CAULIFLOWER AND CHICKPEA SALAD
Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad with Greek Lamb Meatballs and Home Grown Lettuce!!
A delicious meal to keep both vegetarians and carnivores happy!!!
Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad
2 small cauliflowers
drizzle of olive oil
2 brown onions, cut in half and finely sliced
3 tablespoons ghee
100g flaked almonds
50g sultanas
1 bunch corriander leaves
1 bunch basil leaves, torn in half if large
1 bunch flat leaf parsely leaves
1 jar cooked chickpeas
Dressing:
1 crushed garlic clove
1 tub of hummus* (or homemade roughly 180g)
juice of 1 large lemon
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Cut cauliflower into florets (not too large) and put in baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil over the top. Bake in the oven for approx 1 hour, after 1/2 hour check them and give them a good shake around. Check again after 20 minutes. You want them cooked through and brown tinged, but not soggy or burnt!!
2. Whilst the cauliflower is cooking – put 1 1/2 tablespoons of ghee into a frying pan and cook the flaked almonds until they are nicely brown – be very careful not to burn them, as once they start to brown they go dark very quickly. Put aside on some paper towel to absorb any excess ghee.
3. Put the other 1 1/2 tablespoons of oil in they same frying pan and cook the onions until they are lovely and brown. This needs to be done slowly and they need regular stirring to make sure they brown evenly. Put aside on some paper towel as above.
4. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and leave to drain in the colander until you are ready for them.
5. Make the dressing: combine all ingredients into a small bowel and mix thoroughly.
6. Assemble the salad – put the chickpeas, cauliflower, almonds, sultanas and herbs into a large bowel and toss. Drizzle the dressing over the top and then top with the browned onions.
This Cauliflower and Chickpea salad is a satisfying meal for vegetarians served with a lovely fresh green salad.
Next time I will put up recipe for the Greek Lamb Meatballs which I served with the salad for the carnivores in the family!
* If I don’t make my own hummus I use the Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil Hummus from Marks and Spencers. I like this one as it is organic and it does it does not have any ingredients that you would not use yourself!! Also as it is very smooth, it makes a very nice dressing ingredient.
I did not write a post last week as I was walking the Camino with my daughter, two of her school friends and their mothers. The girls were walking to raise money for Focus Ireland. We had a brilliant time – perfect weather, lots of laughs and lots and lots of steps!!!!!! We walked from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela and we are all delighted with ourselves!
A beautiful morning in my vegetable garden – it is amazing what a little bit of sunshine can do. The apple trees are in blossom and the basil and tomatoes are ready to be planted out. The first of my asparagus is up (they have been in three years now!) and I just love my new pea climbing frame the idea for which I copied from the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne.
