At the start of January I promised myself that if I was going to do nothing else this year, I was going to up my cooking game. Now I know that this doesn't look wholly appetising (it's just a pile of vegetables, right!?) but trust me, it tastes SO damn good. As many of you willknow I have been working with The Co-Operative over the past 6 months or so, and when they got in touch regarding their latest launch I was over the moon.. Simple recipes with Sorted Food, yes please! The two companies joined forces to create a website called Now Cook It in attempt to target the cooking skills gap present between 16-25 year olds (trust me, it's real.. my cooking abilities are less than satisfactory!) and I couldn't wait to get on board.
You know what I said about this recipe looking as though it's been thrown together? Well, that's the beauty of it.
Ingredients:
1 red or white onion, 1 red pepper, 1 clove of garlic, 1 courgette, 1 large sweet potato (this isn't included on their site, but I couldn't resist!), 1 lemon, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp oregano, 100g couscous, salt and pepper
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 240ºC and pop a roasting tray in to warm whilst you prep your vegetables.
Step 2: Peel and chop the vegetables into similar sized chunks; don't cut them too big else they'll take forever to cook, but be sure to keep them fairly chunky so they don't go mushy. The idea is for them to char slightly, as that's when they taste the best!
Step 3: Throw all of the vegetables in the preheated roasting tin, cover with olive oil and season well. Cut your lemon in half and place at either ends of the tin. Whilst the vegetables are roasting (this should take around 30 mins), cook your couscous and prepare any added extras- Now Cook It recommend serving with chopped tomatoes and cucumber, but I'm not a salad fan. Oops.
Step 4: Remove from the oven and serve immediately; squeeze the lemon over the top of the dish for added flavour. This should be done over a sieve to prevent seeds from falling into your food!
For a more detailed version of what I've explained here, head over to the Now Cook It website, where there's a step by step video (containing lots of laughter!) with plenty of helpful tips for novice chefs like myself. If you're in need of some mid-week food inspo I would definitely recommend checking them out; as a full time student I know how card it can be to cook delicious and nutritious meals on a budget, but there really is something for everybody!
This post was written in collaboration with The Co-operative and Sorted Food; all views are my own.