Roasted red pepper couscous with mint, feta and lime


	Red Peper on a Harlequin Plate by Elda Abramson available as a print from Pauntley Prints

Taken from "Vegetable Heaven" by Catherine Mason
(Pauntley Prints, 2002, ISBN: 0-9534879-3-6, price £20.00)
[other sample recipes]

Not all red peppers are the same. Wonderful heirloom varieties exist, some with a very distinctive paprika flavour, but unfortunately they're not widely available in the shops. This simple supper dish has a good combination of textures and flavours and will taste delicious made with standard supermarket ingredients. It's sensational with sun-ripened peppers of a tasty variety, but you'll probably have to grow them yourself. It's worth a go – even without a greenhouse – so long as you live in one of the warmer counties and have a sheltered section of south-facing wall against which to ripen them.

2 or 3 ripe red peppers, de-seeded and cut into hefty chunks
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
3 tablespoons olive oil
a pinch or two of sea salt
about 6 spring onions, very thinly sliced – keep the green parts separate
15g butter
170g couscous
260ml vegetable stock
about 15g fresh mint leaves, chopped
200g Greek feta cheese, diced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
8–12 black olives, preferably Kalamata
2 chunky wedges of lime

Oven temperature: 230°C (450°F, gas mark 8)

Toss the pepper chunks with one of the crushed garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a wide baking dish. Sprinkle with a little salt and roast them in a pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, turning them over after about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on them for the last 10 minutes of the cooking time to make sure they don't burn.
About 10 minutes after the peppers have gone into the oven get the couscous underway. Fry the white parts of the spring onion and the rest of the crushed garlic in a mixture of 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the butter. After a couple of minutes add the couscous and stir. Pour in the vegetable stock, bring it to the boil, then turn the heat right down as low as it will go, cover the pan and cook without disturbing it for 15 minutes, by which time the peppers should be about ready.
To assemble the meal, fork the raw, green spring onion and half the chopped mint gently into the couscous. Place the hot, cooked red peppers and their juices in a bowl with the cubed feta, the rest of the mint and the balsamic vinegar, and toss together. Add the black olives, stir and serve the mixture on top of the hot couscous, giving each diner a generous wedge of lime on the side.

SERVES 2