Lemony, vegetable couscous
We find that this is best accompanied with some lamb that has been cooked nice and pink. It also works well with fish, or a chunky ratatouille. If you’re serving this with a ratatouille, I would omit the pepper and mushroom from the couscous.
Ingredients
Serves 2
150g couscous
250g boiling veg stock
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely diced, or you can mix it up with a couple of colours
75g mushrooms, finely chopped
1 lemon
Olive oil
½ bunch parsley, chopped
Seeds from a pomegranate, optional
Method
Heat a medium sized pan with a splash of olive oil- you can add a touch more than you normally would as this will help the vegetables colour evenly and will help to flavour the couscous.
Sweat down the onion for a couple of minutes until starting to soften. Add the peppers, mushrooms and garlic and cook until all have softened.
Season the vegetables well then add the couscous. Add the lemon zest and the stock, cover and take off the heat. Leave for about 10 minutes covered, off the heat. Mix through the lemon juice and the parsley. Check for seasoning and adjust if needed. You can also add a little more olive oil if you want, and the juice of another ½-1 lemon if you like it really citrussy.
If you decide to add the pomegranate, the best thing to do is cut it in half across the middle, and tap the back of the skin with a spoon and the seeds should fall out, bejewelling the couscous. Make sure you're not wearing white though as it can get quite messy!
