This week I am wholeheartedly and gratefully embracing the warm sunny weather we’ve been having after a looooooooong refreshing and bracing spring. I can start work on my tan which currently can only be compared to a Farrow & Ball white paint chart where I am bordering the ‘Wimborne White’ with an aim of becoming more in keeping with a natural shade of ‘Cat’s Paw’. I love the excuse to bring out all the flavourful salads I crave which just don’t meet the winter demands….
Minty Cous Cous Salad (adapted from ‘What Katie Ate’)
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 100g giant cous cous
- 200g cous cous
- 100g pumpkin seeds
- 60g pine nuts
- 100g flaked and/or whole almonds
- 2 courgettes, peeled into ribbons or sliced thinly with a mandolin
- 4 spring onions, chopped
- A generous handful of chopped mint, basil, parsley and coriander or a mixture of these herbs you prefer chopped finely
- Light vegetable stock
- Handful of rocket, watercress or leaves
- 1 lime
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Halloumi to serve
- Heat a splash of oil in a pan and add the cumin to fry for a minute. Then add the giant cous cous and toast until fragrant for a few minutes.
- Add a good splash of stock to cover and cook the cous cous for about 15 minutes until soft. Drain.
- Toast the pumpkin seeds, pine nuts and flaked almonds in a dry pan until fragrant.
- Add another splash of oil to a hot frying/grill pan and add the courgette strips and char for a few minutes until crisp.
- Season the small grain cous cous and add a knob of butter. Pour over 300g of stock, cover and allow to absorb. Then using a fork, fluff up the grains.
- Now to assemble, combine the giant drained cous cous and the fluffed cous cous. Add the courgette ribbons, seeds and nuts, a generous handful of the herbs and the salad leaves
- Add a squeeze of lime and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to loosen and scatter with the spring onions.
This is delicious served with some fried halloumi and a minted lime yoghurt and flatbreads and a lovely addition to a BBQ.
