Roasted red pepper & toms with brothy, mustard Couscous
The weather has been delightful, so I've created this fresh dish for you guys!
What's up people!
If you're in the UK, I hope you've been soaking up the sunshine - it's been glorious. It’s giving major flashbacks to that spring during the pandemic when it felt like the sun never stopped shining. If you’re not from the UK, just know this kind of weather is rare... we’re usually on a month of showers in april.
This week marked a big milestone for NoMeatDisco - I submitted something I’ve been working on for months. I'm so stoked with how it's turned out and I can't wait to share it with you. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but the submission is the start of the next stage. I know it's a bit of a tease saying that and not telling you what it is (sorry!), but like I said in the last newsletter, you lot will be the first to know. Promise.
Now that the big deadline’s out the way, I’ve finally got space to focus more on creating new series and content for socials, and putting some proper energy back into these newsletters and my website. So if you’ve stuck around… thank you. I’ve got a lot planned.
One of the things stealing my attention right now? Sourdough. Yep, I’ve started my own sourdough starter. It needs daily attention, which is already a challenge, I forgot to feed it on day one… solid parenting. But I’m trying to work it into my routine, and apparently it’ll survive a missed day (fingers crossed). I’ll do a little roundup in next week’s newsletter to let you know how it’s getting on, so keep your eyes peeled for that (and feel free to send me your sourdough wisdom if you’ve been through this emotional rollercoaster before).
But let’s talk food…
Disco kitchen this week:
A quick and easy spring dish
This week’s recipe is light, quick and easy, the kind of thing we all need in our lives. I love roasting veg: it’s such a simple way to pack in flavour. Drizzle with oil, season well, whack it in the oven and let it do its thing. Pair it with some carbs, something green, maybe a dollop of something creamy or punchy… and you’re flying.
Scroll down for the full recipe, and if you end up making it, I’d love to see. Tag me on Instagram, comment on here or just hit reply and show me what you’re cooking. You know I’m nosy like that.
Roasting veg
There’s just something about roasting veg. It’s one of the easiest ways to take a humble vegetable and turn them into something so much better. The oven basically does all the hard work for you, you get that nice char, sweetness, and depth of flavour without having to stand over a hob stirring stuff for half an hour. It gives you the freedom to be more creative with the rest of the dish.
Plus, roasting is forgiving. Forgot it for a few extra minutes? Cool, it’s just crispier. Want to batch cook? Chuck it all on a tray and you’re good. It's low-effort, high reward, which is kind of the dream, right?
And if you’re someone who’s not that into veg, roasting is a bit of a gateway. Carrots go sweet, sprouts go crispy, broccoli goes nutty, everything just gets better.
Pearl couscous
Let’s talk pearl couscous, the chunkier, cooler cousin of regular couscous. It’s got that nice bite to it, somewhere between pasta and a grain, and it soaks up flavour like a dream. To be honest I’ve only come across it the last few years, it seems to have hit UK supermarkets now and I’m pretty obsessed with it. I was always used to the finer couscous that you can buy in packets.
Now, cooking it in plain salted water? Fine. But cooking it in stock with a spoonful of wholegrain mustard stirred through at the end? Elevates it to a whole new level. The mustard gives it this subtle tang and depth, not overpowering but balances out the sweet flavours from the roasted red pepper and tomatoes. It kind of transforms it into more than just a base, it becomes part of the main event. Also, the more stock you you add in the brothier you can have it, you could almost serve it as a soup.
Serving
I like to serve mine with some buttery sourdough, some fresh thyme and some za’atar sprinkled on top, with an extra glug of olive oil and seasoning and it’s the perfect dish.
The Recipe
Roasted red pepper & toms with a brothy, mustard Couscous
This will feed 2-3 people and be ready in around 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For the roasted veg:
250g of cherry tomatoes (I used on the vine)
1 whole sweet red pepper
2 cloves garlic (in their skin)
1 tbsp Za’atar
1 tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt and pepper
For the wholegrain mustard couscous:
1 onion
160g of pearl couscous
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
400ml of vegetable stock
Serve with buttered bread, a drizzle of balsamic glaze and some fresh thyme.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 210°C.
In a skillet, throw in the tomatoes, red pepper, garlic, za’atar, salt, pepper, and a good glug of olive oil. Toss to coat, then roast for about 25 mins until blistered and charred.
Meanwhile, finely dice the onion and cook it in a pan with oil, salt, and pepper until soft.
Stir in the uncooked couscous, give it a minute to soak up the oil, then add the mustard and stock. Let it simmer for 10–12 mins until the couscous is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Add more or less stock depending how brothy you want it.
Once the veg is done, squeeze the garlic from the skins, mash it, and stir it through the couscous.
To serve, spoon the couscous onto a plate, pile on the roasted veg, drizzle over some olive oil and balsamic glaze, sprinkle with fresh thyme, and serve with buttery bread.
Disco of the week
Playlist: Rhythm & Sole
This Sunday, my Bournemouth run club - Sole Clinic - is teaming up with Rhythm Social for a pretty exciting concept run.
Rhythm Social are a collective of DJs from down here on the South Coast - a bunch of good mates who play the kind of music I love: jazz, funk, disco, Brazilian and African beats, electronic, and loads more. They regularly play in our local bars and pubs, always bring a proper vibe.
For this Sunday’s run, we’re doing something special: the DJs will be live-streaming straight from the café where we meet. Everyone in the run club will be wearing headphones, all tuned into the live stream. So as we leave the café for our 5K, we’ll be running to their live set, and when we return, we’ll still be grooving to the same mix back at the café. A full-circle run with a soundtrack. Bloody great concept, if you ask me.
They’ve even created a playlist just for the club, full of feel-good running tunes that hit the sweet spot between rhythm and energy. I’ve been listening to it on repeat all week getting hyped, and now you get to enjoy it too.
That’s a wrap on this week’s newsletter!
I know I originally said this would be bi-weekly, but right now I’ve got the time and the creative energy to write more often - so consider yourselves lucky. You’ll probably be getting these weekly for the next little while. Count yourselves lucky ;-)
Next week’s issue will be all about the sourdough starter, a full update on how it’s going, and how I’m planning to turn it into breads, pizza doughs, and more. So keep an eye out for that.
In the meantime, if you want a load of my recipes at your fingertips, head over to my website — everything you need is there.
Hope you all have a brilliant weekend. And as always, if you end up making this week’s recipe (or anything else from me), send over pics and let me know how it goes. I absolutely love seeing what you guys are cooking.
Big love as always,
Sam — NoMeatDisco x