Roasted Cauliflower with Pomegranate Molasses & Lemon Tahini Dressing

I'm kind of in love with the Middle East in oh so many ways, while the cuisine may be nowhere near as stimulating as the political movements going on at any given moment, that is sort of like saying something is shorter than a giraffe.

I whipped this dish together with a few friends and fell in love with it so hard I immediately ran to the store first thing the next day to get more cauliflower and make it again because ZOMG I NEEDED TO SHARE THIS WITH THE (INTER)WORLD ASAP!

The original recipe I used had you frying the cauliflower, which added all sorts of work, time, dishes, and fat, and while I'm kind of into all of those things my freak festishes aren't necc. your freak fetishes so I opted to roast the cauliflower instead.

It is kind of an amazing dish right now for those of us trapped in New England, but vegetal and seasonally appropriate. Stores great for lunches and munches the next day.

Roasted Cauliflower with Pomegranate Molasses & Lemon Tahini Dressing

• 1 batch of Tahini Sauce 4 Everything
• 4~ lbs head(s of) Cauliflower
• Pomegranate molasses
• Canola (or other high heat neutral oil) for roasting
• Salt & pepper for seasoning
• Optional fresh chopped green herbs for garnish (Parsley, cilantro, chives, etc.) 

Preheat oven to 500.

Chop the cauliflower into florets about the size of your thumb, and toss with enough oil to lightly coat. Place on 2 sheet pans covered in parchment paper, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper, and place in oven for about 15 minutes, rotating until they're evenly goldened.

Arrange the cauliflower in a serving dish and lightly drizzle with pomegranate molasses and tahini sauce.  Garnish with chopped herbs if available.

Six years ago this December I posted a recipe for a pretty good Creamy Eggplant Roasted Red Pepper soup.

Thick Tahini Sauce #SAUS4EVRYTNG!

From the right! 

Open Sesame!

Sesames are magic. Tahini is awesome. Therefore tahini sauce=magical awesome sauce that makes your mouth open to access all of the flavorful treasures in front of your FACE! 

Seriously. This stuff is a super treasure for omnivores, vegans, aliens not-otherwise-allergic to sesame (even if they are, it is worth it). It is so super that at la boqueria market in Barcelona, a woman at a falafel shop screamed at me when I touched the bottle on the counter top (my friend got a falafel there, I did not). 

This stuff is good.  Just trust me on this. You can put it on anything: sandwiches, nachos, salads, pizzas, your finger (like really, I just keep squeezing it onto my finger and eating it off. Even when not trying to seduce someone).

It comes together quickly. The only down side is it doesn't last too too long before getting a bit of an off taste (but it is still pretty good then, too), but that shouldn't be a problem. You can also freeze half or so of it for when you're ready. 

blah blah blah RECIPE! 

Thick Tahini Sauce

Now from the left! 

• 1.5 c Tahini 
• 3-4 cloves garlic (more if daring)
• 1 c fresh squeezed lemon juice (5 lemons +/-)
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 c water

Toss all of ingredients, except the water, together in a blender or food processor on low until well blended.  Slowly start to add the water until you reach the consistency desired.  You can add a little more if you want for better bottle'ability. Lasts for about 2 weeks.

Variations

• Spicy! Toss in 2-4 T of your fave hot sauce product (chipotle chiles in adobe sauce! Sriarcha!  Harissa!) 
• Spicy n' Tangy! Same as above, but also add 1/4 c of pomegranate molasses (available at any middle eastern market or hippie ass coop). 
• Roasted Garlic! Toss in 6-8 roasted garlic cloves and blend well.
• Roasted Red Pepper: Blend in 1/4 c roasted red peppers.

2 years ago this December I posted about Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch Ninja Star cookies.

Edamame Beet Hummus

What started as an effort to clean out my fridge/freezer, resulted in a brilliant red spread that cuts it as a veggie dip, sandwich spread, or a hell of a good April Fool's Day cupcake frosting.  Comes together relatively quickly if you have some extra roasted beets lying around.  While it is def't a different beast than chickpea based hummus, it is good for the carb conscious trying to get more vegetables into their diet.

Edamame Beet Hummus

1 cup frozen shelled edamame
2 medium (1/2 lb) medium beets, roasted and peeled
1/4 cup stirred tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2-3 cloves garlic
3/4 teaspooon kosher salt
1 teaspoon toasted cumin, ground
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Suggested serving: Sliced cucumbers, pita chips, celery, and olives

Directions

Boil the beans in salted water for 4 to 5 minutes, or microwave, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.

Quarter the roast beets. In a food processor, puree the edamame, beets, tahini, juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and mix until absorbed.

To serve: Transfer to a small bowl and drizzle with remaining oil and a few grinds of pepper, surrounding with the suggested vegetables, or refrigerate for later consumption.

Full Bodied Zucchini Hummus (Low carb! Gluten free! Infused with sass!)

It seems like carbs make me tired, like, really tired if I'm not careful.  I once had an internship at an Special Ed facility, and if it was french fries for lunch before the meetings I was a goner. I'd have to leave the group meeting at least a couple of times and go to the rest room and pump out some jumping jacks just to make sure I wasn't passed out, drooling on my clipboard as I sat on the sidelines.

Needless to say, I took pretty well to the low carb lifestyle one finds in raw food diets (and the generally better levels of energy).  However, there are some heavenly flavors one just can't find in the raw food world, flavors like Tohum roasted tahini.  Mind you, Tohum tahini is a specialty that I don't find my self able to (afford) to use all the time, but if you haven't tried it I do strongly recommend it.  Thankfully, there are other slightly more cost effect brands that are delicious enough.

Anyway, I do digress... Since I got back from Asia, I've been trying to eat better/more healthy, and felt like turning to a diet heavy in fresh fruits and raw vegetables was a good start, while minimizing my intake of processed foods.  So, you can expect to see updates (often green in color), of some of my staples during the past week.

One of the delights I whipped up was thus hummus.  I used some components of the raw base (zucchini in lieu of chickpeas),, and matched it with the flavoring components of my historical favorite hummus (the one on the side of this bag), and tackled the problem of raw hummus traditionally having the consistency of a thick salad dressing (moar flaxseeds!).

The end product was the full bodied, flavorful hummus I fondly remembered, that I could eat freely with carrots and celery without Mr. Sandman dragging me off to Nod.

Speaking of Nod... I'm still a bit jet lagged, and should get this recipe down before I PTFO...

Hummus!

• 2 Large Green Zucchinis, cut into chunks
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled*
• 2 t Vegetable Better than Boullion
• 2 t Franks Hot Sauce
• 6 T Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice
• 3/4 c Roasted Tahini
• 1/2 T Cumin Seeds, Toasted
• 1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 T Nutritional Yeast
• 1 t black pepper
• 3 T Flax**

Throw everything but the flax into the high power blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.  If mix is watery, toss in the flax seeds and again blend until smooth. If you are using a food processor instead of a blender, I'd recommend using pre-ground flax meal for optimum smooth temperature. 

Transfer hummus to a container and place in the fridge until the flax seed has set.  When set, enjoy with carrots, celery, or whatever else you like to dip into hummus.  I've been eating it on raw onion bread with fresh sliced of tomato and a few grinds of pepper. 

*Garlickyness is a matter of personal preference, I go for 4 but that can be a bit much for most folks.

**Every zucchini will have different levels of water content, so you may need more or less hummus. You do not want to add too much, or else you will give the hummus a gummy texture, otherwise, it should be great! 

Christmas Quinoa Tabouli

Tabouli, tabbouleh, tabouleh, tabbouli... So many different ways of spelling this dish.  I have so many slight variations on using making this dish work for me, though I think I may've found my new favorite; a spin is given on this old dish with a blend of lightly toasted spices and pomegranate seeds.  I also decided to kick things up a bit by mixing two types of parsley, flat leaf which adds body and curly which really "grips" the dressing and quinoa. 

As a note, when making tabouli, recipes should be taken more as rough guidelines and always finish more on personal preference or what you have in your cupboard.  If you like your salad extra tangy, use more lemon juice. Have a couple sprigs of parsley left? Toss them in! Prefer Have cilantro over mint? That's your call.

While I use quinoa, classical recipes call for bulgur. I prefer to use more leftover, gluten free whole food oriented alternatives, such as quinoa, brown rice, hemp seeds, coarsely chopped chickpeas, etc.  

Christmas Quinoa Tabouli
(serves six as a side) 

• 1 cup cooked quinoa, lightly fluffed
• 8-12 cherry tomatoes, about 11 oz
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 3 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 large head flat leaf parsley (3-5 oz), 
• 1 large head curly leaf parsley (3-5 oz) 
• 1 bunch of mint (1 oz), stemmed
• 2 t ground allspice
• 1 T ras el hanout
• 1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
• seeds of 1 pomegranate 
• Salt & pepper to taste

Using a small, sharp knife, cut the tomatoes into quarters and eights, toss them into a large mixing bowl along with the shallot and lemon juice. 

Grab the parsley by the head and twist off the coarser stems and set aside for another use (such as juicing, blending, making stock, etc. If the stems are tender and not too woody, I often include them in my parsley salads).  For the flat leaf parsley, pack the leaves up tightly, "balling" them a bit, and using a large sharp chef's knife cut them into thin slivers no more than 1/2 an inch thick.  Add to the large bowl. For the curly leaf parsley, coarsely chop so that you get lots of little 'florets' of the tips.  Add to bowl.

For the mint, stack the leaves together, and using a very sharp knife cut the leaves into ribbons width-wise. Be gentle with them, as mint leaves tend to discolor when bruised.  Add to the bowl.

Add the ras el hanout, allspice, olive oil, pomegranate, and some salt and fresh ground pepper and toss.  Feel free to add some more salt/pepper/lemon juice to taste, and serve. 

Raw Tabouli

Ach, you absolutely must click through to see this in big beautiful form. Click on the image, click on "all sizes" above the photo, then click on "large' or "original." Anyway, this is a great "I don't like measuring things" recipe.

1-2 large heads of flat leaf parsley
1 bunch mint (optional)
1 bunch of scallions
1 small onion
Couple heads garlic (optional, as much/little as you like)
A tomato, or bunch of cherry tomatoes

Hemp seeds
1 lemon (or two)
Olive oil, or hemp oil
Salt

Clean and chop the first six ingredients, toss into a bowl. Drizzle with oil (about a quarter of a cup). Juice the lemon(s), and add to the mix. Sprinkle with salt, toss on a handful of hemp seeds (as much or as little as you'd like). Toss until well coated. Enjoy!