Warm Veggie Pearl Couscous Salad

This salad is delicious on its own, or as a side dish to fish, lamb shoulder or brisket! And is a great way to use up any sad veggies at the end of the week. It can be made vegetarian if you omit the bone broth – however if you do want to use bone broth, this is a great meal to incorporate broth in your diet as the couscous absorbs it all up.

Couscous is an incredibly messy meal (sorry) so its a great one to eat outside if you aren’t prepared for couscous to fly everywhere! For this reason, for younger children I like to mash it with some of the vegetables so it sticks together a bit more and doesn’t fly around so much.

If you don’t have pearl couscous you can swap it for a regular couscous, amaranth, buckwheat or rice. For babies under 12 months, ensure you are using an Israeli style couscous, which is smaller. Some types of pearl couscous can be quite large and could be a choking risk.

For puree, you can either:
– puree up the couscous, veg and yoghurt together with a splash of water.
– omit the couscous for grain/gluten free and just blitz the veg and yoghurt together with some bone broth or water
– you can also add any protein/iron-rich foods to the meal like tinned mackeral, sardines, salmon, chicken, lamb etc.

For the BLW I would recommend when roasting the veg, to leave some a bit larger (about the width of two adult fingers) so your baby can easily grasp them. You can then serve alongside any protein/iron-rich foods to the meal like tinned mackeral, sardines, salmon, chicken, lamb etc.

This Salad will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Does not freeze well.

Warm Veggie Pearl Couscous salad

• 4 cups vegetables of choice (peeled and roughly chopped into 2 cm chunks (pumpkin, sweet potato, eggplant, zucchini, beetroot work well here))
• 1 red onion (roughly chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (whole, skin on)
• 1 lemon (halved)
• extra-virgin olive oil (to drizzle)
• 1 pinch sea salt and black pepper
• 2 cups Israeli pearl couscous
• 2 cups bone broth, vegetable stock or water
• 1/2 cup feta or goats cheese (crumbled)
• 1/4 cup barberries or currants (see notes)
• 1/2 cup pistachios (see notes)
• 1-2 tsp preserved lemon (thinly sliced (optional))
• 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
• 1/8 cup coriander (finely chopped)
• 1/8 cup mint (finely chopped)

Yoghurt Dressing

• 1/2 cup Greek Yoghurt (plain, full-fat)
• 2 tsp lemon juice (1/2 lemon)
• 1 tsp cumin powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced. Line a large baking tray with baking paper

2. Place vegetables of choice, red onion, garlic and lemon halves onto the baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with a good few pinches of salt and pepper. Place into the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes, until veggies are cooked through and caramelised.

3. When the vegetables have 20 minutes left, place the pearl couscous and broth (stock or water) into a medium sized saucepan, with a lid on half ajar. Place over low-medium heat and gently simmer for 8-10 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Once cooked, remove from the heat and place the lid on and allow to sit, undisturbed for 5-10 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, combine the yoghurt ingredients and stir to combine, set aside

5. In a large serving bowl, add the cooked vegetables, pearl couscous, currants or barberries, pistachios, feta and preserved lemon (if using). Using tongs, squeeze the roasted lemon and garlic cloves into the mixture, toss gently to combine

6. Sprinkle with the parsley/mint/coriander and serve with the Yoghurt Dressing dolloped on top.

Whole pistachios and barberries/currants are a choking risk until molars are in, so don’t add these to your babies plate.

1 meal a day, 2 meals a day, 3 meals a day, Baby Led Weaning, BLW, Family Meals, Main Course, puree