Baked couscous with summer vegetables
Nigel Slater – Real Cooking ISBN 0-140-25277-0
This dish was emailed to me by a long-standing friend - Peter Shepherd. I've not tried it yet, but knowing Pete, I can assure you it will be great. Claims to be for 2 as a main dish, personally think it is more like for 4.
Ingredients
6 medium
sized tomatoes – halved
aubergine, cut into thin slices
2 small/1large red pepper, halved and thinly sliced
3 large cloves of garlic, crushed
a large onion, thinly sliced
Olive oil
250gm couscous
A thick slice of butter
400g tin of tomatoes
At least a teaspoon of harissa paste*
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
Method
Lay the vegetables,
halved, sliced or crushed where appropriate, on a baking
tray. Pour a generous amount of olive oil over them
and toss them gently around until they are all coated.
Sprinkle the vegetables with salt and roast them in a hot
oven, 200F/Gas 6, for about three-quarters of an hour,
stirring them once. When they are golden brown at the edges
and tender remove them from the oven.
Sprinkle the couscous with water, just enough to come
level with the top of the grain, then leave to swell for 5
minutes; Dot with butter, season with salt and black pepper,
then cover with foil and bake for twenty minutes.
Meanwhile, stir the tinned tomatoes into the roasted
vegetables, smashing the tomatoes up a bit as you go.
Season with black pepper and the harissa paste. Return to
the oven. Serve, folded through with the coriander, with the
couscous when ready.
Note: Harissa is a vegetable paste (beetroot, carrots)
with chilli, coriander, caraway, garlic, cayenne, and lemon.
Bart spices do it, tends to be used in Moroccan cooking.)
Pete Shepherd Feb 2003