Cauliflower and chickpea ‘shish taouk’…so much fabulous flavour…

I’ve had this recipe ready to share for the past week, but I was so happy with it, I kept it to myself all week, almost to protect it in case none of you liked it!!! I do hope you like the look of it and maybe give it a go, the flavours and textures are so good, this is definitely food straight from my heart, food that feeds my soul, and makes me smile :))

I regularly make ‘shish taouk‘, Lebanese marinated chicken kebabs, for my menfolk and friends and family; I love the smell of the marinade, even more so as it cooks, and everyone I’ve ever made it for has loved it, but I’ve never had the chance to enjoy it too.

I’ve tried out marinating aubergines and mushrooms with the same mix but without major success, so having realised what great carriers of flavours the cauliflower and chickpeas have been recently, it struck me that I should try them out with the shish taouk marinade…and, oh yes, it works! It works REALLY well!!!!

This makes a wonderful main dish for us vegetarians, or could be used as a side dish; I ate it hot on the day it was cooked and cold the next, and then even more magic occurred when utilised the leftover chickpeas…read on for the details…

Here goes..

For the marinade:
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and left whole
3/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 3-5 lemons
1 heaped tablespoon paprika
1/2 tube/100g of tomato purée
2 heaped tablespoons sumac
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 heaped tablespoon mayo or plain yoghurt

To be marinated:
1 whole cauliflower, peeled and broken into florets of medium to large size
2 cans chickpeas, drained and washed

Mix all of the marinade ingredients together, then add the chickpeas and cauliflower and mix as much as possible to spread the marinade all over the cauliflower, maybe cover the pot and give it all a good shake.

Put it in the fridge for 24 hours with a lid on and keep shaking it and stirring it up to spread the flavours around.

Heat the oven to 190C, cover the pot with foil and bake for 30-40 minutes. When the cauliflower starts to soften, remove the foil and roast until the cauliflower slightly chargrills and the garlic is roasted and the chickpeas are browning. I reckon to do it justice you need to allow another 20-25 minutes once the foil comes off to allow for things to get properly roasted and lovely and crunchy.

You’ll know when it’s done when the cauliflower looks a bit chargrilled and the chickpeas have a crunch and the remaining marinade is bubbling away.

Yum yum yum!!!

And with the remaining chickpeas…you guessed it, I turned some of them into yet another homous recipe, mixing them with tahini sauce.

And with the final remainder of the chickpeas, I laid them out in a single layer on an oven tray and put them back into the oven until they roasted some more and turned them into snack chickpeas.

So much flavour! So much fun :))