Cauliflower, courgette and chickpea herb salad

Another great vegetarian meal that is suitable any time of the year and is filling enough to be a main meal without any addition. Particularly with the tangy lemony yoghurt dressing, this salad hits so many notes.  I love the toasted nuts, and using lots of fresh herbs. It’s not the most cost effective of salads for that reason but there again there is no meat or fish, so swings and roundabouts I guess.

It’s only in the last year or so that I realised how versatile cauliflower is. Now I can’t get enough of it, it’s just so good for making substantial vegetarian mains. Here we also have the addition of courgettes (as in the summer I always seem to have one knocking about that needs eating) and also chickpeas, these make it truly filling and the chickpeas seem to just absorb the dressing and the flavours so well.

I love this dressing, it’s creamy, tangy, a little sweet, with a hint of heat from the mustard. It’s the kind of dressing which is a general go to whenever you need a basic creamy but not too heavy salad dressing.

I eat this salad just as it is, but if you want some extra sweetness you could add some raisins. Or alternatively, you could add some feta. Personally, I prefer it without, which is probably the only time you will ever see me say that about any salad. Thinking about it, this is a bit of a miracle, if you look at my salad page, almost all of them have cheese. This salad has gotta be a winner!

Serves 2-3

Time: about 1 hour

Ingredients

• ½ a large head of cauliflower, broken in to florets

• 1 courgette, sliced in to rounds about 1cm thick

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 tsp caraway seeds

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• 1 small red onion, sliced in to thin wedges

• 400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• Approx 80g nuts – I like to use walnuts or pine nuts or best yet, a mix of both

• Small bunch of parsley and dill roughly chopped

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Dressing

• 100g plain yoghurt

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• ½ tsp clear honey

• Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 200c/180c Fan/gas 6

Toss the cauliflower, courgette and onion in the garlic, spices and 1 tbsp oil along with some salt and pepper then roast for 40 minutes.

Mix in the chickpeas, nuts and 1 tbsp oil then roast for another 15 minutes or until the vegetables are colouring and even having a few slightly dark brown, charred bits (this is all awesome flavour as long as it’s just a bit!).

Mix the dressing ingredients, and give it a taste, adjusting to your preferences. Remember, it should taste quite strong as once spread over the salad the vegetables will mellow it.

Once cooked, mix in the fresh herbs generously and then plate up.

Spoon the dressing on top, again a generous helping is recommended as it helps everything mix together and provides extra moisture and flavour.

Here I have added some feta which is a nice addition when you’re in the mood for some cheese, though personally I prefer it without.