My husband Mr Stanton is a vegetarian, which means our meals at home are always meat-free. As a lifelong meat-eater, it took me a long time to get excited about vegetarian food as many of the meat substitutes on offer are simply a poor imitation of the real thing. For me, the secret to a good vegetarian meal is to avoid meat substitutes and focus on the veg! This simple salad is full of colour and flavour. It’s a delicious meal for a summer evening or even to entertain friends…
You will need (for three servings)
one small butternut squash (cubed)
two peppers
three red onions
a punnet of cherry tomatoes
eight cloves of garlic
fresh basil
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
halloumi
wholewheat couscous
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the cubed butternut squash in a roasting dish with half of the cherry tomatoes, four cloves of garlic and the peppers and two of the red onions cut into large chunks. Drizzle with a liberal glug of olive oil and roast in the middle of the oven for one hour.
For the salsa, finely chop the basil, and the rest of the garlic, cherry tomatoes and red onion and place in a bowl with some olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Mix together and leave in the fridge until ready to serve.
Ten minutes before the vegetables have finished roasting, prepare the couscous according to the instructions on the packet and leave to one side. Cut the halloumi into slices and fry in a little olive oil, turning occasionally, until it is golden brown on both sides.
Stir the roasted vegetables into the couscous and spoon onto serving plates. Top with the golden halloumi and a generous serving of salsa.
Mrs Stanton's Makes 