Green Olive, Almond & Pomegranate Salad

I don't know about you, but for me it's round about this stage of winter that the blues really start to set in.  It's mid-winter and I've pretty much had enough of scraping the ice off the windscreen of my car every morning;  the joy and novelty of winter boots, coats, hats and scarves is wearing thin;  and if I see another root vegetable I'm going to scream!!

As you already know, if you stop by here on a regular basis, my meal of choice nine times out of ten will usually be a salad of some sort.  This of course can get a bit challenging in the middle of winter when so many of the ingredients we normally put into salads are out of season.

It's Secret Recipe Club week again, and this month I was assigned to Bewitching Kitchen, hosted by the lovely Sally.  Born and raised in Brazil, Sally's work as a biochemist has seen her live for a number of years in California and Paris, and currently in Manhatten.  Sally has a great sense of humour, which entertains us all at SRC on a regular basis, and that humour infuses the literally hundreds of posts which you will find on her blog.

Of course, I headed straight to the salad section of Sally's recipe index, and as soon as I saw "Green Olive, Walnut and Pomegranate Salad" I knew I had found my dish.  No seasonal ingredients required (well, there is pomegranate, but I always keep a stash of pomegranate seeds in the freezer, so no problem there), and sounded like a great combination of ingredients and textures.

I made only minimal changes to the recipe, to suit what I had on hand, and I was not disappointed.  I subbed in almonds for the walnuts, as that's what I had in the pantry, and I included the zest from the lemon that was juiced for the dressing.  This salad delivered on every level - brininess of the olives, crunch of the nuts and pomegranate seeds, little bit of sweet and sour from the pomegranate molasses, and citrus zing of lemon.

I loved this so much I made it twice within a few days.  The first time I served it in these lettuce cups - it was delicious to roll the salad up in the lettuce leaves, burrito-style - alongside slabs of fried haloumi cheese for a light lunch.  More recently this was a great accompaniment to some pan-seared monkfish.  This would also be great with roasted chicken.

Other dishes I found on Sally's blog which I can't wait to try are Pumpkin Shrimp Curry, a traditional Brazilian Shrimp Moqueca, and these amazing looking Black Pepper Cashews.

Interested to know a little bit more about Secret Recipe Club?  Then let me explain.  The club has over a hundred members, divided into four groups, and each month one member is assigned (in secret) to another member from their group.  That person then selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and prepare a blog post - all in secret.  Then everyone in the group posts their recipe on the same day, and of course the secret is then out.  It's a always a thrill to find out who has posted something from your own blog, and is a great way to meet and discover some new blogs.   If you are a food blogger and interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, be sure to check out the Join SRC page.

Green Olive, Almond & Pomegranate Salad Recipe
Adapted from this recipe
from Bewitching Kitchen
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 cup natural almonds
1/2 cup raw cashew nuts
1/2 cup pitted green olives, roughly chopped
seeds of 1/2 a pomegranate
1x green chilli, finely chopped
large handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
1x lemon, zest and juice
2x tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1x tablespoon pomegranate molasses
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Place almonds and cashews into a dry frying pan, and set over low heat.  Toast until golden brown.  Remove from heat, cool and chop roughly.

Place olives, pomegranate seeds, chilli, parsley and grated lemon zest in a bowl.  Add the chopped nuts, and mix all ingredients together well.

Drizzle over the lemon juice, olive oil, and pomegranate molasses.  Season with sea salt and black pepper.  Mix once again to combine everything well.  Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.

If time permits, allow salad to stand for an hour or two for the flavours to fully blend and develop.

I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

An InLinkz Link-up

Zucchini, Mint & Haloumi Salad

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we're conjuring up Donna Hay dishes which are "Fast & Fabulous" - dishes which can be made in 30 minutes or less.

This dish definitely fits the bill on both fronts. It could not have been faster - about 20 minutes all up, and that included a visit to the garden to pick a lemon, a few nasturtium flowers and a bunch of fresh mint.  I'd like to say I picked the zucchini as well, but although my zucchini plant is flowering and producing they were not quite ready for picking.

It was also definitely fabulous on many levels ... great textural contrast between the crisp zucchini, velvety spinach leaves, and chewy, melted cheese;  wonderful, robust flavours - bright, herby mint, tangy, sour pomegranate molasses, the sharp saltiness of preserved lemon, and a little bit of heat from the chilli;  and, no slouch in the looks department either - this was a very pretty dish and one which would certainly wow your guests despite the miniscule time spent on it.

I made a few minor changes to the original recipe.  I cut back the pomegranate molasses as it is a strong flavour and I felt the quantity specified was a bit much, and added a little bit of olive oil to help distribute the pomegranate molasses through the salad.  I also added a bit of preserved lemon for a little extra zing.  I will certainly be making this salad many times over this summer, and although this would make a great accompaniment to a bigger meal, I was more than happy to make a meal of it on its own.

Zucchini, Mint & Haloumi Salad Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay

from Fast, Fresh, Simple

Serves 2 as a light meal or appetiser, or

Serves 1 person as a substantial meal

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x small-medium zucchini

large handful of mint leaves, finely shredded

large handful or two of baby spinach leaves

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1/4 of a preserved lemon, flesh discarded and skin finely sliced

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

200g haloumi, thinly sliced

extra virgin olive oil for brushing & drizzling

pinch dried chilli flakes

1x lemon halved

Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.  Brush haloumi lightly with olive oil on both sides, and sprinkle over dried chilli flakes.  Add haloumi and lemon (cut-side down) to the preheated pan.  Cook the haloumi until golden brown on both sides, by which time the lemon flesh will also be golden and caramelised.

Meanwhile, cut the zucchini into juliennes, and add to a medium sized bowl together with the shredded mint, preserved lemon, pomegranate molasses, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper.  Toss gently until everything is combined.

To serve, arrange salad on plates and top with a few slices of the haloumi.  Drizzle with a little extra olive oil and squeeze over the caramelised lemon.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful fast and fabulous dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by my special friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

              

Roasted Strawberry Custard Tarts

This week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we continue cooking with the gorgeous Donna Hay, and our theme for the week is Easy Entertaining ... or, put another way, how to entertain effortlessly without finding yourself crying over spilt custard.

Now let me begin by telling you that I actually love to entertain.  The nurturer in me, the one who loves to feed others, enjoys nothing more more than a group of friends or family around my dinner table, and the opportunity to fill them with as much food as I can manage.  There is no amount of effort that seems like too much trouble to me.

Where it all goes off the rails for me is dessert.  No matter how much I love to cook and entertain, I hate making dessert.  There are people I know who see this part of the meal as the opportunity to really shine, to pull out all the stops and go for something truly spectacular ... I'm not one of them.  Dessert terrifies me.  It definitely has to be something which can be made the day before, so that a fall-back position can be found if it all goes wrong.  So dessert at my house will usually be some homemade ice cream or sorbet (one of the few things I'm actually quite good at, thanks to the trusty ice cream machine), maybe a pavlova (yes, on a good day, I can manage to turn out a passable pav, though I've had my failures there too), or a simple fruit platter.  Anything else really ... forget it.  My hands down favourite dessert is a Citron Tart - never made one, as there is way too much that can go wrong with that.  Second favourite dessert is my Dad's steamed pudding - never made that either, since there is the terrifying possibility that it will be either under cooked or over cooked, and worse still might completely fall apart when turned out of the pudding basin.  And that would just be downright embarrassing, especially when you're going for that "Ta Dah" moment.

So, although there were literally dozens of "Easy Entertaining" meal ideas I could have chosen from any one of my Donna Hay books (in fact nearly everything Donna produces fits that criteria perfectly), I thought that I might challenge myself, and Donna, to see if she could come up with an easy entertaining dessert idea that I could manage to put together without it all going horribly wrong.  It had to be suitable for preparing the day ahead;  it had to be easy enough for even a "dessert-dunce" to create;  and it needed to look spectacular, or impressive, or at the very least pretty.  And, I've got to say, between us we very nearly pulled it off ...

Flicking through my copy of Marie Claire Dining by Donna Hay (now published as Donna Hay Entertaining), I came across her recipe for Portugese Custard Tarts.  The recipe sounded achievable (even for me) ... store-bought flaky pastry, so no making pie crust (always a bonus);  the custard filling seemed simple enough;  and I could see that these could be made the day before - in fact you could even make the tarts the day before you want them, and make the custard the day before that if you wanted.  Recipes which can be broken down into several prepare ahead stages are always winners for me.   They sure looked kind of cute ...

... and, in fact, they also tasted pretty good just like this too, but somehow these just seemed like a little treat to enjoy with a cup of coffee, and not quite dessert.  A little something else was needed.  And then I cast my eye over the punnet of fresh strawberries I'd just brought home from the market, and remembered back to the Honey Roasted Strawberry Compote I made a while back to go over French toast.  I also remembered my lovely friend, Beth, at OMG! Yummy recently making some roasted fruit with pomegranate molasses, and thought that swapping out the balsamic vinegar in my compote for some pomegranate molasses, and adding a shot of orange liqueur, would make a wonderful topping for these little tarts and magically transform afternoon tea into dessert.

The only thing that prevented this from being completely effortless was having to clean the oven afterwards ...

... 'Nough said.  I know you won't make the same mistake.

Roasted Strawberry Custard Tarts Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay

from Donna Hay Dining

Makes 8

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x sheets ready rolled puff pastry, thawed

for custard filling

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons cornflour

2 egg yolks

1x vanilla bean

for strawberry topping

1x punnet strawberries

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as cointreau (I used "44")

To make the custard filling, put sugar and water into a small saucepan, set over low heat, and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.  Increase heat until syrup is boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Place cornflour in a medium sized bowl, and add just enough of the milk to mix the cornflour to a smooth paste.  Once completely dissolved, slowly add the remainder of the milk, whisking constantly.  Whisk in the egg yolks.  Slowly pour in the sugar syrup, again making sure that you whisk constantly to avoid curdling the eggs.

Return everything to the saucepan.  Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds, and add both seeds and bean to the saucepan.  Set pan over gentle heat, and stir constantly until the mixture thickens.

Remove from heat and pour into a clean bowl.  Allow to cool slightly, then cover the surface of the custard with a piece of plastic wrap - this will avoid a skin forming on the surface of the custard.  Now leave to cool completely, leaving the vanilla bean in the custard to allow maximum flavour to be infused from the bean.  (You could easily do this a day in advance.)

To make the tarts, preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (400 degrees F), and lightly grease a muffin or patty tin.  Cut pastry into 10cm (4 inch) circles, and use to line the muffin or patty tins.  Remove vanilla bean from custard, and spoon custard into the pastry shells, no more than 2/3 full.  Bake in the preheated oven until the custard is golden and firm - about 20 minutes, depending on the depth of your tins and filling.  Remove from the oven and cool slightly before removing tarts from the tin and leaving on a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the strawberry topping.  Cut strawberries in half (or quarters if they are very large), and place in an ovenproof dish which is only just big enough to fit all the strawberries snugly but in a single layer.  Drizzle over the honey, pomegranate molasses and orange liqueur, and stir gently to combine everything.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), until the strawberries have softened slightly, but still retaining their shape, and juices have begun to run and become syrupy.  Remove from oven and cool completely.

To complete the tarts, arrange two or three pieces of strawberry in the centre of each tart and drizzle over a little of the strawberry syrup.  Serve immediately.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulously "easy entertaining" dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.  This month, Sweet New Zealand is hosted by my very lovely friend Mairi at Toast.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

         

Pearl Barley Salad with Pistachios, Fava & Pomegranate

This week is Pot Luck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs.  That means we get to choose and post any dish we like from either our current IHCC chef, the lovely Donna Hay, or any one of our previous eight chefs, which includes my personal favourite, the highly inspirational Yotam Ottolenghi.

Donna, meet Yotam ... Yotam, meet Donna.

I was a bit torn between two different recipes.  In her latest issue spring issue of Donna Hay magazine, Donna has a recipe for a Pearl Barley, Asparagus and Egg Salad.  It's so delicious I've made it a couple of times and wanted to share it with you.  With no "wilty stuff", it's the perfect salad for picnics and barbeques that can be made in advance and won't mind sitting around for a while.  With pistachios being our ingredient of the month at Tasting Jerusalem**, I was also quite keen to try Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe for Saffron Rice with Barberries, Pistachio & Mixed Herbs.

In the end, I took inspiration from both recipes, and came up with a dish which is a happy marriage of both.  I ran with the pearl barley used in Donna's recipe as opposed to the basmati rice in Ottolenghi's recipe - I love the nutty, chewy flavour and texture of the barley and found that it stands up well to plenty of bold flavour additions, like the saffron called for in the Ottolenghi recipe.  We don't have barberries here in New Zealand (leastwise not that I've found anywhere), but with the abundance of pomegranates available at the moment I decided they would make a great substitute.  Donna's recipe called for the inclusion of almonds, but the pistachios included in the Ottolenghi recipe seemed like the obvious choice.  I would have loved to use the mixture of fresh herbs, suggested by Ottolenghi, of dill, chervil and tarragon, but as I couldn't find any of those, I ran with flat leaf parsley.  I omitted the asparagus used in Donna's recipe in favour of fava (broad beans) picked fresh from the garden, and inspired by so many Ottolenghi dishes I've enjoyed, I added a generous slosh of pomegranate molasses to the dressing.  In hindsight, I'm thinking that some finely slice preserved lemon would also make a great addition to this salad.

Now, digressing for a moment, can you guess what this is?

I actually ran this photo a bit over three years ago, and there were numerous guesses for olives and grapes.  In actual fact it's pistachios.  I took this photo while I was holidaying on Paros in the Greek islands, and was fascinated to come across a whole field of pistachio trees.

Back to the recipe.  The final addition is a couple of soft boiled eggs.  I know not everyone likes runny eggs, but to be perfectly honest, if you don't like eggs with ooey, gooey, runny yolks, I would forget about adding them to this dish - I think it's the contrasting texture of the soft eggs with the chewy barley and crunchy nuts and pomegranate, as well as the oozing egg yolk combining with the other dressing ingredients that makes this dish.  I don't think a hard boiled egg would really add anything to the mix.

I hope you give this salad a try.  I found it substantial enough to make a meal of it, but with plenty of robust flavour it would also make a great accompaniment to roasted or barbequed meat dishes.  It also keeps well and leftovers are great for a "take-to-work" lunch the next day.

Pearl Barley Salad with Pistachios,

Favas & Pomegranate Recipe

Inspired by recipes from both

Donna Hay & Yotam Ottolenghi

Makes 2 substantial servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

3/4 cup pearl barley

1-1/2 cups vegetable stock

generous pinch saffron threads

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

large handful pomegranate seeds

1 cup fava (broad) beans, blanched and skins removed

generous handful flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

juice of 1x lemon

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2x soft boiled eggs

Put barley, saffron threads, stock, salt and pepper into a small saucepan.  Set pan over high heat and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to very low, cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook for 40 minutes.  Remove from the heat, without removing the lid, and allow to stand for 10 minutes.  Rinse under cold water and drain thoroughly.

Place favas, parsley, barley, most of the pistachios, and most of the pomegranate seeds in a bowl and gently mix together.  Add lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and olive oil to the bowl and toss gently until everything is well combined.  Taste and adjust any of the flavourings and seasonings to suit your personal taste.

To serve, arrange a few peppery salad greens on a platter, and spoon the barley mixture over the top.  Finish by sprinkling over the remaining pistachios and pomegranate seeds, and the halved eggs.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay or Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, or one of our other IHCC chefs, and to see all the wonderful pot luck dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

**Tasting Jerusalem is a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of Jerusalem: A Cookbook by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, liking our Facebook page or joining our Google+ Community and finally checking out all of our groups’ dishes on Pinterest.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by my special friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

              

Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate and How To Use Pomegranate Molasses

Sadly for those of us who play at I Heart Cooking Clubs, our six-month journey with the amazing Yotam Ottolenghi ends this week.  To a person, we've been inspired, surprised and amazed by dish after dish of incredible flavours and textures, by "new to us" ingredients and by new ways to use them.  I've been cooking on a regular basis with Ottolenghi for about 3 years now, but he still never ceases to surprise me with taste and texture combinations that are a pure delight, and although we are effectively farewelling him this week, his dishes will continue to play a starring role in my kitchen.

I had planned to share a round-up this week of my favourites, but of the 20-plus Ottolenghi dishes I've made over the last six months, I just couldn't narrow it down to four or five, instead I'm going to celebrate the way in which he has opened my eyes to wonderful ways with cauliflower.  I've always loved cauliflower - it's one of my favourite vegetables - but until my introduction to Ottolenghi I was always at a bit of a loss for interesting ways to prepare and eat it.  In the past, it's always just been a bit of a side dish, enjoyable but not particularly remarkable unless smothered in a cheese sauce!!  Now, thanks to some of these wonderful dishes, I'm happy to make a meal of cauliflower.

There was Chargrilled Cauliflower, Tomato & Fennel Salad ...

... and Roasted Cauliflower & Almond Salad ...

... and the Saffron Cauliflower from Plenty, a dish which, although I'm yet to share with you, I've made many times.  Trust me, if you happen to have Plenty in your cookbook collection, you need to make this dish.

Then there was the Fried Cauliflower with Pine Nuts, Capers & Chillies which my friend, Michelle at Ms. enPlace made.  I haven't had a chance to make this one yet, but it's high on my must-make list.

And, today's discovery from Jerusalem: A Cookbook, this recipe for Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate.  I made a few small changes to the original recipe.  Now I'm sure that a whole bunch of cauliflower fried in two cups of sunflower oil would taste amazing, but looking for a healthier version I used a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil instead.  Still tasted amazing and went a beautiful golden brown in no time.  The original dish was designed to serve six as part of a mezze feast, but I cut quantities back to make a substantial meal for one, and adjusted all the sauce quantities accordingly.  I also left out spring onions, as I didn't really feel the need for them, and I finished off by tossing a few pomegranate seeds in at the end.

I'm also sharing this dish at Tasting Jerusalem, where our theme for the month is pomegranate molasses.  I've used pomegranate molasses in a number of different Ottolenghi dishes in the past, such as Lamb-Stuffed Quince with Coriander & Pomegranate, ...

Shakshuka, ...

...  and the earlier mentioned Roasted Cauliflower & Almond Salad.

You might also be interested in a few other ideas for using pomegranate molasses.  I actually posted some of these suggestions way back in one of my very first posts on this blog, but that was before anybody ever read this blog, so they bear repeating:

Make a refreshing drink by mixing 1 teaspoon of pomegranate molasses with lemon juice and sugar; then add water or soda and adjust to your taste. You could also turn this into a cocktail by adding the alcohol of your choice – vodka and rum both work really well with this.

Use to glaze the skin of a chicken or duck breast before cooking – skin will be crispy and a little sour.

Glaze a rack of lamb before cooking, or use to dip barbecued lamb cutlets.

Make a marinade for salmon fillets by combining: 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup dry sherry, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 clove of garlic, crushed. Marinate up to 4 hours, remove from marinade and bake in a 160^oC oven for 10 minutes. While fish is baking pour marinade into a saucepan, and reduce over low heat to about half. Drizzle reduced pomegranate marinade over fish to serve.

Baked fish parcels – place pieces of firm fleshed fish in centre of piece of tinfoil or parchment paper, drizzle over pomegranate molasses, slivers of garlic, sliced lemon, and finely sliced fennel. Complete with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, close up parcel, and bake at 180^oC till cooked through.

Make a dressing using pomegranate molasses, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt and freshly ground black pepper, add chopped flat leaf parsley and mint. Use this dressing over any of the following combinations:

*  Char-grilled eggplant and courgette, roasted tomatoes and carrots, black olives and feta cheese

*  Roasted pumpkin and mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, baby spinach and grilled haloumi

*  Mesclun leaves, toasted hazelnuts, sliced apple, dates and goats cheese

Drizzle pomegranate molasses over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers. 

Do you have any other great ideas for using pomegranate molasses?  If so, I'd love to hear about them.  In the meantime, on with today's recipe ...

Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate

Adapted from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Jerusalem:  A Cookbook

Serves four as part of a mezze table

or serves two as a generous side dish

or serves one as a substantial meal

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 a head cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup tahini paste

1/4 cup natural Greek-style yoghurt

1x garlic clove, crushed

handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

handful mint leaves, finely chopped

1x lemon, zest and juice

1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses, plus extra to finish

water

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

handful of pomegranate seeds

Heat oil in a large skillet set over medium heat.  Add cauliflower to the hot oil and saute until golden and tender.  Remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain, and sprinkle liberally with flaky sea salt.  You will probably have to do this in two batches.  Set aside to cool slightly.

In a small bowl mix together tahini, yoghurt, crushed garlic, parsley, mint, lemon juice and zest, and  pomegranate molasses.  Add sufficient water to thin to a smooth, pourable sauce - about the consistency of runny honey.  Taste and add flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Arrange cauliflower in a bowl or serving platter, drizzle over the tahini sauce.  Finish with an extra drizzle of pomegranate molasses, a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and a sprig of mint.

Delicious served warm or at room temperature.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, and to see what everyone has cooked up for our final feast together, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Jerusalem and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I am also sharing this post at Tasting Jerusalem, a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of “Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, and liking our Facebook page.

And, because it would be rude not to, I'm sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Friday, hosted by Designs by Gollam.

                     

Shakshuka

Do you frequently stumble across and make great dishes, and then promise yourself "I'll definitely be making that again"?  I do this often, but the reality is that I come across so many great new dishes all the time that I seldom get around to revisiting some of those wonderful discoveries.

Not so with this dish.  This was one of the first dishes I made when I got my copy of Plenty, by Yotam Ottolenghi, and I loved it so much it has become a regular round here.  In fact, I've made it so many times that when I pick up the book it automatically falls open at this page, and there are a gazillion red, peppery splatters all over the page.  Now that to me is the hallmark of a great recipe.

The other thing I love about this dish is that really it's just an "idea" - you can play around with it to suit yourself.  Ottolenghi uses a combination of red and yellow peppers, but I nearly always only use red - I just like the visual richness of all that red contrasting with the single yellow hit of the egg yolk.  I also like to add some chorizo sausage and a little preserved lemon.  The original recipe contains onions, but I usually leave them out.  This is traditionally eaten as a breakfast/brunch dish, and although I often have this for dinner, I nevertheless can't really face the idea of onions in what is breakfast food (just one of my funny little things).  That said, I think there is more than enough flavour going on here, especially with the chorizo, to get by without the onions.  I also like to swap out cayenne pepper for some harissa and I like to add a dash of pomegranate molasses.  Feta cheese is a nice addition if you have it on hand, and I have even been known to add chickpeas on occasion.

The other great thing about this dish is that everything up to the point of adding the eggs can actually be prepared in advance - it can even be frozen at this stage in individual portions if you like, then you can just whip it out of the freezer before you go to bed, ready for breakfast the next morning.

Following is my adaptation of this wonderful dish, which I've prepared for our Optional Monthly Community Recipe at I Heart Cooking Clubs.  The original recipe can be found here.

Shakshuka Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

from Plenty

Serves 4

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1x medium sized chorizo sausage, thinly sliced

olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

4-8 red peppers (depending on size), thickly sliced (seeds discarded)

1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2x bay leaves

small bunch thyme

generous handful fresh coriander (cilantro), roughly chopped

(plus extra for garnish)

6-8 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

generous pinch of saffron threads

2 tablespoons harissa

1/4 of a preserved lemon

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

water

free range eggs (1 or 2 per person)

Heat approximately 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small frypan over medium-high heat.  Add the chorizo to the warmed pan and fry until the lightly browned.  Remove the chorizo from the pan and set aside.  Reserve the oil from the pan.

Now set a large, deepish, frying pan over high heat, and dry roast the cumin seeds for a minute or two until toasty and fragrant.  Now add the reserved oil from cooking the chorizo, and another tablespoon or so of olive oil.  Add the peppers, pomegranate molasses, brown sugar and herbs, and continue cooking on high (stirring regularly) until the peppers have started to caramelise - 5-10 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes, preserved lemon, saffron and harissa.  Season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until the peppers and tomatoes are soft, and the mixture has a pasta sauce consistency, adding a bit of water from time to time as necessary - about 15 minutes.  Stir in the reserved chorizo sausage (and feta, if using), taste and adjust seasoning.  You can prepare up to this stage in advance if you like - you could even freeze it at this stage.

Remove the bay leaves and thyme stalks, and discard.  Now to add the eggs.  If serving this in the one big pan, family style, use the back of a soup ladle to make some indentations in amongst the peppers, and drop an egg into each indentation.  Sprinkle the eggs with salt, cover the pan, and cook over very low heat until the eggs have set to your liking - 10-12 minutes.  For individual servings, divide the vegetable mixture among four ovenproof dishes.  Again, using the back of a ladle, make an indentation in amongst the peppers and drop an egg into each indentation.  Season.  Place serving dishes in one large ovenproof dish, pour boiling water into the oven dish to about three-quarters of the height of the individual dishes.  Cover the whole thing with tinfoil, and put into an oven preheated to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F), until the eggs are set - about 15 minutes.

Serve immediately sprinkled with freshly chopped coriander, and some warm flatbreads or crusty sourdough to mop up the juices.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Plenty and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I will also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace.