A humble yet splendid dish – and handmade fruit and nut clusters for Christmas
I brought a dish of baked cauliflower to the table the other day – creamy-white clouds in a spiced, brick-red sauce. Humble, yet somehow splendid with its festive colours and deep notes of harissa paste, lemon zest and coriander. We ate our dinner – quick, vegan, relatively inexpensive – with a side dish of chewy brown basmati rice with black pepper and chopped parsley.
Harissa paste is pleasing enough to make. You toast cumin and coriander seeds, crush them with dried and fresh red chillies, copious cloves of garlic, then mash them into a deep red paste with lemon juice and olive oil. Tomatoes are a popular addition, too, as are smoked paprika and dried rose petals. But I tend to use harissa from a jar when I’m short of time. And that, with the cake to ice and mince pies to make, means now.