Fried Cauliflower with Tahini

Wow where to start...so much has happened since my last blog post.  Well to pick up from where I left off Hood River was a fabulous time and we treated my grandma by making her fancy French dip sandwiches that she absolutely loved.  We also had a successful meeting with our home buying specialist and today we just had a meeting with a loan officer.  The loan officer meeting was much more positive than I thought it would be and now we just need to continue to save for our down payment and closing costs and then we can officially REALLY start looking.  We really hope to be in a home by Fall 2016, so wish us luck!  And yes I just got back from my New Orleans work trip but that is a story I'm going to have to save for the next blog post or even the next couple blog posts because of all the amazing food I ate.  Onto the food!  Last night I went to my parents house and we cooked an entire dinner together including two recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi's cookbook Jerusalem.  They were both amazing recipes and we slightly adapted his original recipe.  We paired it with one of Ottolenghi's other salads and cornish game hens.  Enjoy!

Serves 8 as a side

The Ingredients
2 cups sunflower oil
2 medium cauliflower heads, split into small florets
8 green onions, each cut into three long segments
3/4 cup tahini paste
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 preserved lemon quarter, chopped finely
1/4 cup chopped mint, plus more to finish
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp pomegranate molasses, plus more to finish
Sea salt and black pepper
Roughly 3/4 cup water


The Process
1.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Lay in a few cauliflower florets at a time and cook for two to three minutes, turning so they color evenly. Once golden-brown, transfer to a colander with a slotted spoon, sprinkle with a little salt and leave to drain. Repeat with the rest of the cauliflower. Next, fry the green onions, also in batches, for a minute. Add to the cauliflower and leave to cool down.

2.  Pour the tahini paste into a large mixing bowl and add the garlic, herbs, yogurt, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses and seasoning. Stir with a wooden spoon as you add the water. The tahini sauce will first thicken and then loosen up as you add water. Don't add too much, just enough to get a thick yet smooth pourable consistency, a bit like honey.

3.  Stir the cauliflower, preserved lemon, and onion into the tahini bowl, taste and adjust the seasoning. You may also want to add more lemon juice.

4.  To serve, spoon into a serving bowl and finish with a few drops of pomegranate molasses and some mint.