This is a light, warm, lemony salad. I had a slightly different version at a friend’s house, and have since adapted it for taste, and to suit what I’ve had in the fridge. The roast sweet potato goes well with a green crunch – here I’ve used green capsicum, but baby spinach is lovely as well. I’ve always eaten this on its own, or with other salads, but I think it would go beautifully with lamb or chicken.

1 reasonably large sweet potato
2 carrots
1 green capsicum
1 cup couscous
half a lemon
olive oil
ground cumin

Preheat the oven to 200C. Peel the sweet potato, slice it in half lengthwise, and cut it into fairly thin slices. You’re aiming for a crisp outside and soft inside – no tiny slivers, but no huge chunks either. Slice the carrots into short strips.

Layer the sweet potato slices and carrot strips onto an oiled tray – you may need to use two, as you don’t want the vegetables piled on top of each other. Grind some pepper over them, and then cook for about 20 minutes. Turn up the oven to 250C, and bake for another 10 minutes to make them crisp.

While the sweet potato is baking, chop the capsicum into small pieces. Cook one cup of couscous according to the instructions on the pack.

When the vegetables are out of the oven, make the dressing. Lightly squeeze half a lemon into a small bottle, add 4-5 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of cumin powder, and shake the mixture until well combined. The amounts in the dressing depend very much on personal taste – this is quite lemony, and you may want to increase the cumin and the oil.

In a large bowl, combine the couscous, roasted vegies and capsicum with your hands. Pour the dressing over, and stir in with a fork. Turn the salad into the serving bowl, and enjoy.

Variations: baby spinach, roasted mushrooms, chilli, roasted or grilled chicken, canned artichoke hearts, grilled red capsicum, or grilled eggplant.