Seasonal local food recipe No.280 – Jamie’s Couscous with grilled summer vegetables and loadsa herbs
This is from Jamie Oliver’s second book, the Return of the Naked Chef.
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients
255 g couscous
285 ml cold water
3 red peppers
1 handful asparagus, trimmed and peeled if need be
2 or 3 small firm courgettes, sliced
1 bunch spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
2-4 fresh chillies, deseeded and finely sliced
3 good handfuls mixed fresh herbs (basil, coriander, mint, flat leaf parsley)
4 Tbs lemon juice
10 Tbs olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
red wine vinegar
Method
Place the couscous in a bowl with the cold water. This will start to soften the couscous and you will see the water disappear as it soaks in. While the couscous is softening, blacken the peppers. Either place the peppers directly on to the naked flame of a gas hob or blacken under the grill. Both ways you need to blacken the peppers on all sides, so turn when need be. When fully blackened cover in a bowl for 5 minutes until cool. This will steam the skins and make peeling and deseeding easier. Remove the skins and seeds and roughly chop. On a very hot ridged grill pan, lightly char the asparagus and courgettes on both sides then toss them into the bowl with the couscous with the peppers, spring onions, chillies and ripped up herbs. Mix well. Make a dressing with the olive oil and lemon juice, add and toss well. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and a couple of dribbles of red wine vinegar for a slight twang.
