Moroccan Cauliflower, Rocket & Pine-Nut Side Dish

Inspired by a salad my friend recently told me about while she was gallivanting through Morocco, I re-created it with my wholefoods twist. It’s a lovely side for a week day dinner, weekend lunch or even a dinner party. Serve it either warm straight off the stove or as a salad at room temperature. The original recipe used almonds, however here I have substituted my activated pine nuts. You could use either. It’s incredibly simple to make as it only uses a few ingredients, yet so delicious. I hope you love it!

INGREDIENTS 

400-450g cauliflower, finely chopped either in a food processor or by hand
1 onion, diced
4 large handfuls of rocket, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil
a handful of activated pine nuts, toasted if desired
Extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
Lemon juice
Unrefined salt
Cracked pepper
Sumac 

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter /coconut oil in a large frying pan. Sautee onions on low heat until soft. Add cauliflower and sauté until they are just cooked through, stirring occasionally (approx. 10 minutes).

Meanwhile, to toast the pine nuts, add them to a small ungreased frying pan and toast each side on high heat until golden brown. They burn easily so watch them carefully!

Add the rocket to the cauliflower mixture and stir through. Transfer to a serving bowl. Scatter the toasted pine nuts on top and dress with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice to taste, and season with salt, pepper and a sprinkling of sumac.

Serves 4

Creamy mushrooms and zucchini side dish

Who doesn’t like creamy mushrooms? My kids love them so much that I thought that this would be a great way to disguise green veggies that kids otherwise struggle to eat. Zucchinis being the case in point. This side dish is super simple to make with only a few ingredients. Tonight I served this with roasted lamb shanks but it would also make a great weekend brekky served with eggs and avocado. My kids ate the whole serving of this and asked for more.

Ingredients:

1 punnet (150g) mushrooms, sliced
1 zucchini (or other greens of choice eg spinach), thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cream (I like the thick mud cream)
unrefined salt
cracked pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in frying pan. Add mushrooms and zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low heat stirring occasionally until veggies are cooked through and soft. Stir through the cream and gently heat covered for a few minutes before serving (do not allow cream to boil).

Variations:

• omit greens entirely if you want unadulterated creamy mushrooms.

• add a splash of white wine after adding in mushrooms for extra flavour and oomph!

• add a sprinkle of fresh or dried thyme after adding in mushrooms for extra seasoning.