Delia Smith’s couscous salad is a vegetarian main course of roasted aubergine, courgettes, pepper, fennel, onion and cherry tomatoes, with olives, capers and cubes of goats’ cheese forked through couscous. It’s topped with salad leaves and a spicy harissa-style dressing, and serves 4 as a main or 8 as a starter.
It first appeared in her Summer Collection (1993), where the roasted vegetables were borrowed from her vegetable lasagne, with fennel in place of the yellow pepper. When she reprinted it in her Vegetarian Collection (2002), she wrote it out in full as a recipe of its own, and that’s the version on our card.
In the Summer Collection she makes it the main course of a vegetarian supper party for 4, after a chilled lemon grass and coriander vichyssoise. Built in a wide bowl, it’s really a layered couscous salad. You get cool, fluffy grains at the bottom, browned and salty vegetables in the middle, and leaves on top under a drizzle of cumin and lime.
Delia Smith’s Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad with Harissa-Style Dressing
Course: SaladsCuisine: MediterraneanDifficulty: Easy4
servings1
hour20
minutes40
minutes845
kcalRoasted vegetables, olives, capers and goats’ cheese on couscous under mixed leaves, finished with a cumin, cayenne and lime dressing, from Delia’s Vegetarian Collection. Enough for 4 hungry people, or 8 smaller starters.
Ingredients
- For the roasted vegetables:
1 small aubergine
2 medium courgettes
450g (1lb) cherry tomatoes, skinned
1 small red or yellow pepper, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm (1in) squares
1 small bulb fennel, chopped
1 large onion, peeled, sliced and cut into 2.5cm (1in) squares
2 fat cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, torn
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
50g (2oz) pitted black olives, chopped
1 heaped tablespoon capers, drained
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the couscous:
275g (10oz) couscous
510ml (18fl oz) hot vegetable stock, made with Marigold Swiss vegetable bouillon powder
110g (4oz) firm goats’ cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the salad:
75g (3oz) mixed salad leaves, such as lettuce, coriander, flat-leaf parsley and rocket
1 tablespoon black onion seeds, to garnish
- For the harissa-style dressing:
120ml (4fl oz) extra virgin olive oil
1 rounded teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 heaped tablespoons tomato purée
4 tablespoons lime juice (about 2 limes)
Directions
- Salt: Cut the aubergine and courgettes into 2.5cm (1in) dice, leaving the skins on. Toss them with about a level dessertspoon of salt, pack them into a colander with a plate and something heavy on top, and leave for an hour.
- Dry: Squeeze out any juice that’s left and dry the dice well in a clean tea towel. Heat the oven to 240°C (220°C fan), gas mark 9.
- Roast: Spread the aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes, pepper, fennel and onion in a large, shallow roasting tin. Scatter over the garlic, basil and olive oil, toss until everything is coated, season, then roast on the top shelf for 30 to 40 minutes, until the edges are toasted brown.
- Olives: Stir the olives and capers into the hot vegetables, then tip everything onto a plate to cool.
- Couscous: When you’re ready to serve, put the couscous in a large heatproof bowl, pour over the hot stock, season and stir with a fork. Leave it for 5 minutes, until it has soaked up all the stock.
- Dressing: Cut the goats’ cheese into small cubes, roughly the size of sugar cubes. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a bowl, then pour into a jug.
- Layer: Spoon the couscous into a large, wide salad bowl and gently fork in the cheese and the roasted vegetables. Pile the salad leaves on top.
- Serve: Just before serving, drizzle a little of the dressing over the salad, scatter over the black onion seeds and pass the rest of the dressing round in the jug.
Notes
- To skin cherry tomatoes, nick each one, cover them with boiling water for about a minute, then drain and slip the skins off.
- Black onion seeds are also sold as nigella or kalonji seeds, usually near the spices.
- You can roast the vegetables a few hours ahead and keep them covered somewhere cool, then put the salad together at the last minute so the leaves stay crisp.
FAQs
Is Delia’s harissa dressing made with harissa paste?
No, there’s no harissa paste in it at all. Delia gets the heat and colour from cayenne pepper, ground cumin and tomato purée, sharpened with lime juice and loosened with olive oil.
It’s quite fiery with a whole rounded teaspoon of cayenne, so I’d add half first and taste if you’re cooking for children. Whisk it again just before serving, as the oil and lime separate as it stands.
Why salt the aubergine and courgettes first?
To draw out some of their bitter juices, which is the reason Delia gives for the hour in the weighted colander. I find it also leaves the dice drier, so they take on more colour in the hot oven.
At a push you can skip it, which is my own call, but make sure the dice are properly dry before they go in the tin. Wet vegetables steam rather than roast.
How is the Summer Collection version different?
Only a little, because the imperial amounts are the same in both books. The metric figures were rounded differently, so the Summer Collection gives 500ml of stock and 110ml of dressing oil, while the Vegetarian Collection gives 510ml and 120ml.
The vegetables changed slightly too. In 1993 she used the mix from her roasted vegetable lasagne with fennel instead of the yellow pepper, and in 2002 she lists a red or yellow pepper as well as the fennel, with Marigold bouillon for the stock.
Is this couscous salad vegetarian?
Yes, it comes from her Vegetarian Collection, and the only thing to check is the cheese. Some goats’ cheeses are made with animal rennet, so look for one labelled as suitable for vegetarians.
Leave out the cheese and it’s vegan too, which is my own swap. I’d add a drained can of chickpeas with the olives and capers to keep it filling.
Does Delia make other couscous dishes?
Yes, and two of them are worth knowing. In How to Cook Book Three she serves marinated chicken brochettes on a green couscous with spring onions, coriander, chopped rocket and lime, fluffed up with a knife after it has soaked.
Her Summer Collection also has salmon fillets under a couscous crust flavoured with saffron and dry white wine. I’d save that one for a dinner party, which is my own pick.
