Courgette, Parmesan & Hazelnut Salad and Green Bean, Spinach & "Falafel" Salad - Salad Days # 3 & # 4

My Salad Days project continues and today I have two salads for you.  My first salad, a Courgette, Parmesan and Hazelnut  Salad could not be simpler.  Like all dishes which are incredibly simple, however, it relies entirely on good quality.

Begin with the freshest, crispest courgettes you can get your hands on.  I like to pick them fresh out of the garden literally moments before I use them, which means there's usually a few flowers I can use as well.  I also like to use the the little baby ones that are literally no bigger than your index finger, though they grow so quickly there's usually a few slightly larger ones as well.  If you happen to have different varieties and colours of courgettes/squash at your disposal use them too.

To put the salad together, cut your courgettes (as many as you like) as thinly as you can - a mandoline is really useful if you have one - and go for a variety of shapes.  I cut some into rings and some into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler.  Place the courgettes in a bowl with plenty of shaved parmesan and roasted hazelnuts.  Squeeze over some fresh lemon juice and a generous slosh of the best extra virgin olive oil you can get your hands on.  Hazelnut oil or walnut oil would also be great alternatives.  Season generously with flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Toss everything together gently to combine and transfer to a serving dish.

PS - Don't you love this gorgeous bowl made for me by my lovely friend, Clare Strange

My second salad today is a Green Bean, Spinach & "Falafel" Salad with a Harissa Dressing.

This was another incredibly simple salad to put together.  I happened to have some mixture leftover from a batch of these Pea, Feta & Quinoa Fritters, so I rolled it into teeny, tiny fritters and fried them until crispy.  You could just as easily use some falafel mix instead. While they were cooking, I blanched some green beans, then tossed them together with some baby spinach leaves and diced cucumber.  Nestle the little fritters amongst the salad leaves and beans. The dressing is a simple combination of 2 tablespoons of harissa with 1/3 cup of natural yoghurt - if necessary thin with a little water if necessary to achieve a "dressing-like" consistency.

This dish delivered all the things I love in a good salad - some protein from the quinoa and feta, great texture contrasts from the crispy fritters, crunchy beans, and soft velvety spinach, and finished off with a great dressing that packs a real flavour punch.  This salad makes a complete and satisfying meal on its own.

As I mentioned earlier, these are salad number 4 and 5 in my Salad Days, 28 days of salad project.   What's that you ask?  Well,  I've said it here a dozen times or more ... I love salads.  A big bowl, substantial salad is hands down my favourite meal any time of the year.  Such is my love of salad, that I'm challenging myself to come up with a different salad every day for the month of February - that's 28 days of salads - and I plan to share as many of them as I can with you.  I'll also be doing some flashbacks to some of my favourite salads I've shared in the past.

What's more, I'm giving you the opportunity to share some of your favourite salads with me too.  Have a favourite salad you'd like to share?  Simply link up your salad recipe using the linky tool at the bottom of this post.  The linky will be open all month, and you can join in any day or every day, and link as many recipes as you like.  Feel free to grab the Salad Days badge from the sidebar to include in your post if you'd like to.  There's really no rules around linking up, other than please, use your manners and link your post back to this one.  Linking old posts is fine too, just please edit them to include the back link.  Thanks for sharing your favourite salad with us.

Saffron Roasted Tomatoes with Labneh and Triple Tomato Quinoa Risotto with Black Olives & Feta

For the first time since I started this blog, some five and a half years ago, I'm experiencing some serious writer's block.  I've been trying to write this post for the last week, and every time I sit down at the desk to write I allow myself to be distracted by just about anything else - that great "crack house" that is Pinterest (who of us can't get lost in that for hours), a little bit of filing (even though filing is my least favourite thing to do), a couple of scraps of paper, a magazine, I've even developed an uncommon interest in the tiniest speck of dust.  Pretty much anything to distract me from the admission that perhaps I have nothing to say!

Right now it's a glorious Sunday morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the cicadas are chirping, and it is taking every shred of willpower I possess to resist the siren call of the sea and sand.  But I've vowed not to hit the beach until this post is done, so perhaps I better get on with it.

I fully intended to bring you these glorious saffron-roasted tomatoes last week, when my friends and I at I Heart Cook Clubs were exploring the theme Along the Spice Trail with our current chef, Diana Henry.  For reasons already disclosed, that just didn't happen.  Which is sad, because withholding these from you is nothing short of a travesty. On a positive note though, this is Pot Luck week at IHCC, so I still get to share this plate of deliciousness with you.  When I brought you these Maple Roasted Tomatoes, way back when my blog was in its infancy, I thought I was really onto something, and I've been making them that way ever since.  Taking inspiration however from Diana's book A Change of Appetite, and adding harissa and saffron into the mix elevates these tomatoes to something positively sublime.  The kick of heat from the harissa, and the earthiness of the saffron, lend perfect balance to the sweet tomatoes, and some cooling tang from garlicky, herby labneh on top is the perfect accompaniment.

I didn't depart too much from Diana's recipe, though I pretty much ignored quantities and just used what suited me. This is the kind of dish where you really don't need to adhere to things too closely, which is something I always like in a recipe.  You need to begin by making your labneh ... Set a sieve over a bowl and line it with a paper towel or piece of clean muslin.  Add a few good dollops of natural yoghurt to the sieve, and place in the fridge for several hours until all the liquid has drained away, and you are left with something the consistency of thick cream cheese.  I use lovely thick Greek yoghurt that really only takes a couple of hours, but depending on the yoghurt you start with it may take up to 24 hours.  Once yoghurt has reached it's desired consistency, remove from sieve to a small bowl and mix in a clove of crushed garlic, some chopped herbs of your liking, and season with salt and pepper.  Now onto the tomatoes ... Choose several of your favourite tomatoes - I used a variety of tomatoes picked straight from the garden.  Cut them in half and lay them in a single layer in an ovenproof dish.  In a small bowl mix together a generous slosh or two of olive oil, two or three tablespoons of harissa, and a good pinch of saffron threads.  Pour the mixture over the tomatoes, and turn them to make sure they are well coated all over.  Set the tomatoes cut side up, drizzle liberally with maple syrup, and season generously.  Roast them in a preheated oven, 190 degrees C (375 degrees F) for around 45 minutes, remove from oven, and leave to cool slightly.  Arrange the roasted tomatoes on a platter and top with good dollops of the labneh.  Drizzle with any of the cooking juices, and strew a few toasted almonds and coriander leaves over the top to finish.

These are sensational served warm or at room temperature.  I tossed some of them with a few peppery rocket leaves and served them with this harissa marinated fish.

As is frequently the case in my house, however, I did end up with quite a lot of leftovers, which I decided to turn into risotto.  Since I'm on a bit of a "health-kick" at the moment, I experimented with using quinoa for my risotto instead of the traditional arborio rice, and I have to say I was pretty pleased with the results.  The quinoa had a really pleasant nutty flavour and slight chew to it, but the best thing of all was that I wasn't left with that heavy, weighed down kind of feeling afterwards.  This delivered all the comforting satisfaction that you expect from a risotto, with none of the "heft".  I love bringing layers of flavour and texture to a dish, and I achieved that here by using tomatoes three ways - the leftover saffron roasted tomatoes, a few sun-dried tomatoes, and finished off with a few fresh tomatoes.  The other great thing I discovered about using the quinoa in this risotto, is that it reheated really well the next day, which cannot generally be said for a risotto made with arborio rice.  Making risotto with quinoa is definitely set to become a regular feature in my kitchen now, and I can't wait to experiment with a few different flavours.  In the meantime, I hope you'll give this one a try.

On that note, I'm off to the beach now.  Enjoy what's left of your weekend xo

Triple Tomato Quinoa Risotto with Black Olives & Feta Recipe
a Couscous & Consciousness original

olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/2 small leek, finely sliced

1 cup quinoa

juice of 1/2 lemon

2 to 3 cups of vegetable stock, hot

3x saffron-roasted tomatoes (= 6x halves), roughly chopped (see above)

3 or 4 sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped

half a dozen fresh cherry tomatoes, halved

generous handful of black olives

chunks of crumbled goat feta - as much or as little as you like

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

fresh basil leaves, roughly torn, to finish

Heat a good slosh of olive oil in a heavy based pan over medium heat.  Add the leek and garlic to the pan - cooking until they just begin to soften - take care not to burn the garlic.  Almost as soon as you can smell the garlic it is time to add the quinoa to the pan.  Continue cooking the quinoa with the leek and garlic, stirring constantly, until every single grain is coated with the oil and it begins to appear a little "toasted".

Now is the time to add the lemon juice, and continue stirring until virtually all the liquid has been absorbed by the quinoa.  Then reduce the heat a little, and begin to add the stock, one ladleful at a time - stirring constantly until each ladleful has been absorbed before adding the next.

Keep stirring and adding stock until the quinoa has plumped up and is tender (but not mushy) to the bite - this will probably take around 20 minutes.  Round about the 10 minute mark, stir in the chopped roasted tomatoes and sun-dried tomatoes.

Once the quinoa is cooked, remove from the heat, stir in the fresh tomatoes, olives, feta and basil.  Taste, then season to your liking with flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Stir to combine, then cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes to enable all the flavours to infuse.

Serve immediately, with some extra fresh basil on top.

If you would like to get to know Diana Henry a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links (who knows, you might even want to join the journey and cook along with us) ...

... or check out A Change of Appetite and Diana's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Today is a public holiday in New Zealand.  Not only does Labour Day commemorate the struggle for an eight-hour working day, but here it's also the day that really kicks off summer.  We are normally blessed with a hot sunny day on which everyone flocks to the beach and gets a nasty dose of sunburn, because somehow in our collective winter stupor we've forgotten about the great big hole in the ozone layer over New Zealand.  It's the day on which it is usually considered any risk of frost has passed and it is safe to plant tomatoes - we threw caution to the wind and planted ours last weekend.  No frost came, the sky didn't fall, the tomatoes appear to be thriving.

Unlike Labour Days passed, today is cool and breezy, low cloud is clinging to the hills around us, and rather than feeling the urge to flock to the beach, it felt more like a day for a late sleep-in, curl up on the sofa with a couple of movies, and enjoy a leisurely brunch.  A leisurely brunch in fact of espresso, chocolate chip pancakes, with a side of honey-roasted pineapple and yoghurt, and extra coffee.  Now I've got your attention, haven't I?!

It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day, and I can now tell you that my assigned blogger this month was the lovely Emily at Life on Food.  Having been born in Iowa, grown up in Georgia and Maine, Emily now lives in Connecticut with her husband, who also shares her passion for food and cooking.  Emily has a major in economics and works as a building consultant with colleges and universities.

Until this morning I wasn't hundred percent sure which one of Emily's many dishes I was going to make.  Emily has been blogging since 2009, and churning out on average around 300 posts a year, she gives new meaning to the word prolific.  That's a whole lot of dishes to choose from - just settling on a short list was pretty hard, let alone choosing just one.  My short list included New England Clam Chowder (although I'm not sharing that with you today, I will definitely be making this sometime soon), Lamb Meatballs with Toasted Orzo (this just reminds me of sunshine and Greek holidays), Cinnamon Rolls, and Shrimp Thai Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce.

But in the end, today is unquestionably a day for pancakes, and I love the "grown-up-ness" of Emily's Coffee Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  These are pancakes you make for a couple of lazy adults who just want to swan around for the day, not the ones you whip up for the kids before they rush out the door to sports day.  Emily's pancakes used instant coffee powder, but as we never have instant coffee around here, I brewed a double shot of espresso instead.  I didn't have any chocolate chips on hand either, so I subbed in some cacao nibs.  I think the slightly "bitter" flavour is another element that elevates these pancakes to grown up status. The main "liquid" ingredient in the batter is yoghurt, but I found, once I'd mixed up my batter, that it was very thick - I think this was probably because I only have very thick Greek-style yoghurt rather than a more "runny" variety, so I ended up having to add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of milk to loosen the batter to the right consistency.  Use what you have and adjust accordingly.  The coffee flavour in these pancakes is not overt - it just adds that certain "je ne sais quoi" that gives a depth of flavour and leaves you wondering what it is.  Someone around here who hates coffee with a passion, thought they tasted pretty good - when he asked me what was in them, I said it was zucchini - never, ever would I let on that it was coffee.  Hopefully my secret is safe with all of you out there.

I served these pancakes with a side of this Honey Roasted Pineapple and a dollop of natural yoghurt.  It only takes a moment to prepare, and it takes care of itself in the oven while you cook the pancakes.  The vanilla and cinnamon perfumed honey and pineapple sauce hit just the right flavour notes drizzled over the pancakes, but if you just want the pancakes straight up maple syrup, or even just a generous knob of butter, would be perfect.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Pancakes Recipe
Adapted slightly from this recipe
from Life on Food

1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
double shot of freshly brewed espresso, cooled
1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1 cup natural yoghurt
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk, as necessary
1/3 cup cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)
extra butter for frying

Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda into a medium-sized bowl.  Add sugar and salt and mix to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk together espresso, melted butter, egg and yoghurt, until everything is well combined.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients.  Add the yoghurt mixture, and mix until only just combined.  Thin with milk if necessary.  Fold in the cacao nibs.

Place a non-stick frypan over medium heat and add a small knob of butter.  As soon as butter is sizzling, add spoonfuls of the batter to the pan.  Cook for two to three minutes before flipping, and cook for a further two to three minutes on the other side.  Remove to a warm place and continue until all the batter has been cooked.

Serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy this dish as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

Secret Recipe Club is a way to not only find, but share new blogs.  Each month, one member is assigned to another member from their group "secretly" (hence the name).  That person selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, and then will draft up a blog post.  Everyone in the group posts on the same Monday together and gets to see who had their blog and what recipe(s) they chose.  It's such a fun experience and it's a great way to get new followers, too.  There are always new blogs to discover and our club has plenty to offer!  If you are a food blogger and interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, be sure to check out the Join SRC page.

An InLinkz Link-up

Roasted Apricot Frozen Yoghurt

It's not that we're giving the gorgeous Diana Henry the cold shoulder so early in our relationship at I Heart Cooking Clubs, but we are giving her a bit of a frosty reception this week.  Yes, we're going "Icy Cold" and coming up with all manner of icy, chilled and frozen treats.

Now, I've told you before, I'm sure, that my dessert of choice pretty much any time of year is a frozen one, so I needed little encouragement to break the ice cream maker out of the cupboard and get churning.  Since I love ice cream, and Diana has loads of ice cream and sorbet recipes in her repertoire, making a bit of frozen magic together seemed inevitable.

My favourite new cookbook, A Change of Appetite, offered lots of gorgeous sorbets which have now been bookmarked, but it was the Greek yoghurt and apricot ice cream that took my fancy.

When apricots are at the height of the season, I usually roast them in batches with a little butter and brown sugar.  The butter and brown sugar more or less turns to caramel and the flavour of the apricots really intensifies.  Then I freeze them in batches to use in ice creams and smoothies all year long.

In the original recipe Diana uses dried apricots and stews them in apple juice, before pureeing and mixing with the yoghurt.  With summer (and apricot season) just around the corner, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up one of my remaining bags of roasted apricots.  Diana recommends straining the pureed apricots, to avoid getting "bits" in the ice cream, but I'm personally a bit of a fan of the bits - it reminds me that I'm eating something with real fruit in it - so my apricots got a simple blitz with the food processor only.

When I made this Roasted Apricot Gelato, way back when, I didn't really think it could be improved on.  But I can honestly say that this frozen yoghurt version is a distinct improvement.  I love the slight tartness of the yoghurt with the richness of the roasted apricots.  The yoghurt and creme fraiche provide all the creaminess you would normally get from a custard based ice cream, and is a whole lot quicker and easier to make.  I also like to think that this is a healthier option than a regular ice cream - that may possibly be deluded, but I like to believe it.

Roasted Apricot Frozen Yoghurt Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Diana Henry
from A Change of Appetite
Click here for the free recipe card

6x medium-large fresh apricots
brown sugar
butter

400g (14 oz) Greek yoghurt
4 tablespoons creme fraiche
2 tablespoons runny honey

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).  Cut apricots in half - remove and discard the stones.  Place apricots cut side up in an ovenproof dish that is just big enough to fit them quite snugly.  Sprinkle each apricot half with a little brown sugar, and top each with a small knob of butter.

Place in hot oven and roast until the apricots have softened and started to collapse, and the sugar and butter have merged with the oozing fruit juices to become almost the consistency of caramel sauce.

This will take about 30 minutes, and it is helpful to baste the fruit with the juices half way through.  Allow to cool completely then, using a food processor or stick blender, blitz to a puree.

Add yoghurt and creme fraiche to the apricot puree and blitz again until combined.

Churn the mixture in a ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction.  Halfway through the churning process, drizzle in the honey.  Serve straight away or freeze for a few hours to firm up.

If you would like to get to know Diana Henry a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links (who knows, you might even want to join the journey and cook along with us) ...

... or check out A Change of Appetite and Diana's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand.  Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Lesley at eat, etc ..., Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.

Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake

It's Secret Recipe Club time again, and this month I was assigned to Rebkah's delightful blog Making Miracles.  And Rebekah does indeed make miracles.  Rebekah began her blog several years ago to share her experiences through surrogacy, a journey which enabled her to bring four beautiful girls into the world for couples who desparately wanted babies but were unable to do so without help.  If that's not miraculous I don't know what is.  Since then Rebekah's blog has continued to share stories of her own son, her day to day family life, and of course recipes from her kitchen.

I found lots of dishes I wanted to make and share with you:  Bacon, Egg & Potato Breakfast Tacos (who wouldn't want to start the day with those);  as a salmon addict, I cant wait to try this Molasses Glazed Salmon;  the Shrimp Lemon Pepper Linguine is totally my kind of dish;  and I've lost count of the number of times I've made these insanely good Roasted Brussels Sprouts in the last month.  But feeling, as I did, the need for cake today, it was Rebekah's Cinnamon Coffee Cake that won out.

Rebekah adapted this recipe from another source, and I too made a few minor changes.  Like Rebekah, I halved the recipe.  I used brown sugar instead of white in the topping, and I replaced sour cream in the recipe with Greek-style natural yoghurt.  Also like Rebekah, I only did two layers to the cake instead of three, because really I'm just a bit lazy and didn't want to be fussing round with it.

This cake turned out to be deliciously moist and flavourful, soft and tender on the inside with a delightfully crunchy exterior.  This was the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon cuppa, and would also be a great cake to take on a picnic.  My only regret ... that I couldn't actually sit down with Rebekah and have a natter about her life and her travels over a good brew and a piece of this cake ... maybe one day.

Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake Recipe
Adapted from recipe from Making Miracles
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

For filling & topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

For cake:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup natural Greek-style yoghurt

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F).  Lightly grease a 20cm (8 inch) springform or loose-bottomed cake tin, and line the base with non-stick baking paper.

Combine filling and topping ingredients together in a small bowl, and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Add the vanilla, then add the eggs one at time, beating well after each addition.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the yoghurt to butter, sugar and egg mixture, beating after each addition just enough to combine.

Spoon half the batter into the prepared cake tin and sprinkle with 1/2 of the filling mixture. Spread with the remaining cake batter, and top with the remaining filling mixture.

Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until centre is done.

Allow cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before removing and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did, and visit the links below to check out all the other great dishes my Secret Recipe Club friends made.

An InLinkz Link-up

Harissa-Marinated Tarakihi with Lemony Couscous & Tzatziki

They say when one door closes, another one opens, and that is surely the case.  Last week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, we somewhat sadly said farewell to Israeli-born, UK-based chef Yotam Ottolenghi.  Ottolenghi's unique brand of "Middle Eastern food with a western twist", was hugely inspirational to us all and introduced many of us to a whole range of new and interesting ingredients.

This week, we welcome in our new chef, leading Australian food editor and cookbook author, Donna Hay.  Donna, who publishes a top-selling bi-monthly magazine, and has 18 award-winning cookbooks to her credit, is probably best known for her simply prepared, basic ingredients, gorgeously styled and beautifully photographed.  As you can imagine, Donna is a busy woman, and like many of us doesn't have time to spend on complex dishes - instead her mantra is creating simple, elegant, flavourful dishes using a clever mix of store-bought and fresh ingredients - and who amongst us is not saying "hear, hear" to that?!

And the great news is that, in order to create those simple, yet excitingly flavourful dishes, Donna uses many of those ingredients that we've come to know through our now good friend Ottolenghi - ingredients such as sumac, pomegranate molasses, and harissa and tzatziki, which feature in today's recipe of Harissa Fish with Lemon Couscous from Fast, Fresh, Simple.

Now by all means use store-bought harissa and tzatziki if you choose - Donna would not only condone it, but in actual fact recommend it.  But for those of you who, like me, prefer to make things from scratch (time prevailing), I've offered instructions.  The tzatziki really only takes about two minutes to prepare, so hardly an arduous task.  The harissa does take a little more time, but I make it in big batches when peppers and chillies are at peak seasonality (which, for those of you in the northern hemisphere, is right now) and then store in the freezer.  Taking a packet out of the freezer throughout the year then becomes my equivalent of a "store-bought" ingredient.  You can find my recipe for harissa here.

Apart from making my tzatziki and using homemade harissa, the only other minor changes I made to the recipe were using preserved lemon (another one of my pantry staples, which I make plenty of when lemons are in season) instead of grated lemon zest in the couscous, and adjusting quantities to make lunch for one instead of serving two as per the recipe.  If you want to serve two people, simply double the couscous quantities and buy an extra fillet of fish - easy!

Verdict:  This was a delicious dish, that had plenty going on, both flavourwise and texturally.  The harissa packed a good punch of heat, but still managed not to overpower the fish, while the salty hits of preserved lemon were a great complement to both the fish and the couscous, and the cooling, tangy tzatziki brought it all together.  It's rare for me to have a cooked lunch, as I normally can't be bothered with too much effort in the middle of the day - a cup of soup or a couple of eggs on toast, maybe a simple salad, is normally par for the course, but this dish took really very little effort (less than 15 minutes max from start to finish) and I would definitely make this again, even for lunch.

Harissa-Marinated Tarakihi

with Lemony Couscous & Tzatziki Recipe

Adapted from recipe from Fast, Fresh, Simple

by Donna Hay

Makes 1 generous serving

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

Tzatziki (or use store-bought, no-one will judge):

1/4 cup natural, unsweetened Greek-style yoghurt

piece of cucumber about 6cm (2-1/2") long, peeled, deseeded & finely chopped

small handful of mint leaves, finely chopped

generous pinch flaky sea salt

Lemony Couscous:

1/2 cup couscous

1/2 cup chicken stock

1/4 preserved lemon, flesh discarded and skin finely sliced

juice of 1/2 a lemon

generous handful of baby spinach leaves

freshly ground black pepper

Note:  If you don't have preserved lemon, use the grated zest of a lemon.  It won't pack quite the same flavour punch as the preserved lemon, but it will still taste great.

Fish:

1x tarakihi fillet, skinned and boned

1-2 tablespoons harissa (see recipe here or use store-bought)

1 tablespoon olive oil

To serve:

1/2 a lemon

Begin by rubbing harissa all over both sides of the fish, and then set aside while you make the tzatziki and prepare the couscous.

To make the tzatziki, combine all ingredients in a small bowl.  Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.  Set aside.

Now on to the couscous.  Bring the chicken stock to a boil.  Meanwhile, place the couscous, sliced preserved lemon, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl.  Pour the boiling chicken stock over the couscous, cover with cling film and set aside to steam while you cook the fish.

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  Add fish to the pan and cook through - it will probably take about 3 minutes on each side.

Remove cling film from the couscous and gently fluff up with a fork.  Taste.  You most likely won't need salt as the preserved lemon is quite salty, and the chicken stock should also be already seasoned.  However, if you substituted grated lemon zest instead of the preserved lemon, you may want to add a pinch of flaky sea salt or another squeeze of lemon juice.  Stir in the spinach leaves.

To serve, arrange lemony couscous and spinach on a plate, top with fish, and add a dollop of tzatziki and a lemon cheek on the side.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see what everyone has cooked up to say "G'day" to Donna, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Fast, Fresh, Simple and Donna's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

                   

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Friday, hosted by Designs by Gollam.

                     

Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate and How To Use Pomegranate Molasses

Sadly for those of us who play at I Heart Cooking Clubs, our six-month journey with the amazing Yotam Ottolenghi ends this week.  To a person, we've been inspired, surprised and amazed by dish after dish of incredible flavours and textures, by "new to us" ingredients and by new ways to use them.  I've been cooking on a regular basis with Ottolenghi for about 3 years now, but he still never ceases to surprise me with taste and texture combinations that are a pure delight, and although we are effectively farewelling him this week, his dishes will continue to play a starring role in my kitchen.

I had planned to share a round-up this week of my favourites, but of the 20-plus Ottolenghi dishes I've made over the last six months, I just couldn't narrow it down to four or five, instead I'm going to celebrate the way in which he has opened my eyes to wonderful ways with cauliflower.  I've always loved cauliflower - it's one of my favourite vegetables - but until my introduction to Ottolenghi I was always at a bit of a loss for interesting ways to prepare and eat it.  In the past, it's always just been a bit of a side dish, enjoyable but not particularly remarkable unless smothered in a cheese sauce!!  Now, thanks to some of these wonderful dishes, I'm happy to make a meal of cauliflower.

There was Chargrilled Cauliflower, Tomato & Fennel Salad ...

... and Roasted Cauliflower & Almond Salad ...

... and the Saffron Cauliflower from Plenty, a dish which, although I'm yet to share with you, I've made many times.  Trust me, if you happen to have Plenty in your cookbook collection, you need to make this dish.

Then there was the Fried Cauliflower with Pine Nuts, Capers & Chillies which my friend, Michelle at Ms. enPlace made.  I haven't had a chance to make this one yet, but it's high on my must-make list.

And, today's discovery from Jerusalem: A Cookbook, this recipe for Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate.  I made a few small changes to the original recipe.  Now I'm sure that a whole bunch of cauliflower fried in two cups of sunflower oil would taste amazing, but looking for a healthier version I used a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil instead.  Still tasted amazing and went a beautiful golden brown in no time.  The original dish was designed to serve six as part of a mezze feast, but I cut quantities back to make a substantial meal for one, and adjusted all the sauce quantities accordingly.  I also left out spring onions, as I didn't really feel the need for them, and I finished off by tossing a few pomegranate seeds in at the end.

I'm also sharing this dish at Tasting Jerusalem, where our theme for the month is pomegranate molasses.  I've used pomegranate molasses in a number of different Ottolenghi dishes in the past, such as Lamb-Stuffed Quince with Coriander & Pomegranate, ...

Shakshuka, ...

...  and the earlier mentioned Roasted Cauliflower & Almond Salad.

You might also be interested in a few other ideas for using pomegranate molasses.  I actually posted some of these suggestions way back in one of my very first posts on this blog, but that was before anybody ever read this blog, so they bear repeating:

Make a refreshing drink by mixing 1 teaspoon of pomegranate molasses with lemon juice and sugar; then add water or soda and adjust to your taste. You could also turn this into a cocktail by adding the alcohol of your choice – vodka and rum both work really well with this.

Use to glaze the skin of a chicken or duck breast before cooking – skin will be crispy and a little sour.

Glaze a rack of lamb before cooking, or use to dip barbecued lamb cutlets.

Make a marinade for salmon fillets by combining: 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1/2 cup dry sherry, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 clove of garlic, crushed. Marinate up to 4 hours, remove from marinade and bake in a 160^oC oven for 10 minutes. While fish is baking pour marinade into a saucepan, and reduce over low heat to about half. Drizzle reduced pomegranate marinade over fish to serve.

Baked fish parcels – place pieces of firm fleshed fish in centre of piece of tinfoil or parchment paper, drizzle over pomegranate molasses, slivers of garlic, sliced lemon, and finely sliced fennel. Complete with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, close up parcel, and bake at 180^oC till cooked through.

Make a dressing using pomegranate molasses, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and salt and freshly ground black pepper, add chopped flat leaf parsley and mint. Use this dressing over any of the following combinations:

*  Char-grilled eggplant and courgette, roasted tomatoes and carrots, black olives and feta cheese

*  Roasted pumpkin and mushrooms, pumpkin seeds, baby spinach and grilled haloumi

*  Mesclun leaves, toasted hazelnuts, sliced apple, dates and goats cheese

Drizzle pomegranate molasses over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers. 

Do you have any other great ideas for using pomegranate molasses?  If so, I'd love to hear about them.  In the meantime, on with today's recipe ...

Fried Cauliflower with Tahini & Pomegranate

Adapted from recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

from Jerusalem:  A Cookbook

Serves four as part of a mezze table

or serves two as a generous side dish

or serves one as a substantial meal

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 a head cauliflower, cut into small florets

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/4 cup tahini paste

1/4 cup natural Greek-style yoghurt

1x garlic clove, crushed

handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

handful mint leaves, finely chopped

1x lemon, zest and juice

1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses, plus extra to finish

water

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

handful of pomegranate seeds

Heat oil in a large skillet set over medium heat.  Add cauliflower to the hot oil and saute until golden and tender.  Remove to a plate covered with a paper towel to drain, and sprinkle liberally with flaky sea salt.  You will probably have to do this in two batches.  Set aside to cool slightly.

In a small bowl mix together tahini, yoghurt, crushed garlic, parsley, mint, lemon juice and zest, and  pomegranate molasses.  Add sufficient water to thin to a smooth, pourable sauce - about the consistency of runny honey.  Taste and add flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Arrange cauliflower in a bowl or serving platter, drizzle over the tahini sauce.  Finish with an extra drizzle of pomegranate molasses, a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and a sprig of mint.

Delicious served warm or at room temperature.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, and to see what everyone has cooked up for our final feast together, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Jerusalem and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I am also sharing this post at Tasting Jerusalem, a virtual cooking community exploring the vibrant flavors and cuisine of the Middle East through the lens of “Jerusalem: A Cookbook” by Ottolenghi and Tamimi published by Ten Speed Press. You can follow along and cook with us by subscribing to omgyummy.com, following the hashtag #TastingJrslm on Twitter and Instagram, and liking our Facebook page.

And, because it would be rude not to, I'm sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, and at Foodie Friday, hosted by Designs by Gollam.

                     

How to Make Labneh

Our Optional Monthly Community Challenge at I Heart Cooking Clubs this month is the making and using of labneh (a strained yoghurt cheese, popular in the Middle East), a la Ottolenghi.

Well, because I procrastinate so much, I've managed by the skin of my teeth to get the making of labneh nailed by the end of the month ... using it, other than just smearing it on a cracker (which should not, I might add, be underrated), not so much.

I had all good intentions for using my labneh in the same way that Zosia from Are You Cooking? did in this Couscous & Mograbieh Salad with Oven Dried Tomatoes and Labneh, from Ottolenghi: The Cookbook.  This would have been the perfect use for some of the slow roasted tomatoes I have stashed in the freezer.  However, I left making my labneh a bit later than intended, and then it took longer to strain than I anticipated (when the recipe says it takes 24-36 hours, I always think mine will be the 24 hour one - in actual fact mine took a full 48 hours to reach the desired consistency).  So that  isn't going to happen ... or not this week, anyway.

I could have gone the awesomely delicous-looking route my lovely IHCC co-host, Deb from Kahakai Kitchen, took and smothered my labneh in a topping of kalamata olives and pistachio nuts, and indeed that may well be the way in which much of my labneh meets its final fate.  But tonight I had a big dinner planned, and I rather feared that I could easily end up making a meal of a pre-dinner snack such as this, and then what to do with that big dinner?!

Some of my labneh will almost certainly go into a salad for my lunch tomorrow - I'm thinking of a take on this Grilled Pineapple and Gorgonzola Salad that my friend, Mairi from Toast, made a while back, using some rocket and walnuts and swapping the gorgonzola out for the labneh.  However, as I'm likely to be throwing that together first thing in the morning before I rush out the door, a pretty photo seems unlikely.

So tonight I'm going to leave you with just the labneh, and hope that you find one of those suggestions inspiring.  There are also plenty of other recipes in all of Ottolenghi's books using this wonderful ingredient, so I hope you'll give this a try.  It could not possibly be simpler to make and, if like me, you're not ready to use it straight away, simply roll into balls and pop into a jar full of olive oil - it will keep for weeks.

Labneh Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

from Ottolenghi:  The Cookbook

2 cups unsweetened Greek yoghurt

1/2 teaspoon salt

Optional:

olive oil

dried mint

freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl mix the yoghurt and salt together until the salt is thoroughly combined.

Line a sieve with a piece of muslin or cheesecloth (or even a paper towel will do), set the sieve over a bowl, and pour the yoghurt into the cloth.  Bring up the edges of the cloth and tie into a bundle around the yoghurt with a piece of string.

Place in the fridge and leave to strain for 24 to 48 hours.  By this stage, almost all the liquid will have drained away, and the yoghurt will be the consistency of thick cream cheese.

The labneh can be used straight away as a spread, or stored in olive oil for later use.  Roll the labneh into small balls.  Pour some olive oil into a sterilised jar, then carefully lower in a few of the labneh balls, add some more olive oil, then more labneh balls.  Continue layering in this way until all the labneh balls are fully immersed in oil.  Store at room temperature in a cool dark place - will keep for several weeks.

When you're ready to use the labneh, remove the balls from the oil, roll in a mixture of dried mint and freshly ground black pepper, and serve in salads, or as part of a mezze platter, or just with a couple of crackers.

The resulting cheese has a delicious, delicate, citrusy/yoghurty tang, and the dried mint is the perfect complement to it.  Although there are a couple of days involved in making this, most of that time it's just taking care of itself in the fridge.  The actual effort you have to put in is about 5 to 10 minutes max, and results in a great store cupboard ingredient to have on hand.  Definitely making this again.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Ottolenghi: The Cookbook and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I'll also be sharing this post at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, and very amusing, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads, at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam, and at My Meatless Mondays hosted by Chaya at My Sweet and Savory.