Recommendations · Wine and food

Merguez and couscous with Ogier Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu

Merguez sausages from the frying pan on couscous with roasted vegetables, chickpeas and mint. A sturdy Rhône from Plan de Dieu has the weight to stand up to cumin and lamb fat.

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Bottle of Ogier Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu, wine

From the shelf

The bottle

Ogier Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu comes from the Rhône in France and is made from grenache, syrah and mourvèdre. The wine is 14.5 percent by volume and the bottle holds 75 centilitres. In aroma and taste ripe fruit with earthy notes behind it and some oak; the structure is firm and the finish long.

Ogier Côtes du Rhône Villages Plan de Dieu

The combination

Why this works together

Merguez is minced lamb with cumin, coriander and paprika, and so fatty and spicy at once. That fat calls for tannin: it clings to it and leaves the mouth clean between two bites. The peppery, earthy side of syrah and mourvèdre runs in parallel with the cumin, and the ripe grenache lays a sweeter layer beneath the paprika. One warning belongs with it: 14.5 percent ABV amplifies heat. Put the harissa on the table separately rather than stirring it through the dish, so everyone decides for themselves how far to go.

At the table

The dish

  • Before 4 people
  • Ready in 45 minutes
  • Type main course

What you need

  • 8 merguez sausages
  • 300 grams couscous
  • 400 millilitres vegetable stock
  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1 courgette
  • 1 red onion
  • 400 grams canned chickpeas
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 lemon
  • 20 grams of fresh mint
  • 1 jar of harissa
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper

How to make it

  1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees.
  2. Cut the peppers, the courgette and the red onion into coarse pieces. Mix them on a baking tray with three tablespoons of olive oil, the cumin, salt and pepper.
  3. Roast the vegetables for twenty minutes, turning them halfway through.
  4. Rinse the chickpeas, let them drain and spoon them in with the vegetables for the last five minutes.
  5. Put the couscous in a bowl, pour the boiling stock over it, cover with a plate and leave to swell for ten minutes. Then fluff it up with a fork and the last tablespoon of olive oil.
  6. Cook the merguez in a dry frying pan over medium heat for ten to twelve minutes until done; they release their own fat, so no oil is needed. Turn them regularly.
  7. Roughly chop the mint and grate the zest of the lemon. Fold both through the couscous with a splash of lemon juice.
  8. Fold the vegetables and chickpeas through the couscous, lay the sausages on top and put the harissa on the table separately.

In the glass

Serving

Serve the wine at 16 to 17 degrees in a roomy red wine glass. At 14.5 percent ABV, this wine quickly turns warm and heavy above 18 degrees. Opening it half an hour before the meal is enough; decanting is not necessary.

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