Couscous Salad

Uncooked but marinated in a salad dressing, couscous has a little more bite and texture than when boiled or steamed. Serve this as a main course salad,
or with pitta bread and grilled chicken. It keeps well in the fridge until
the next day or so. The herbs are very important but you can really do your
own thing with the other ingredients - experiment!

Serves 4

255g/9oz couscous
olive oil and lemon juice dressing (see below)
285ml of cold water
2 red capsicums
2 small shallots or 1 spainish onion, finely chopped
1/4 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 medium fresh chilli, deseeded and chopped
2 tomatoes, desseded and diced
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 handfuls of fresh herbs (basil, coriander or flat leaf parsley)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Put the cous cous in a bowl and toss with the olive oil and lemon juice
dressing. Add the water, stir, and leave to stand for 15 minutes or so for
the dressing to be absorbed. Meanwhile, grill the peppers whole, turning at
intervals, until blackened all over. Place in a bowl (still hot), cover
with clingfilm and leave to steam, then peel, dessed and chop finely. (This
might sound like a bit of a fuss, but you can do it while the coucous
marinates.) - I don't do this to the capsicum I just finely chop them raw
and it turns out just as nice, it's really up to you.

Put the peppers in a bowl and add the shallots (or spainish onion), garlic,
chilli, tomatoes, lemon juice, vinegar and herbs. Drizzle with olive oil,
season with salt and pepper to taste and stir. Leave for 15 minutes then
incorporate with the couscous. (I don't wait i just bung everything in
together then wack it in the fridge to infuse all the flavours).

Olive Oil and Lemon Juice Dressing

Serves 4

2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 table spoons olive oil
1 level teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix together all the ingredients.