Roasted Cauliflower Salad

Not amazing photogenic but this salad is yum. Here's the drill:

• Break a whole cauliflower into smallish florets, dice any chunky stalk bits, drizzle generously with olive oil and roast at 180C, turning regularly as it browns pretty quickly once it starts (this is what makes it nutty and delicious). Allow to cool
• In a bowl, mix the cauliflower, a can of drained chick peas, a heap of dukkah, a few seeds and nuts if you like (I used sunflower, pepitas and almond slivers) and a handful of baby spinach
• Add a good sprinkle of sea salt (only if the dukkah is salt-free) and a generous drizzle of pomegranate molasses, a squeeze or two of lemon juice, toss and serve

We had it with slow roasted shoulder of lamb, fresh pomegranate and flat leaf parsley, crispy roast potatoes and a rocket and edible flower salad (below), but it actually makes a great meal on its own. 

While the oven's on (gosh I sound like my mother!) peel and core some pears and put in a roasting dish. In a Pyrex jug, mix some brown sugar, break in some cinnamon sticks, add some vanilla extract (the kind with seeds in it), hot water and a knob of butter - microwave for a bit and then pour over the pears and roast while you're doing the cauliflower (although depending on how green the pears are, they might take quite a lot longer..).

I served them warm with salty caramel sauce that I confess I bought at the supermarket, cacao nib crumbs that I had made a couple of weeks ago and frozen, caramel and macadamia ice cream and cream. 

Pearl Couscous Salad

Pearl couscous, to my mind, tastes more like pasta than couscous - which is probably why people who don't care for couscous quite like it - ie Geoff.

Here's a quick salad that could easily double as a lunch to take to the office or a working girl's dinner!

• Saute a chopped brown onion until golden. Add a 250g packet of pearl couscous, two cups of boiling water, a good pinch of sea salt and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Let it sit for a bit before transferring to a dish to cool
• Once cool, add a couple of diced tomatoes, a diced Lebanese cucumber and sweet corn. I used cooked, cold fresh corn and just sliced the kernels off the cob. It could have done with some diced red capsicum but there was none in the fridge...
• Micro-plane the zest off a lemon, then squeeze in the juice
• Drizzle on a good amount of olive oil - I used lemon scented because I reckon it can't ever be too lemony
• Add lots of chopped mint and parsley and taste - it might need more salt as the couscous really does needs a fair bit. And that's it - too easy!