Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad with Harissa-style Dressing

Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a starter. Scroll to the bottom of the page to see questions Lindsey has answered on this recipe

Vegetarian

This recipe is from Delia's Summer Collection.

This salad is one of the best vegetarian dishes I've ever served.

The combination of goats' cheese and roasted vegetables on a cool bed of couscous mixed with salad leaves and a spicy dressing is positively five-star.

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Making the Vegetable Couscous Salad for a Buffet

Asked by: Naomi Russell

I am making Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad for an event and it's 1 of 4 bowls (2 veg and 2 fish) for 60 people. What would be the quantities for scaling up to say 50 people and if prepared on Wednesday, will it keep until Sunday in the fridge?

Answered by Lindsey: Hello, If making this as part of a buffet for 60 I would do 6 times the recipe. I would make this up a few days ahead but Wednesday for Sunday is too soon. I’d prepare everything on Friday and assemble on the day. Kind regards Lindsey

Replacing goats cheese and aubergines

Asked by: Simon01

Hello Lindsey. As soon as the restrictions are lifted I'm having my lovely family (not seen in over a year) here for a few days and I'm planning ahead so I can spend maximum time with them but still treat them to lovely meals. I have a question that affects 2 recipes from Delia's Summer Collection. Roasted Vegetable Cous-cous Salad - what can I sub for the goat's cheese and I want to serve this as a side (rather than a main). Would you recommend fish or chicken. Roasted Mediterranean Vegetable Lasagne (p 110) - my daughter-in-law is allergic to aubergines. What can I sub for this ingredient and as I will roast the vegetables for both recipes at the same time, can I sub a vegetable that will go with both? Thank you. Eileen

Answered by Lindsey: Hello Eileen, Isn’t it wonderful to have some entertaining to look forward to! I think it works well without the cheese but you could do either fish or chicken. I’d probably go for chicken. Perhaps marinated chicken thighs cooked on a griddle pan. For the aubergine you could just increase the vegetables that you like. Courgette is probably the obvious one but any will work. Or you could add artichoke hearts – these are lovely drained and marinated in oil and herbs. Kind regards Lindsey

Method

First prepare the roasted vegetables: prepare the aubergine and courgettes ahead of time by cutting them into 1 inch (2.5 cm) dice, leaving the skins on.

Then toss the dice in a level dessertspoon of salt and pack them into a colander with a plate on top and a heavy weight on top of the plate. Leave them on one side for an hour so that some of the bitter juices drain out. After that, squeeze out any juices left, and dry the dice thoroughly in a clean cloth.

Preheat the oven to gas mark 9, 475°F (240°C).

Now arrange the aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes, pepper, fennel and onion in the roasting tin, sprinkle with the crushed garlic, basil and olive oil, toss everything around in the oil to get a good coating and season with salt and pepper. You can watch how to prepare peppers and garlic in our Cookery School Videos on this page. Place the tin on the highest shelf of the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the vegetables are toasted brown at the edges. When the vegetables are done, remove them from the oven and stir in the chopped olives and the capers then remove them to a plate to cool.

When you're ready to assemble the salad, first place the couscous in a large, heatproof bowl, then pour the boiling stock over it, add some salt and pepper, stir it with a fork, then leave on one side for 5 minutes, by which time it will have absorbed all the stock and softened. Meanwhile cut the cheese into sugar cube-sized pieces. Make up the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together in a bowl, then pour into a serving jug. To serve the salad, place the couscous in a large, wide salad bowl and gently fork in the cubes of cheese along with the roasted vegetables. Next arrange the salad leaves on top and, just before serving, drizzle a little of the dressing over the top followed by a sprinkling of onion seeds and hand the rest of the dressing around separately.