This is a recipe that I would never have tried to make for the kids six months ago, they would have looked at me like I’d served them a plate of pine cones! But since our recent trip to Chile, the girls have become obsessed with avocado (even though it was a firm dislike before the trip!), wanting it in their lunch boxes or even just as a snack, simply cut in half and eaten with a spoon out of the skin! The avocados in Chile are in a different league to the ones we have here but have certainly inspired new flavour combinations since our return. The Boy however, has taken a little more convincing and is still a bit wary of this creamy, green fruit- no surprises there! Halloumi and courgettes have also been rejected in the past, possibly due to texture rather than flavour (that hasn’t stopped me hiding courgette in many dishes, successfully!) but the construction of a tower on their plate was certainly a hit! The saltiness of halloumi works well with the courgette and the whole dish can be prepared and on the table in 10 minutes, depending on how fast you can chop! This dish does not require exact quantities of ingredients, it can be bulked out or cut down and will still work, with any left overs, great for lunch the next day!
Though we love it as a cheap, vegetarian dish, the couscous salad could be served as an accompaniment to chicken or fish or even as a meal on its own! The ingredients shown will serve three children with couscous salad leftovers (unless they are really hungry!).
Ingredients:
- 4 heaped tbsp dry couscous
- 100ml boiling water
- Drizzle of olive oil for cooking
- Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil for the couscous but normal olive oil will do!
- 1 x 250g block halloumi (will serve 3 children or 2 adults), sliced – 9-10 slices per block
- 1-2 courgettes, sliced into 1cm thick rounds (6/child or 8-10/adult)
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 1 ripe avocado, diced
- 1/4 red onion, finely chopped (substitute spring onion or chives for a more subtle flavour)
- Handful of pine nuts (50g)
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Get the kettle boiling and measure out the couscous into a bowl
- Add the boiling water, cover (I just stick a plate on top) and leave until you are ready to serve (approx 8-10 mins)
- Lightly oil and season a griddle pan, then put it on a high heat
- Place the courgette slices onto the griddle pan, lightly season and cook for 3-4 mins until griddle lines appear on the flesh
- Flip the courgettes and add the halloumi (if the pan isn’t big enough to do both at the same time, finish the courgettes first and set aside)
- Keep an eye on the halloumi, it only takes a couple of minutes on each side and will burn quickly!
- While those are cooking, chuck the red onion, tomatoes, avocado and pine nuts into a bowl and stir through
- Once the halloumi has coloured on both sides, stack the courgettes and halloumi slices into a tower on each plate. I make a three stack tower for children and a four to five stack tower for adults with two courgette slices for every halloumi slice.
- Fork through the couscous and combine with the salad mix along with a drizzle of olive oil (extra virgin if you have it) and a twist of salt and pepper
- Serve the tower with a mound of couscous!
Enjoy your Halloumi & Courgette Tower with Tomato & Avocado Couscous!!
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Buzymum 
Yum! This looks so good, I’m going to have to give it a go 🙂
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