BBQ vegetables with red pesto dressing and couscous recipe

Our BBQ vegetables take around eight minutes to cook on each side but can be eaten hot or cold.

You can serve these BBQ vegetables on skewers with couscous or on their own as a vegetarian main. They are easy to prepare ahead of time and leftovers are delicious in a salad. Cut the vegetables so that they are a similar size, this enables even cooking. This dish is part of our low calorie vegetarian meals collection as it's just 284 calories per serving.

Ingredients

For the BBQ vegetables

• 16 baby chestnut mushrooms
• 1 red and 1 yellow pepper , cut into chunks
• 2-3 small courgettes, cut into 3cm chunks
• 2 small red onions, peeled and quartered

For the pesto

• 30g sun-dried tomatoes in oil
• 2 sprigs basil, leaves picked
• 1 small clove garlic
• 15g parmesan
• 30g roasted peppers
• 15g walnuts
• 2tbsp oil from sun-dried tomatoes
• For the dressing
• 150ml natural yogurt
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• For the cous cous
• 150g mix of dried apricots, dried cranberries, pitted olives or pomegranate seeds
• 300g couscous
• 600ml hot vegetable stock
• Zest of 1 lemon

You will also need

• 8 metal skewers or wooden skewers soaked in water for 30mins before using

Method

1. Make the dressing. Put all the pesto ingredients into a small food processor or large pestle and mortar and pulse until everything is chopped up and you’ve achieved a paste. Mix with the yogurt to taste with lemon juice to make a thick dressing. Refrigerate until needed.
2. Randomly place the vegetables onto the skewers being sure to include a little of everything. To make the couscous, tip boiling hot vegetable stock over the couscous and lemon zest in a heatproof bowl. Stir well and then leave for the couscous to absorb the water, around 20mins. Chop up the dried apricots, cranberries and/or olives (If you’re using dried apricots or cranberries, leave to soak in hot water for 30mins before, if possible). Once the couscous has absorbed the liquid, fluff up with a fork and then mix through the dried fruits etc. Spoon onto a platter or into a large serving bowl.
3. Grill the vegetable skewers on the BBQ or under a hot grill until the veg has charred and softened a little, they’ll need around 5-8 mins on each side but be sure to keep a close eye on them. To finish, either place the vegetable skewers on top of the couscous and spoon over the dressing so people can help themselves or take veg off the skewers and mix through the couscous and serve with the dressing.

Top tips for making BBQ vegetables with red pesto dressing

The pesto tastes great with pasta so why not make a bigger batch and keep it in the fridge for dinner the next day

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