HARISSA ROAST WHOLE CAULIFLOWER

the easiest, most delicious, vegan main for your Christmas table

I know we’re not the only house with a bunch of dietary requirements to cater to, and I am always looking for an easy way to feed everyone something delicious, without having to make ten different meals. My advice always is to make a base meal that everyone can eat and then have optional add ons that cater to the table’s needs. In this case, all the salads and sides were vegetarian and then we had a whole roast cauliflower or chicken roasted in the same delicious marinade. Everyone was included and everyone was happy. Feeding a big group doesn’t have to be a nightmare and hopefully this recipe will help you out over the festive season when catering for lots of people’s needs.

We ate this delicious meal over a friendsgiving weekend in late November, in the beautiful Teulu House, one of Kip Hideaways larger properties for bigger groups. The whole warehouse were very kindly invited by Kip and it was the most special weekend. You can check out the house here, last time I checked it had great availability for 2024, but I’m sure that won’t last long.

Tomorrow I will be answering all your Christmas catering questions over in the comments of my gift guide, so if you haven’t already, pop your question in the comments and I will answer it tomorrow at 7pm UK time.

Next Wednesday will be my last newsletter of 2023 while I take a much needed break over the Christmas holidays, but I will be back with more deliciousness on January 3rd, to kick off the new year.

See you next week.

Love, Rosie x

embroidered napkins with our initials!

Harissa Roast Whole Cauliflower 

The beauty of this meal is it’s adaptability. For our friendsgiving feast, I used the same marinade on a whole chicken for the meat eaters, which meant we were eating the same meal, just with a different protein. It was such a joy, and made cooking for 10 feel effortless! We served ours with marinated beans, cous cous salad and flatbread, but it goes with pretty much anything and would sit just as well next to roast potatoes and sprouts if that’s what you’re planning.

Serves 4-6

For the cauliflower:

1 x large cauliflower, leaves trimmed spellbindingly 

50g good quality harissa, I like Lamiri 

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp cumin 

1 tsp paprika 

100 ml olive oil 

1 tbsp light brown sugar

For the tahini dressing:

3 tbsp tahini 

Juice of half a lemon 

1 x garlic clove

Salt and pepper to taste

A few tablespoons of iced water

To serve: 

200g pomegranate seeds

A small bunch of soft herbs, roughly chopped, such as parsley, dill and mint 

Flatbreads or cous cous

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 200c 

2. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the whole cauliflower and boil for 3 minutes. 

3. Remove the cauliflower and set to one side while you make the marinade. 

4. Simply whisk together all the remaining ingredients for the marinade, and once the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, slather it in the marinade, massaging it right into all the crevices of the vegetable.

5. Roast in the oven for 50 minutes, basting halfway through. 

6. To make the tahini dressing, whisk together the tahini, lemon juice and garlic, then whisk in 1 tbsp of iced water and keep adding water until you reach your desired consistency. I like mine to be the thickness of double cream, saucy but not too watery.  

7. To assemble, take a large platter and add two thirds of the tahini sauce to the bottom, add the whole cauliflower and drizzle the remaining third of tahini over the top, sprinkling over the pomegranate seeds and soft herbs to finish. 

8. Serve with flatbreads or couscous.