Meat mains
Spicy sausage couscous salad
This North African inspired dish is hearty and versatile. It's good with merguez sausages – red, spicy and made with beef or lamb – but any spicy sausage will do fine. Small piquanté peppers can be bought in a jar from most larger food shops and delis, but chillies are a good substitute. The carrots can be supplemented by any root veg you have in your box.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp pine nuts
- 500g merguez sausage, cut into 3-4cm pieces, on the diagonal
- 1 bunch (about 300g) carrots, scrubbed and cut into 3-4cm pieces, on the diagonal
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 300g couscous
- small knob of butter
- 2 bunched onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 300ml hot stock (beef, chicken or veg)
- zest of 1 orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- 16 small piquanté peppers, sliced (or use 1 or 2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped)
- large handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 100g salad leaves, to serve
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.
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Step 2
In a small frying pan, lightly toast the pine nuts. Remove from the heat and leave to one side.
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Step 3
Place the sausage, carrots and red pepper in a baking dish. Pour over the oil and roast in the oven at for about 30 minutes, or until the carrot is just tender.
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Step 4
While the sausages are cooking, put the couscous in a large bowl with the butter, onion and garlic. Pour over the stock and leave for 10 minutes, fluffing with a fork every now and then.
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Step 5
Add the cooked sausages and veg (include any cooking juices), the orange and lemon zest, piquanté peppers and parsley.
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Step 6
Toss to combine, season to taste and serve on the salad leaves, topped with the toasted pine nuts.
