I’ll start making this salad in April when the blood oranges appear in the supermarkets and eat it every week until the very last glimmers of summer have faded. It’s so satisfying thanks to the couscous and bright because of the fresh orange. It’s genuinely a joy to eat. You can use regular oranges or blood oranges just be sure to squeeze the juice out of the core once you’ve removed the segments – that fresh juice makes the dressing sing.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults & 2 Kids
300g cooked beetroot (vac packed)
2 oranges
75g goat’s cheese
60g rocket
60g flaked almonds
10-15 mint leaves
150g giant couscous

Dressing Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp Dijon mustard
juice from the two orange husks after segmenting
1/4 tsp salt

• Tip the couscous into 750ml of boiling water with 1/2 tsp of salt. Cook for 8 minutes then drain. While the couscous is cooking, prepare the salad. Heat a small frying pan on a medium heat and toast the almonds until they start to smell toasty.
• Cut away the peel of the orange then use a sharp knife to cut out segments of the orange (the flesh between the white membranes). Once all the segments are removed, squeeze the husk so all the remaining juice is collected. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients to the orange juice and whisk to combine.
• Slice the beetroot into similar sized pieces to the orange. Tip the rocket into a bowl and add the chopped mint, crumbled goat’s cheese and HALF the toasted almonds. Add the drained couscous then pour over 3/4 of the dressing and toss to combine. Top the salad with the beetroot and orange then sprinkle over the remaining almonds, the rest of the dressing and a little extra chopped mint.