Seasonal eating: zucchini, halloumi and harissa tagine with couscous

This is a recipe I came up with to use up one of the giant zucchinis the neighbours gave me, in addition to a number of leftovers in my fridge from a housewarming and guests. It's a good way to make a spicy, wholesome meal out of a zucchini and would be vegan if the halloumi were omitted. The halloumi in this case was a ewe's-milk version, made by Grandvewe cheeses.

Zucchini, halloumi and harissa couscous
Would feed 4, or 1 for many meals!

3/4 cup couscous

2 tbsp olive oil
50 g halloumi, cut into dice
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic and 1-2 chillies, minced together (I used a jalapeno and a Thai chilli in this case)
1 carrot (I used a purple one), finely chopped
1 large or 2 small zucchini, cut into small dice
3 roma tomatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
2 tbsp ras el hanout
2-3 tbsp harissa (or more, I used about 1/4 cup as mine was home-made and mild)
2 tbsp each chopped fresh mint, coriander and parsley
1/2 vegetable stock cube, or 1 cup vegetable stock
1/4 cup olives (optional: I used lemon-garlic marinated green olives and tossed in the lemon slices as well)

Add the couscous to a cup of boiling water, cover and allow to sit while preparing the rest of the meal.

Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan or wok and fry the halloumi until crisp on the edges. Add the onion and cook until softened, then add the garlic, chilli, carrot and zucchini, frying over a medium-high heat until the zucchini starts to brown. Add the tomatoes, stock cube (if using), ras el hanout and harissa along with a cup of water or stock and cook for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly and the tomatoes have softened but not disappeared. Taste and season with salt to taste, adjust spices if required. Toss the mint, coriander and half the parsley through the dish. YOu want there to be quite a bit of liquid still in the dish as this will be soaked up by the couscous

Fluff the couscous with a fork and tip into a serving bowl. Pour the tagine over the couscous and garnish with the reserved parsley. Eat piping hot.