Harissa braised cod with giant couscous

These steaming bowls of soft white fish poached in a lightly spiced tomato broth are simple to rustle up on a summer’s evening, and would be equally soul-soothing in the depths of winter – although you may want to swap out the fresh cherry tomatoes for tinned ones in this instance.

Method:

• Peel, halve and finely slice your onion. Finely slice your red pepper too, discarding all the seeds and the stem.
• Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and pepper, and cook for 15–20 minutes until really soft.
• While the onion and pepper are cooking, peel and finely chop your garlic. Halve your cherry tomatoes.
• Add the garlic to the pan, along with the ground spices, and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant. Tip your cherry tomatoes (or tinned tomatoes) into the pan and squish them up a bit with your spoon.
• Cook for 5 minutes until they are nice and jammy, then add the harissa paste and vegetable stock, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Season with ½ teaspoon of salt, reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer gently while you prep the rest.
• Bring a medium-sized saucepan of water to a boil. Add the couscous and simmer for 8 minutes until tender.
• Meanwhile, cut your cod loin into large chunks, about 5cm big. Nestle these fish chunks into your sauté pan with all the veg, then reduce the heat to low. Pop a lid on the pan and let it gently poach for 7–8 minutes. The fish should turn opaque and easily flake when it is cooked, but you don’t want the pieces to fall apart too much.
• While the fish is cooking, roughly chop the parsley and cut the lemon into wedges.
• Once your fish is cooked, drain the couscous and tip this into the pan around the fish, then season the broth to taste. Ladle everything into bowls, then scatter with the chopped parsley. Serve with lemon wedges for squeezing.

Recipe extracted from Tucking In (Ebury)