I roast vegetables all the time. Rubbed with olive oil, salt and occasionally spices, they get cozy in the oven giving me time to consider how to serve them. They may keep a company to the meatballs or grilled fish as the thin arches of roasted fennel bulb my husband worships. Perhaps, they might become a spectacular meze like the whole, skin and all, roasted peppers I turn into the addictive muhammara. Roasted vegetables can suffice as a meal on its own calling only for a simple sauce or possibly an egg cracked on top if you are reheating the leftovers. And never, never underestimate the nourishing power of a creamy thick soup made with roasted roots.
Roasting vegetables feels right in winter; the warmth of the oven comforts you even before you indulge the beauties coming from its womb. I will be missing roasted vegetables generously coated in the soul warming spices that made the cold and rainy days of this winter more bearable.
And so our first spring on the Turkish Aegean coast begins.. Spring, different from any I had before. The pomegranate tree in the garden, long time bare, dressed up in the leaves, yet tiny but growing day by day. The night falls later than usual giving us more time for tea and chat on the bench Özgür crafted from the pallets and installed in front of the house.
Saturday farmers’ market features abundant artichokes, although still in their adolescence, wild asparagus and other timid signs of the Aegean spring. Free range eggs taste as good as ever and go oh so well with that the local wild greens. Blossoming Aegean lavender and poppy flowers make their appearance along the highway while camomiles turn the glades in the nearby pine forest into the white carpets with the yellow polka dots. Flowering geranium adorns many doors of the local houses, hotels and restaurants in Alaçatı showing that people have been around enough for the perennial plant to blossom in time.
Our geraniums are yet green bushes. It is going to be the first season for us, the first spring for Babushka. A few weeks ago we sowed flowers in small boxes for our garden. Every day since have been watching their progress. For many days the scene was the same - boxes filled with soil that I kept watering. Eventually the flowers started shooting, with varied speed and vigor, but I am hopeful for our future garden to fully blossom by summer.
It’s not just the flowers. We have sowed much labor, hopes and dreams to create this space and start spreading the word about it, far and wide. And now with bated breath we are waiting for the shoots.
But as we are waiting .. and feeding the fire-wood into our heating stove every night (remaining from the 1.5 ton batch we ordered in November), I keep roasting vegetables. Spring is such a deceiving lady after all. It smiles with the blazing sun by day and then curses with a sudden frost by night. The stove and the roasted vegetables, they keep me safe and grounded. This spice roasted cauliflower got quite a bit on attention on my Facebook and Instagram pages, and so I am sharing the recipe as promised.
Roasted cauliflower is already a serious upgrade from the rather bland raw vegetable, but you can even go further. I rub cauliflower with what has lately been my favorite spice mix - ground turmeric, isot (smoky pepper flakes from the Turkish town of Urfa) and the wonderful trio of roasted and ground cumin, coriander and fennel seeds. The mix boasts a vibrant color, enough heat and the complex taste that I love, but it is the trio of cumin, coriander and fennel I want to tell you more about.
A year ago I learned about Ayurvedic CCF tea (abbreviation of cumin, coriander and fennel), a combination of equal quantities of those seeds, toasted and then simmer in water for 5 min. In Ayurveda, CCF tea is believed to aid digestion and help the body cleanse; no wonder it is the best friend of anyone with troubles in digestive health or those undergoing detox. Even if this combo had no medical benefits, I would still go crazy about it for its Moroccan-cookie flavor - potent, sweet and savory at once. Cumin tastes earthy and a tad oily, coriander has got citrus and peppery notes, fennel carries sweetness, not unlike licorice. Now imagine all this flavors coming together and magnifying as you briefly toast the seeds on a pan. I usually keep some of the toasted CCF mix in whole seeds to make tea while I grind a small quantity to have my favorite mix fresh and ready to go in any dish. Like the roasted cauliflower.
In the company of these spices cauliflower does not feel lonely at all, but it never says no to the friendship of tahini. I love tahini in every possible way and thought that to lighten these grounding spices I’d turn the tahini green with the fresh parsley and coriander. We planted both herbs last November, and they are young and tender right now. This is where winter meets spring and the seeds start shooting.
Spice Roasted Cauliflower with Green Tahini
Source: Olga Irez
Prep Time: 10 Min
Cook Time: 35 Min
Total Time: 45 Min
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower head (1.2 - 1.3 kg)
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/2 tsp isot or other red hot pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp ground roasted CCF mix see the recipe below
Green Tahini Sauce:
- 2 large garlic cloves
- 6 tbsp tahini paste
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 cup hot water adjust based on the consistency of the tahini
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro
Directions
- Roast cauliflower: Preheat the oven to 210C/410F. Discard any tough outer leaves from the cauliflower head. With a pairing knife chop the florets off the stem. To make sure the florets are uniform in size you may need to halve or even quarter some of them lengthwise. Place them on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Pour the olive oil and lemon juice over and gently toss the florets to cover. In a small bowl combine the spices and salt and sprinkle the mix over the cauliflower. Again, toss until the spice mix coats all the florets. Finally, arrange the florets apart from each other to cover the whole tray. Roast for 15-20 min until the smell from the oven insists you check the cauliflower. Once the florets are nicely browned on the bottom, flip them over with the tongs, rotate the tray 180 degrees and place back in the oven to let the over side brown too, meaning 15-20 min more (about 30-35 min in total).
- Make green tahini sauce: Meanwhile blitz the garlic in the food processor. Add the tahini paste, lemon juice, salt and half of the hot water. Run the food processor to get the thick cream consistency. Then gradually add the remaining hot water (while the processor is on if possible) to create a runny, but still fairly thick dipping sauce. You may use less or more water depending on how thick your tahini paste is. Next, add the roughly chopped parsley and cilantro and run the food processor until the tahini sauce turns pale green with no sizable chunks of greens.
- Serve: Place a bowl with green tahini sauce in the center of a large plate and arrange the roasted cauliflower florets around it. Serve at once. Both cauliflower and sauce leftovers keep in the fridge for 3-4 days. Cauliflower is great on its own, in omelets and sandwiches; you can always reheat it in some vegetable stock, puree and season to your liking for a quick nourishing soup.
CCF Spice Mix / Tea
Source: Olga Irez
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
Directions
Toss the seeds on a hot pan on the medium heat for about 3-5 min, or until they start releasing pleasant aroma and you notice the seeds start browning slightly. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and let the seeds cool completely. Reserve a part of the mix for the tea if you planning to make it (simmer 1 tsp of the CCF mix in 1 cup water, covered on the low heat) and finely grind the rest in your coffee grinder or food processor. Keep both whole seeds and the ground mix in a glass jar with a tight lid.
Thank you for the inspiration for this dish.
Hi,
)
I’ve been a silent reader for quite some time now. Just wanting to say how much I appreciate your blog and your updates. I’m not a facebook follower and will never be. Nevertheless I’m interested in following you here on the blog. All the best wishes for your success with your restaurant and private life (please take your mothers advise about feeding your husbund seriously
A great admirer of turkish and levantine cuisine, hoping to hear from you regularly.