I love winter it is my favourite time of year but, the weather here has been so dull and cold for the past few days, not even a glimmer of sunshine to be found, rather depressing to say the least. I wanted, no I needed to eat some sunshine food.
Deciding to head to warmer climes by food alone I chose to cook a baked couscous dish with roasted vegetables, consisting of aubergines, red peppers, onions, fennel, mushrooms and tomatoes.
This fragrant couscous screams of the dusky, heady, kasbah of Morocco. Deeply aromatic and mood enhancing, a wonderfully warming yet summery dish. Perfect for light midweek suppers or a filling lunch.
You will notice in the recipe that I have listed fresh herbs amongst the ingredients, I didn’t have any and therefore couldn’t include them; I do however feel it really distracted from the finished meal both in taste and presentation – it kind of became a beige mass with a few red and purple blobs, not very attractive hence the lack of a photograph.
The Recipe:
- 250g barley couscous
- 1 teaspoon hot harrisa paste
- 1/4 teaspoon rose petals (or just use rose harrisa)
- 1 tablespoon barberries
- hot vegetable stock or water
- 1 desert-spoon ras el hanout spice blend
- 1 teaspoon za’atar spice blend
- 1 desert-spoon pomegranate molasses
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon preserved lemon pulp
- 2 medium aubergines, sliced in centimeter slices
- 3 sweet red peppers, cut into chunks
- 6 banana shallots, peeled but left whole
- 2 fennel bulbs, sliced in centimeter slices
- 6 portobello mushrooms, cut into quaters
- large bunch of corriander leaves, roughly chopped
- small bunch of mint leaves, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons toasted almonds
- Heat a cast iron griddle over a medium heat, preheat the oven to 200′c or the equivalent.
- Make the dressing. Whisk the za’atar, ras el hannout, pomegranate mollases and olive oil together, set aside.
- Griddle the vegetables in small batches before dropping them into the dressing.
- Transfer the vegetables to a deep oven tray, and bake for 20 minutes, until the vegetables tender.
- Allow to cool before draining of the excess liquid, reserve.
- Place the couscous in another baking tray and add the rose petals, harrisa and barberries. Pour over the remaining juices and hot stock (or water) until the grains are just covered. Cover and leave to infuse for 5 minutes.
- Place both baking trays in the oven at 180′c for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and toss the herbs through the vegetable mixture. Fork the couscous through gently. Scatter over the almonds.
- Serve with harrisa and yogurt on the side if you wish.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks delicious George! Anything that screams of the dusky, heady, kasbah of Morocco must be a winner.
xxx
Looks very tasty George, what a lovely lifting dish for these cold wet days we are having.
Tina xx