Roasted cauliflower with chickpeas

I watched Nigella's TV show last year (its a love-hate relationship!) and she made a chickpea and cauliflower salad which sounded rather delicious and fairly easy to do. I followed her recipe (except for the pomegranate) and it turned out pretty good. Her recipes always do. Especially her deserts. (Don't want to go too much off subject, but try her brownies or her chocolate and Guinness cakes!)

... So I have been making it ever since, but changing it slightly to suit ingredients I had at home and my own tastebuds...

Last night I made the best one yet - if I may say so myself. The basic ingredients and processes are similar to Nigella's, with a few tweaks.

the cauliflower and peppers ready for the oven

Serves 2 (plus some leftovers)

2 cans of chickpeas (400gr tins)
one head of cauliflower, seperated into florets
2 green peppers, sliced in chunks
1 red pepper, sliced in chunks
2 tomatoes, quartered
1 tbs fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbs olive oil
200ml chicken stock (or cube diluted in 200ml of water)
salt
1-2 tablespoons of harissa paste
Greek yogurt to serve

1. Set the oven to 180 (fan). Put the olive oil, cumin, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a large bowl. Mix, then add the cauliflower florets and the chopped pepper and mix again, to make sure they are well coated. Pour in a baking dish and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

2. In the same bowl (now empty), add the drained chickpeas the chicken stock, tomatoes, harissa (to taste) and some salt.

3. Once the cauliflower has had 20 minutes in the oven, add the chickpea mixture to the pan and return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes, while stirring occasionally.

4. Once cooked, remove from the oven, mix in the fresh parsley and serve onto your plate. Add a dollop of Greek yoghurt to the side and enjoy!

Hope you like it.

New Kitchen

In January 2016 we embarked on a 5 month building project, after a year and a half of planning. This involved living in our house with no boiler (no central heating or hot water - what a good idea to start the works in winter!!!), no access to our kitchen, no washing machine, two children, a massive hole in the back of the house during much of the build, lots of disruption and waaaay too much dust.

The back room as it was before we started

I can't say it has been easy. In fact, it was very difficult! It now seems like a distant memory and we have only had access to our new kitchen for two weeks. I 'm not sure how we managed, looking back; We used a temporary electric shower for hot water; we made a temporary kitchen in our lounge using our dining table as the worktop, with a microwave and a single induction hob on it (no oven and no sink!); and we put an electric heater in each bedroom and the lounge (the hallway and bathroom remained rather cold throughout!).

I don't know what I found the hardest during the whole build; the lack of kitchen; the large amounts of dust throughout the house; the piles of additional furniture in every room to free up the back of the house; or the fact that the build never seemed to end... Despite all the chaos, dust and upheaval, though, our daughters have been extremely patient and happy - I should learn something from them!

Once the extension was built and weatherproof (around 4 months in)

So, finally, 5 months on and we have a beautiful new kitchen, lots of worktop space and access to the garden. I don't think we used the ovens for the fist few days we had the kitchen - it felt like too much pressure! What do you cook for the first time after so long? Surely it has to be something special?! Surely you have to have a grand opening or something?! Our eldest took the pressure off with a suggestion for pastichio (a Greek dish, made with thick pasta, bechamel and meat, baked in the oven) and chocolate cake as our first family meal. So that's what we cooked on our first Saturday. It was delicious! But what was nicer was the fact that we could all sit around the table together again, with the added bonus of opening the doors to the garden for some almost al fresco dining.

On the first night the builders left

So was it worth it?! Yes, I think it was worth it, but funnily enough, not for all the new gadgets and fancy appliances (which are great, don't get me wrong), but for gaining a space that works for our family and that will make living in this house so much more pleasant and enjoyable! I am happy, though I am also a little worried about what silly project I will decide to take on next! I should just take a break...