Life as bachelor girl isn’t all it’s cracked up to be when after years and years of having talented young men cook for you, you have to suddenly fend for yourself. For the first week I was living off cheese sandwiches and tv dinners and my palate nearly died from boredom. Eventually I was forced to learn to cook for the first time. This filled me with dread. Cooking is after all, women’s work. I’d much rather install shelves over sleepy heads, take the garbage out and be waited on hand and foot. The way it’s meant to be. Plus I don’t like to waste my time doing anything I’m not extremely good at because life’s too short.

So anyway I stocked my fridge up with really excellent ingredients and just sat and thought for a minute about what I would like to taste that night. And suddenly all these ideas came flooding in… I took out the ingredients I wanted to eat that night and did something that included all of them. I discovered I can actually cook! And not just cook, but create unforgettably yummy meals. I have become an incredibly fussy eater since Pieter the chef cooked for me every night for years. Even restaurant food often turns my nose up… so I was shocked and amazed to discover I can actually cook to my own ridiculous standard. Four nights in a row later of incredible taste sensations I decided to document my latest home-cooked meal so you can try it out for yourselves. Let’s get to it!

Yummy couscous salad with butterfry surprise!
This is a meal for one so you simply multiply the ingredients to make for more! This vegetarian meal is protein and vitamin packed so it won’t kill you.

These are the ingredients:

• Couscous (what’s couscous? I’ll get to that)
• 2 big chopped up mushrooms or a few small ones (protein)
• A tiny chopped onion
• Chopped garlic
• Chopped coriander (that’s the green herb stuff)
• A half courgette, chopped
• A small handful of Cauldron brand “golden marinated tofu pieces” (protein)
• Some pine nuts
• Some chopped dried fruit (tangy mango and apricot)
• Also, a sprinkling of dried chilli and feta

I can’t stress how easy this meal is. It takes only 10 minutes to prepare, starting with the super quick couscous salad.

Couscous is amazing stuff. Always keep it in your cupboard for emergencies. You use a tiny bit and it expands a whole lot to a whole bowlfull of grainy pasta stuff. Back to the recipe – chuck some couscous in the bottom of a container, pour boiling water over it (about 3 or 4 times the amount of couscous you have in there) stir briefly and leave for 5 minutes to expand.

While that cooks itself, add about half a spoon of butter to a pan, on medium to low (don’t want the butter to burn) and lay the courgettes out. Sprinkle some black pepper over and season. Wait till they’re nicely browned then turn over.

Getting back to the couscous – by now all the water will be absorbed and it will be nicely fluffy so give it a quick stir with a fork. Then add the raw chopped onion, dried fruit, pine nuts and coriander. Stir them in gently and pour out into your plate… sprinkling the chilli on top. This is what it should look like:

The courgettes will be nicely barbequed by now! So move it to the side of the pan so it doesnt burn, add the garlic, throw in the mushrooms and the tofu, and let them get nice and browned. Right at the end mix the courgettes in up with the rest so they get covered in garlic yumminess, and season again. Remember, there’s no meat, so you don’t cook it for long at all!

Chuck it over the couscous salad. Sprinkle a tiny bit of feta and dry chili and serve!

Mmmmmm! Yummy!