Mediterranean Salad with Beef Tenderloin and Couscous Cakes

Last week, I found myself with an entire half of beef tenderloin. For some reason, my husband and I thought an entire tenderloin would barely feed 6. What were we thinking?

So there I was trying to rack my brain of all the recipes I could make with the leftovers to free my conscience of wasting food. I came up with a Mediterranean salad with tenderloin slices and couscous cakes.

I happen to love Mediterranean food, but now that I’m home full time, we don’t go out to dinner much. So I have been teaching myself how to make it at home. Had I known how easy it was….I would have started this a long time ago!

The couscous cakes remind me of a falafel. If you don’t know what that is, it’s like a fried chickpea cake (sorry I don’t know the exact ingredients) but these cakes are crispy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside plus full of great proteins from the chickpeas.

This is such a hearty salad with the feta, olives, cucumber, couscous cakes, and tenderloin that I may find myself eating more of this. It comes together quickly and it’s great for a weeknight meal or for a lazy weekend meal---all on the patio of course!

Tip: If you want to dip your couscous cakes in hummus, check out my homemade recipe here!

Mediterranean Mix Green Salad
1 bag mix greens
1 cup arugula
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
½ English cucumber, chopped
½ cup feta cheese
¼ cup kalamata olives
1 filet sliced

Greek Yogurt Dressing
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt (I used 0% Fage)
½ cup olive oil (I used Chef’s Choice Katz and Co.)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (I used Katz and Co.)
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon chopped mint

Kosher salt/freshly ground black pepper

Directions: In a small bowl wisk all the ingredients together until fully combined

Couscous Cakes
¾ cup couscous
¾ cup water
¾ cup canned chickpeas, drained (garbanzo beans)
¼ cup parsley, fresh, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon

Directions:
In a medium saucepan boil water. Add couscous and stir quickly, then cover and remove from heat. Let sit about 4 minutes and then fluff with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, add chickpeas, parsley and garlic. Give it a rough chop. You don’t want to puree this you want to have some chunks.

In a large bowl combine couscous, chickpea mixture, eggs and zest. Stir until combined.

With a ¼ measuring cup, pack the couscous mixture inside, and invert it to remove the cake. Set aside and continue with the rest of the mixture. You should get about 8 or 9.

In a medium sized skillet, add a few tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat. Once pan is HOT, then add your couscous cakes and cook on each side until golden brown (about a couple of minutes).

Remove and set on paper towels.

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