Chermoula elevates any dish to new levels of yum. It's a North African blend of herbs, spices and garlic, a bit like salsa verde, but with more punchy flavours. You can use it as a marinade for meat, fish or veggies, stir it into yoghurt, add to soups or stews or dollop on top of hummus for an extra flavour explosion.

In this dish I've spread it onto courgettes for roasting. It would also work well with aubergines or squash.

Ingredients

For the chermoula:

1 cup chopped fresh corinader, leaves and stems

1 cup parsely or mint leaves

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1.5 tsp ground cumin

1.5 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp sweet paprika

1 Tbsp preseved lemon, finely chopped (optional - if you don't have preserved lemon, use the zest of 1 fresh lemon)

Juice of half a lemon

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

Veggies for roasting:

5 small courgettes, cut in half lengthways

handful of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red onions, cut into chunks

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C/Gas Mark 6.

Add all the chermoula ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. Add more oil or lemon juice to get a thick runny consistency. (This will produce a small jar's worth of sauce. You only need a few teaspoons for this recipe. You can store the rest in the fridge for about a week - pour a layer of oilive oil over to create a layer over the top of the sauce to preserve for longer.)

Place your courgettes cut side up on a large baking tray. Spread a small teaspoon of chermoula over each courgette. Scatter the onion pieces around and drizzle the whole lot with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Then add the tomatoes to the baking try for a further 5-10 minutes, until the tomatoes have softened and the courgettes are browning at the edges.

Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes before serving up.

For a complete meal, you could serve these courgettes with a green salad, yoghurt with chermoula stirred in and a grain of choice, e.g. couscous, pearled spelt, quinoa