Roast Cauliflower, Sumac and Rocket Salad

Now that the weather is nicer (and I have ten weeks and counting to the wedding) I'm starting to want to eat salads but in the evening also want a more substantial meal. This recipe is really good as it's chunky - cauliflower in a salad is a lot more filling than just cucumber - and it's also a very 'clean' recipe with simple flavours that makes you feel quite virtuous.

The recipe came from YOU magazine in the Daily Mail - I love the magazine so my parents keep it for me every week as I don't buy the newspaper. The recipe is also available online here.

To serve 4, you need:

500g small cauliflower florets
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
5 tbsp. "good olive oil"
sea salt
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds, coarsely ground
sumac for dusting
2 handfuls rocket

Preheat the oven to 210C/ 190C fan. Spread the cauliflower and onion out over a roasting tray and drizzle over 4 tbsp. olive oil. I used this one my fiancé brought home from me, which is made from olive groves owned by the man who owns the company he works for - very nice!

 

 


Season with salt and scatter over the coriander seeds. Roast for 30 minutes then leave to cool.

Dust the cauliflower with sumac - a Middle Eastern spice - and mix with the rocket. Drizzle over another spoonful of oil and serve.

I'm sharing this with No Croutons Required, hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.

Sweet Potato Soup with Pomegranate and Sumac

Sumac is a spice I have only started using recently, and since I bought a packet I’ve kept a look out for any recipes that used it. When I was planning to have a vegan friend over for lunch (which didn’t actually happen in the end) I was looking for an easy recipe I could make in advance and heat up for lunch and came across this Sainsbury’s recipe for sweet potato, pomegranate and sumac soup.

As I’d bought the pomegranate already before the lunch was cancelled, I decided to go ahead and make it anyway and was glad I did! The soup did me a couple of days worth of lunches and was really filling and tasty.

To serve 2, you need:
half an onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and roughly chopped, or a pinch of dried chilli flakes or Very Lazy chopped chilli to taste
1/2 tsp sumac
1/2 tbsp. coconut oil
200g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
150g tomatoes, chopped - the recipe said to use vine tomatoes but I used tinned as I wanted to make this using store cupboard ingredients
400ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp. pomegranate molasses (available in big supermarkets)
to garnish:
pinch of sumac
pomegranate seeds
thin slice of lime

Fry the onion, garlic, chilli and sumac in the coconut oil and 1 tbsp. water until the onion has softened.

Add the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sweet potato is soft.

 Add the pomegranate molasses and blend until smooth in a food processor or blender.

I returned the soup to the pan and added a little more water as it was too thick

Finally, garnish with pomegranate seeds and a slice of lime.

This was a really tasty, filling soup and has the added advantage of being both vegetarian and vegan.

I'm sharing this with Extra Veg, the blog challenge hosted by Michelle at Utterly Scrummy this month and also Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

I'm also sending it to No Croutons Required, the soup and salad challenge hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes.