Spiced lamb and couscous salad.

Now the thing I like about couscous is that it is great at carrying a lot of flavour. That is to say on its own it is very bland but if you use lots of flavouring agents then it really become something very special. It is light to eat and goes with so many things not or cold. I know I am calling this a salad but make it hot and use lamb that you just have cooked and it is just as good. But what is nice is that if you want to use up some left over roast from the day before then this is also a good dish to make.

You will need.

1tbsp tomato purée
1tsp ginger purée
1tsp garlic purée
1tsp red chilli purée
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
The juice of 1 lemon
3 tomatoes
Small bunch of fresh coriander
Small bunch of fresh chervil
Small bunch of fresh chives
1 red onion
110g/4oz couscous
220ml/8foz boiling water to cook couscous
175g/6oz cooked lamb

Start by cooking your couscous, the best way I know is just add twice as much boiling water as you have couscous sort of two to one ratio. Then cover and just let it seam in a bowl, after a while just break it up so it goes nice and crumbly.  But just check with the side of the packet to see how they suggest you cook it, I have been caught out before.

Once you have cooked your couscous them simply add the tomato purée, ginger purée, garlic purée, red chilli purée, olive oil, lemon juice and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Give this all a good mix together. Then add this to your couscous and stir it all together so it is well combined. Now taste it to see if it is to your liking and add more of whatever you want.

Now take the tomatoes, coriander, chervil, chives, red onion and cooked lamb and dice them all very rustically. To make it look really authentic you do not want to spend to much time fine chopping everything, just make sure that the red onion is thinly sliced that is all I would say.

Once again taste it and see if you are happy with the seasoning levels and then just let it sit in the fridge for about 2 hours before you eat it. This is the best way to let all the flavours build in the salad.

And then have it hot or cold , a perfect way to use up left over roast lamb