With the first few Spring-like days peeking its head out last week, This Little Pig got wildly excited. Spring is such a fabulous time in the garden and all sorts of glorious vegetables start becoming abundant in the veggie patch. The stew pot is pushed to the back and makes way for lovely salads with the last of the root veg in the pantry. This salad is a delicious one to make with a slow roasted meat when friends are coming over. It can be prepared ahead of time and served with a slow roasted lamb shoulder and a zingy yoghurt dressing to create the perfect dinner party meal.
Roll up your light woolen jumper and get stuck into this delicious salad that, as a side note, can also be a beautiful vegetarian Monday night dinner. Oink!
PS. Piglet, it must be said that as this is rather a simple dish, every ingredient listed below really lends to the flavour of the salad and so whilst many of the dishes on this blog can be a bit flexible, this fine swine highly recommends you follow the ingredient list on this particular blog to the letter.
Roast Pumpkin, Fetta and King Israeli Cous Cous Salad.
**NOTE: If you can’t source King Israeli Cous Cous, substitute in pearl cous cous – which has a shorter cooking time of around 12 mins.
Feeds: 2 Hungry Piglets as a main or 4 Hungry Piglets as a side salad.
Prep Time: 15 Mins. Cooking Time: 30 Mins.
Ingredients of Salad Glory:
500g x Pumpkin
1 x Lebanese Cucumber
20g x Preserved Lemon (1/2 a cheek)
1 x Lemon
30g x Mint
30g x Flat Leaf Parsley
1 x Cup King Israeli Cous Cous
1 x Tsp Gourmet Stock
1 x Tbs Olive Oil
1 x Tbs Pumpkin Seeds
1 x Tsp Cumin Seeds
50g x Fetta (we used Borrello Marinated Fetta)
½ x Cup Slivered Almonds
1 x Cup Frozen Peas
Method of Salad Glory:
- Preheat your oven to 250 degrees.
- Chop the skin off your pumpkin (pop that in your compost) and chop the pumpkin into 3 cm cubes.
- Scatter your pumpkin cubes into a tray and drizzle over your olive oil (1 Tbs) and then toss around with your pumpkin seeds (1 Tbs) and cumin seeds (1 Tsp).
- Pop into the oven for around 30 mins or until soft and slightly caramelized on the outside.
- Pop a pot of water onto boil and once boiling, pour in your gourmet stock (1 Tsp) and King Israeli Cous Cous (1 Cup). Allow to boil away for around 25 mins or until just cooked through.
- Finely dice your cucumber (1), preserved lemon (20g) and roughly chop your mint and parsley leaves.
- Once your cous cous is just cooked through, pour your peas (1 Cup) into the boiling pot and allow to cook for a further 2 mins or until the peas are warmed through and soft. Drain the cous cous/pea mix and pour into a nice salad bowl for serving.
- Mix through your finely diced preserved lemon and cucumber.
- Now pour your slivered almonds into a dry fry pan and cook on a high heat for around 1-2 mins stirring constantly. You want the edges to turn a lovely golden brown but you certainly don’t want them to burn, which is what will happen if you wander off to blow your nose or check Instagram, so stay alert piglet!
- Scatter over the cous cous your cooked pumpkin, crumble over your feta (50g), diced herbs and finally your toasted slivered almonds.
- Squeeze lemon juice over to your taste and give it a good scrunch of pepper and salt if it needs it.
- Now tuck in dear piglet to a rather wholesome and delicious dish. Oink!
