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Couscous: Couscous with Grilled Summer Veggies

Source of Recipe

Jamie Oliver, Naked Chef


List of Ingredients

9 ounces couscous
1/2 pint cold water
3 red peppers
1 handful asparagus, trimmed, peeled if needed
3 small firm patty pan squash
1 small bunch spring onions, trimmed, sliced fine
2 fresh red chiles, seeded, finely sliced
3 handfuls mixed fresh herbs (coriander, mint, flat leaf parsley)
1 recipe olive oil and lemon dressing
salt and fresh ground pepper
red wine vinegar


Recipe

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 its soaks in. While the couscous is softening, we need to blacken the peppers. I do this by placing the peppers directly on the naked flame of my gas burner. If you donít have gas, then blacken under the grill. Both ways you need to blacken the peppers on all sides, so turn when need be. When fully blackened, place in a sandwich bag, wrap in plastic wrap or 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 patty pans on both sides then toss them into the bowl of couscous with the peppers, spring onions, chilies and torn or chopped herbs. Mix well. Add the olive oil and lemon juice dressing and toss well. Finally, taste and season with salt and pepper and a couple of dribbles of red wine vinegar for a slight twang.

OLIVE OIL AND LEMON JUICE DRESSING: (mix together all ingredients)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons best quality olive oil
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon freshly ground black pepper