Sausage & Halloumi Couscous with Fresh Rocket Pesto

I nearly didn't cook tonight. After a long day at work I was tempted to not bother, but as much as I thought I wasn't in the mood to hit the kitchen with gusto... once I had got there, as always, I felt inspired. My lovely range cooker just literally calls out to me..

So, I have pork sausages, I have some rocket and I have halloumi cheese. This is where my head went. These sorts of dishes with fresh pesto and the like sound a bit too much work. But if you happen to own a hand blender, it takes less that 3 minutes to make. I loved it!

Ingredients:

6 (400g) thick pork sausages
250g halloumi cheese, cubed

Cube the halloumi and fry in a little oil until golden. Drain on kitchen paper and keep warm. Gently push the centre of each sausage until you can twist the middle (making half size sausages). Pop in the oven at 180 C for about 35 minutes until browned and cooked through.

Pesto:

55g fresh rocket
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp. pine nuts
4 tbsp. olive oil
salt & pepper

Put the first three ingredients into a hand blender and blitz. Add the seasoning and olive oil and blitz again to make a pesto. Put into a bowl in the fridge until ready to serve.

Couscous:

1 cup  (150g) couscous
1 vegetable stock cube
1 1/2 cups (365ml) boiling water
1 small courgette, finely diced
1/4 red pepper, finely diced

Put the couscous and crumbled stock cube into a boil and pour over 1 1/2 cups (365ml) boiling water. Cover with cling film to steam for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the vegetables.

To serve:

Stir 20g fresh rocket into the couscous and put in the centre of the plate. Add some sausages, halloumi, pesto and a little plain low fat yoghurt. Scatter over some pine nuts and serve.

South Asian Chicken Dopiaza Curry

Dopiaza is a Persian word meaning 'two onions'. This is a curry that changes so much from recipe to recipe but the onions are basically predominant. This is the version I made last night when I was craving a little spice. This is a dry (ish) medium hot curry, but it really depends on where you buy your chillies - I buy mine from an Indian shop local to me and used two. They are surprisingly fiery!

Quick to make - and delicious served with rice or just chapati. I served with two chapati per person and the meal was rather low in fat! Winner!

Ingredients:    (Serves 2)

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
2 large onions, peeled
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 fresh green chillies, chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, peeled
1/2 tbsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp. coriander seeds
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. turmeric powder
6 tbsp. low fat yoghurt
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. garum Masala
handful fresh coriander, chopped

Method:

Slice one of the onions and in a large pan, fry in 1 tbsp. of oil until soft and browning. Set to one side, on a plate, for later.

Chop the other onion and put into a small blender with one of the chilles, the garlic and ginger. Blitz to a paste. Using the same pan, add the other tbsp. of oil and the onion paste. Cook for about 5 minutes on a high heat to get some colour (mind out as it will splutter). Grind the coriander and cumin seeds in a grinder or a pestle and mortar. Add to the onion paste in the pan with the turmeric and salt. Stir well.

Now add the yoghurt, a tbsp. at a time, mixing in well each time to make a sauce. Add the chicken & tomatoes and put a lid on the pan. Cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes. Then sprinkle on the garum masala and the fresh coriander. Top with the second chilli and serve. Delicious!