggies keep the dish warm.
I served the salad over a grilled portabello cap which I marinated in red wine. The nice thing about the mushroom cap is that you can start marinating it while you chop your veggies and prep everything, and then throw them on the grill pan as you start cooking the couscous and it is all ready at the same time . The other delicious part about using the mushroom caps is that they bring a level of substance to the meal, that does not replace meat, but still gives you a warm and filling meal.