Roast Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Tahini Dressing

Today’s recipe brings together a classic Middle Eastern salad combination – cauliflower and chickpeas. Humble ingredients with so much potential! Anything you can make with a can of chickpeas is alright by me.

Roasted cauliflower really is a revelation. It is SO easy, simply break up your cauliflower into florets and pop it on a roasting tray – no oil , no seasoning required. It’s the easiest and most delicious way to eat cauliflower, IMHO.

Please note, I’m no food stylist (although I do try!), and for this particular recipe we quickly realised there really is nothing photogenic about creamy salad dressing, no matter how delicious it is! For this reason, our photographs above shows the dressing served on the side – for aesthetic reasons only! Before you serve your own version, do stir the dressing right through!

This salad is super versatile, it’s great served with grilled fish, roast or barbequed chicken, or perhaps with a juicy lamb cutlet. It keeps really well too, so will be perfect in your lunchbox the next day!

Ingredients

For the salad

½ cauliflower

¼ red cabbage

1 can chickpeas

1 tablespoon slivered pistachios

1 tablespoon slivered almonds

1 generous handful flatleaf parsley

For the dressing

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon tahini

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pinch brown sugar

½ teaspoon Sumac

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

First roast your cauliflower. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius, break your cauliflower into little florets and pop on a baking tray (no oil necessary). Roast for 20-30 minutes, they should be slightly browned when done. When cooked, allow to cool slightly before compiling your salad.

Drain and rinse your chickpeas. While I can often be a bit of a food prep purist, there are a few things I just can never, ever, be bothered doing (even though I probably should) and one of them is cooking chickpeas from scratch. Canned chickpeas all the way in my household.

Slice up your red cabbages and parsley finely. Toast slivered nuts in a dry frying pan until just golden, being sure to keep a close eye on them – they burn so easily.

For the dressing, simply combine all dressing ingredients, tasting as you go. If you have one, use a bar mix (I think other people call it a ‘stick blender’!?) to whizz up the salad dressing. If not, chuck it all in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously! Save a little of the sumac to sprinkle before you serve.

Pop all your salad vegetables in your serving bowl, add dressing, mix and serve immediately.

Thanks so much for sharing another salad adventure with me this month! Next month we have the MOST AMAZING Tasty Tuesday lined up… can’t wait to share!

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