This is a lovely recipe to make at home as you can use some of it for lunch or as a superfood salad and serve the remainder as a canapé that evening. You could cheat and buy a ready made version if you are short of time and present it on an edible tulip petal from Greens of Devon, up to you.
Ingredients: for 2 for lunch plus canapés
1 aubergine
1 courgette
half a butternut squash or 1 medium sweet potato
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 red onion
1 tbsp sundried tomato and olive tapenade
4 tbsp olive oil
Good sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper
250g dry weight couscous – cooked as per instructions on the packet
Edible tulip petals
For the dressing:
2 tbsp tomato puree
2 tsp rose harissa
juice of 2 limes
1 tsp ground cumin
- Preheat the oven to 200c/gas 6/AGA roasting oven.
- Dice the aubergine, courgette, butternut squash, peppers and onion to around 2cm square, trying to make them mostly the same size. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- Mix together the tapenade and olive oil, pour over the veg and mix well so that all the diced veg are covered, use your hands if you can, you get better coverage.
- Transfer to a greased roasting tray and spread the veg evenly in one layer on the tray, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper and roast for 20-25 minutes (AGA top set of runners) until the veg are slightly charred at the edges. Remove and leave to cool
- Make the dressing – mix together all the ingredients.
- Gently mix the cooked couscous with the roast veg and dressing and toss lightly to cover.
- To assemble, lay out the edible tulip petals, place teaspoonfuls of mixture on each petal and serve.
You could add some feta cheese if you wish, it goes rather well with the harissa and couscous.