food: warm cous cous salad

Being friends with vegetarians means you have to re-think vegetables and try and make them into a whole meal, that is not only balanced and nutritious but that is satisfying. 

Luckily I like vegetables and particularly, any vegetable that has been roasted in the oven, bathed in olive oil, tossed with a little bit of salt and smothered in some herbs. I am not sure why, but when vegetables are roasted they have this gorgeous glossy, soft texture that almost melts in your mouth. 

So a few weeks ago I decided a warm cous cous salad would be a good dinner idea. 

I roasted sweet potato and butternut squash, peppers, red onion, courgette and tomato in a big dish with olive oil, salt and oregano for about 45 minutes on a medium heat. I made up the cous cous with boiling water (for non veggies I usually make it with chicken stock) and left it to cool down. Once the vegetables were done, I tossed the cous cous and vegetables into a large serving dish and mixed in baby spinach before adding chunks of soft goats cheese. 

It is a pretty effortless dinner as most of the work is done by the oven and it is super tasty. If you need a protein fix, it would be the perfect side to a chicken breast. 

This BBC good food mediterranean chicken and vegetables would also be worth a try. Bon apetit.