Whole Roast Cauliflower With Warm Hummus

I picked up two perfectly sized single serving cauliflowers from Second Helpings the food waste charity in Stamford, Lincolnshire that I love to support. Their mission is to reduce the amount of food waste that goes into landfill and they have been a God send to vulnerable and low income families since the start of lock down as for a small donation you can pick up fresh fruit and vegetables plus staples that will keep you going. Such charities are springing up all over the country so look out for one near you and support their work, reducing food waste going into landfill has got to be a cause close to all our hearts.

Each week I plan my meals around what comes in our Riverford organic box and what I pick locally so these cauliflowers got me thinking of new recipes I could create. They were really too small to make into cauliflower steaks so roasting them whole seemed like the most sensible thing to do. They turned out beautifully so here’s my version for you to try at home. I’ve added a few of my other favourite cauliflower recipes as links to the blog too.

Ingredients

2 tbsp Rapeseed oil

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chilli powder

1 large cauliflower leaves removed

For the dressing

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 - 1 tsp chilli oil

1 tblsp olive oil

Seeds of ½ to 1 pomegranate depending on size

Small bunch coriander, chopped

For the Hummus

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1 small onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic chopped

400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp rose harissa

100 – 150ml cold water

Directions

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 400F/gas 6.

Cut the leaves and bottom off the cauliflower so it will stand upright on a baking sheet.

Mix all the dry spices together and add the rapeseed oil to combine and make a spicy marinade.

Pour the spiced marinade over the cauliflower and toss really well, making sure the cauliflower is well covered and that the spice mixture gets into all the cracks.

Put on a baking tray and pour any remaining spiced marinade over the cauliflower allowing it to drizzle down the sides.

Roast for 1 hour 15 minutes - 1 hour 30 minutes or until the stem is tender when pierced with a knife. If using 2 smaller cauliflowers adjust the time accordingly.

For the dressing

Once the cauliflower is in the oven whisk together the red wine vinegar, olive and chilli oil with some seasoning, then stir in the pomegranate seeds. Set aside.

For the Hummus

Heat the rapeseed oil in a pan with the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook gently for 5 minutes until soft, then add the garlic and cook for a further 1 minute.

Stir through the drained chickpeas and heat for 2 minutes until warm.

Transfer the onion and chickpeas to a food processor and add the tahini, lemon juice, harissa and 100ml of water, and whizz to a purée. If necessary add more water to get to desired consistency.

Put the hummus in a small pan and keep warm until the cauliflower is ready.

To Serve

Cut the cauliflower in half and serve on top of the warm hummus with the pomegranate seeds and the dressing drizzled over. Sprinkle over the chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy