Courgettes are at their peak right now and so we wanted to share with you some of our favourite ways to use them. Courgettes are lovely roasted very simply with olive oil and seasoning- they just need 15 minutes and that brings out a lovely tender texture and allows the delicate bittersweet flavour to shine through. We love harissa and it's a wonderful way to spice up a simple dish like this and add colour and interest. Wholewheat Maftoul (Palestinian cous cous) is delicious and quick to prep so we wanted to highlight this wonderful wheat ingredient. 

 

 

Crispy chickpea 'croutons' are a great healthy alternative to traditional bread croutons and go very nicely in this particular salad. They are also a great everyday protein rich snack that will keep you feeling fuelled and energised for longer during a hard working day. They are very quick to prep and you can be inventive with the spices- we always love a combination of garlic, cumin and coriander and the nutritional yeast gives it a nice added umami element.

 

 

Ingredients:

100g Wholewheat giant cous cous 

1 large courgette (about 300g) cut into thick pieces on the bias 

200g squash cut into bite size chunks

Large handful of seasonal late summer tomatoes- we love Natoora's 

Large handful of seasonal salad leaves

 

For the crispy chickpea croutons:

400g tin of chickpeas

 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

 

For the dressing:

1 tbsp apricot harissa

Juice of one lemon

1/2 a garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

 

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 fan.

To make the chickpea croutons, rinse and drain the chickpeas. Toss them in a large bowl with all the spices, oil and nutritional yeast flakes so they are thoroughly coated, then roast  for roughly 35 minutes until golden and very crispy.

Toss the squash in some olive oil, ground cumin and salt and pepper and roast  for 20-25 minutes.

Roast the courgette for 15 minutes until nice and tender and starting to turn golden with plenty of seasoning at 180.

Cook the cous cous according to the packet instructions. Then set aside to cool.

Whisk the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and the harissa in a large bowl. Add the courgettes and any juices from the baking tray, the cous cous, chickpeas, all the remaining ingredients, salad leaves etc then toss everything together. Other nice garnishes could include parsley or crispy sage leaves as pictured here.