Merguez and chicken couscous from Josée di Stasio
Merguez and chicken couscous

Preparation time 25 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

  1. 450 g (1 lb.) boneless chicken thighs
  2. 10 mL (2 tsp.) harissa
  3. To taste, salt and pepper
  4. 2 sweet red peppers, cut in 1-cm (½-inch) strips
  5. 1 red onion, cut in ½-cm (¼-inch) strips
  6. 30 mL (2 tbsp.) olive oil
  7. 4 to 6 merguez sausages
  8. 500 mL (2 cups) water mixed with 2 mL (½ tsp.) salt
  9. OR 500 mL (2 cups) chicken bouillon
  10. 30 mL (2 tbsp.) butter or olive oil
  11. 375 mL (1 ½ cups) couscous

Vinaigrette

  1. 125 mL (½ cup) olive oil
  2. 60 mL (¼ cup) lemon zest (about 4 lemons)
  3. 60 mL (¼ cup) fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
  4. 10 mL (2 tsp.) harissa
  5. 60 mL (¼ cup) chopped Italian parsley
  6. 80 mL (1/3 cup) raisins
  7. 2 mL (½ tsp.) salt

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
  2. Cut chicken into 1-cm (½-inch) strips and add harissa. Season with salt and pepper, and stir well. Reserve.
  3. Toss peppers and onion with olive oil to coat. Season with salt, and place on a parchment paper−lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
  4. In a bowl, mix all ingredients for vinaigrette. Reserve.
  5. Add reserved chicken and merguez sausages to vegetables, and continue cooking for 20 minutes.
  6. In the meantime, bring salted water or bouillon to a boil and add butter or olive oil. Remove from heat; add couscous and cover pan.
  7. Let sit 5 minutes. Flake couscous with a fork. Reserve.
  8. Serve meat and vegetable mixture on couscous, drizzled with a few spoonfuls of vinaigrette.
  9. Can be eaten hot or warm.

TIP

For a vegetarian version, omit meat, and add a tin of chick peas, rinsed and drained, to the grilled vegetables for the final three minutes of cooking. Serve on couscous with vinaigrette.

NO WASTE

Harissa, a condiment from North Africa, is a spicy paste made from hot red peppers combined with various spices. It is used in legume soups, stews, and meat and seafood marinades, or to add some heat to mayonnaise in a sandwich.

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