roast veg + cous cous salad

As I mentioned yesterday, I made quite the cous cous salad for our grand final lunch we hosted on the weekend. With a bit over two months to go before The Wedding / The Big Move I am starting to fossick around in our pantry for items which I need to use up. For some reason we have an extreme amount of couscous for a household that doesn't actually eat much of the stuff (perhaps that's the reason it is sitting in my pantry unloved?!) 

Anyway, here is my made up couscous salad recipe which can be thrown together with whatever veggies you happen to have in the fridge, this is just what I had...

Ingredients...

2 cups cous cous

2 cups vegetable stock

Half a butternut pumpkin

1 large zucchini

2 cups field mushrooms

1 large red capsicum

2 handfuls of kalamata olives

1 small red onion

Handful of baby spinach

Quarter cup of balsamic vinegar

Olive oil + salt

Few good blobs of butter

Cut the butternut pumpkin into bite sized cubes, drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 200 degrees in fan forced oven for 30 minutes, turning once. Whilst that is all happening cut the zucchini and capsicum into chunky pieces, throw in with the pumpkin after it's been in there for 30 minutes. Bake for a further 15 minutes. Pull it all out and set aside.

Heat the vegetable stock in a saucepan, bring to boil and add couscous, stir, cover, set aside for 2-3 minutes. Add few good tablespoons of butter to couscous and stir through, it will melt and make your couscous less lumpy : miraculous! 

Cut up mushrooms and throw in a pan and sauté with some butter until just soft and delicious. Add mushrooms + yummy juices as well as pumpkin, zucchini and capsicum + left over oil to couscous. Toss baby spinach through as well whilst hot veggies are in there to slightly wilt spinach. Finely dice the red onion and add to salad along with olives. Pour balsamic vinegar over the lot and stir through. 

Dig in.

Image by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella