What’s on the menu for our guests tomorrow as part of their Loire Wine Discovery?
An easy recipe that I adapted slightly from Ottolenghi’s Simple. It’s great served at room temperature alongside a roasted chicken leg marinated in harissa and greek yoghurt.
With couscous you use roughly the same amount of water as you have couscous to rehydrate it. Today I used about 320g of couscous and added 350ml of boiling water, a tablespoon of olive oil, a heaped teaspoon of raz al hanout and a teaspoon of sea salt. I stirred it together and popped a plate on top for 20 minutes then stirred it up and left it to cool. I then stirred in 75g of roughly chopped smoked almonds.
In a frying pan I slowly fried 3 onions in a little olive oil together with another teaspoon of raz al hanout (you could use curry powder if you don’t have this Tunisian mix to hand). I used more onions than recommended because in my opinion you can never have too many crispy onions!
I added 60g of sultanas to the pan and then once the onions had cooled down mixed the onions and sultanas in with the couscous. I added the finely grated rind of a lemon and the juice of half a lemon and checked the seasoning.
Tomorrow, before serving I’ll chop up loads of fresh herbs. I have coriander, flat leaf parsley and mint but you can use what you have lots of in the garden. We have loads of fresh tarragon so I may add some of that too. You may like to drizzle a little extra olive oil to serve.
Ottolenghi pan fries 300g of cherry tomatoes and serves this on top. I’ve roasted big tomatoes with olive oil and garlic and will serve alongside to give something slightly more substantial. It’s a good recipe for veggies or vegans that can easily serve as a side for meat eaters.
