Cauliflower and couscous salad

Cauliflower isn't an easy vegetable to love, not immediately at any rate (and this fuzzy photo hardly helps). It doesn't call out to be adored, it doesn't jump up and down in the greengrocers calling for attention. It's a shy creature but with a bit of care and coaxing it can turn into something wonderful.

I didn't like cauliflower for a long time. then decided cauliflower cheese wasn't bad (how can you dislike anything when there's that much cheese involved?) before finally realising that there might be other uses for it as well The turning point for me was meal in when I was travelling in the Middle East at a castle called Crac des Chevaliers.

Embarrassingly (yet unsurprisingly?), the main thing I remember about the castle was the lunch we had there: an amazing feast of mezze. All the usual suspects were there - hummus, babaghanoush, tahini, flat bread - but there was also a plate of cauliflower that had been deep fried so that the outside surfaces of the florets were crisp and brittle and caramelised, and the inside was ever so slightly sweet and nutty. After that there was no turning back.

Deep frying scares the bejesus out of me so the closest thing I've ever created to that at home is roasted cauliflower, this time with some cumin and a few chilli flakes sprinkled over first. Don't undercook this, its charm comes from the browned bits.

Before:

After:

You can eat this at is, or its very good rolled up in a flat bread smeared with hummus and maybe a few pickled chillies alongside. This time I used to top a sort of couscous salad with parsley added for a bit of freshness and colour and some pumpkins seeds for crunch to take to work for lunch.

Cauliflower and couscous salad

1 cauliflower, broken into small florets

1 tbs ground cumin

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbs oil (olive or vegetable)

Mix together. Roast on a high heat (around 200C) until browned.

For the salad I soaked coucous in enough recently boiled water to cover until just tender then mixed in chopped parsley, feta and toasted pumpkin seeds. You don't need quantities for this, you'll be able to judge when it's parsley-ish, feta-ish and seedy enough for your tastes. Add enough dressing to lubricate it without drowning everything. Combine couscous and cauliflower.

Also, cauliflower roasted with cumin (but without chilli) is fantastic with grated parmesan added afterwards, almost like a deconstructed cauliflower cheese. Trust me on the cumin with parmesan - it works in the same way that cheese like Meunster go really well with caraway seeds.

Normal service is resumed

And we now return to your scheduled programming...

And to welcome us back there is pea, lentil and feta salad! Which is exactly that, doused in vinaigrette while the peas were still warm, with lots of parsley.

I'll be back soon. Honest.

Rice, chicken, cranberry and parsley salad

I am starting a new job next week but I feel like I’m about to start primary school all over again: I’m a bit nervous, I don’t know what the other boys and girls will be like and I hope I won’t get lost in the unfamiliar corridors.

There’s an ironed shirt hanging in my wardrobe and I even polished my shoes, but most importantly I have a little lunchbox prepared in the fridge. No day can be too daunting with the prospect of something good to eat halfway through it.

This salad of rice, chicken, parsley, dried cranberries and seeds seemed to be a low risk option. It can’t leak into my handbag, and it won’t smell strong (I’ll be saving the smoked mackerel and Thai salads reeking of fish sauce for when I’m a bit more settled in). Also, I find the Christmassiness of the red, white and green immensely cheering when it’s January, cold and grey, and spring is still a fantasy.

It’s loosely based on the North American salad in (I think) Nigella Lawson’s Feast made of leftover turkey, wild rice, cranberries and pecans. I had meant to include pecans in mine, but forgot to buy any, and anyway I think the seasoned seeds I used are possibly even better. I am hugely excited about these: pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds mixed with a bit of soy until they are conker-shiny, sprinkled with smoked paprika and baked in a medium heat oven until dry. Be warned - these are dangerously moreish.

Although I made this from scratch, writing the recipe out make me realise it’s the perfect way to use up leftover cooked chicken or rice. Although these sorts of salads are a good time to experiment and are best made by adding what you think looks right, try not to treat them as a dustbin by putting in absolutely anything that needs using up.

About a cup of cooked rice (sorry, I didn’t measure anything for this)

A small handful of cooked chicken - I used the meat taken from one drumstick, and dark meat is better here

One very small leek, sliced into rings

Dried cranberries

Toasted seeds or nuts, whatever takes your fancy

Flat leaf parsley - lots

Dressing - nothing fancy, I like one part wine vinegar to five of olive oil

Cook the leek in a tiny drop of water until just tender, either in a small saucepan or you can do it in the microwave in the bowl you’ll mix the rest of the salad in later, then allow to cool. Mix the rice, the chicken cut into little chunks, and whatever proportions of cranberries, seeds and parsley please you. I like a lot of parsley so it almost ressembles tabbouleh. Douse in dressing.

Bill's Produce Store, Lewes, East Sussex

Bill’s is a greengrocer’s, deli and café in the quaint town of Lewes – the only town with its own currency - that sells both locally grown produce and food made from it. I’d been there once before in winter and really enjoyed it, but sitting at an outside table by a wall covered in ivy in the August sun it was even better. I went with my mum and even though it was a weekday nearly all the tables were occupied when we arrived.

I had smoked mackerel, spinach, grilled tomato and poached eggs on toast which was fantastic. The mackerel was the best I'd had in ages, sweet and not too smoky, and the grilled tomatoes were intensely tomato-y and slightly charred. I meant to take a photo of it when it arrived couldn't resist diving into it first.

My mum had a plate of salads which included shaved fennel and sprouted seeds, Israeli cous cous and a sort of coleslaw with red cabbage. Most of the vegetables and fruit sold at Bill's are grown locally and all of these were really fresh and tasted strongly of themselves.


The bread that came with both these dishes was fantastic - toasted sourdough with mine and, if I remember rightly, olive bread for my mum.

I bought a loaf of sourdough in the shop afterwards and am keen to make things-on-toast: fried tomatoes, sardines, mushrooms, and maybe the smoked mackerel, cheese and cream on toast from Nigel Slater's 'Appetite' book.

The shop attached to the cafe was a greengrocers, Willy Wonka style: piles of vegetables in amazing colours (I particularly liked the yellow and orange beetroot), huges bunches of herbs and dried chillies hanging from the ceiling, and armfuls of wild-looking flowers.

As well as the sourdough I also bought a slice of sheep's cheese called Duddleswell that is sweet, nutty and almost crumbly. The two make a good combination.

Broccoli, feta and carrot salad

This is my current favourite salad. I saw something similar in the window of Ottolenghi in Notting Hill that included broccoli, something orange, possibly butternut squash, feta and seeds of some sort. For me this salad is perfect summer food: refreshing, with a pleasing balance between sweet carrot, salty feta, vinegary dressing and crunchy seeds or nuts.

I tend to use recipes as loose guidelines at best, and with salads this applies even more so. Today I wanted something strong and spicy so added spring onion and red and green chillis. On other occasions I've added a teaspoon of pesto to the dressing or used cashew nuts instead of seeds.



For about three servings, although it depends whether you're eating this on its own (this would be delicious alongside grilled mackerel) I used a small head of broccoli, three carrots, half a packet of feta, two spring onions and two halves of chillies.

Cook the broccoli until it's tender. Meanwhile mix some dressing in a large bowl. I like dressing best made with red wine vinegar. Sometimes I think I'm the only person in the world who doesn't understand the fuss about balsamic. I think it's alright on its own but overpowers anything it's paired with.

So, red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, a drop of mustard and olive oil, stirred together. Add the broccoli while it's hot so it soaks up the dressing. Leave to cool for a bit then throw in the feta, spring onion/chilli/other, some seeds or chopped nuts and some carrots roasted in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

Best eaten straight out the bowl, in the garden on a hot day. It also makes a damn fine packed lunch.