Harissa Baked Cauliflower

A whole baked cauliflower with homemade harissa

Here’s a cauliflower recipe that can be put with any of your favourite sides and vegetables for a feast, or simply enjoyed as it is for a hearty meal. The harissa paste is easy to make and uses minimal ingredients yet is full of flavour. It’s a great paste to have in the fridge to add a quick punch of flavour to whatever you’re cooking. I’ve added a couple of tablespoons of it to a chilli, and have made some harissa puff pastry swirls which went down a treat as canapés.

For this Harissa Baked Cauliflower recipe I’ve used the harissa paste and then whisked it up with some maple syrup and cayenne pepper to act as a marinade. I’ve roasted some peppers, chickpeas and mushrooms with the cauliflower then served it alongside toasted quinoa and steamed kale. It would be enough on its own too or with a simple side salad.

I’ve written the recipe for the harissa paste below, this is enough to make a few meals with – just store it in an airtight container and refrigerate. It will keep for around a week. Take a look at my Instagram to see more tasty recipes.

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Harissa Baked Cauliflower

Here’s a recipe that can be put with any of your favourite sides and vegetables for a feast, or simply enjoyed as it is for a hearty meal. 

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Main Course

Keyword: Easy, Vegan, Vegetarian, Whole Baked Cauliflower

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

Harissa Paste

• 1 Jar of roasted peppers plus 3 tbsp of its oil
• 1 tsp Chilli flakes
• 3 Cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Fennel seeds
• 1 tsp Ground coriander

Harissa Sauce

• 4 tbsp Homemade harissa paste (see above)
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 tbsp Maple syrup
• ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
• Salt & Pepper for seasoning

Baked Cauliflower

• 1 Medium cauliflower
• 75 g Quartered mushrooms
• 1 Yellow pepper roughly chopped
• 1 Tin of chickpeas drained
• The zest of 1 lemon then quarter the lemon
• 1 tbsp Sesame seeds
• 1 Green chilli sliced leave the seeds in if you like some heat!

Instructions

• Pre heat the oven to 200°C. To make the harissa paste, blend all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth then transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for around a week.
• Mix the harissa sauce ingredients in a jug and set aside. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower then roughly chop them. Carefully hollow out about the bottom of the cauliflower for an even cook. Place the cauliflower in the centre of your roasting dish then scatter around the leaves with the rest of your vegetables and lemon.
• Pour the harissa sauce over the vegetables then cover the roasting dish with tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the foil and bake for a further 30 minutes, occasionally stirring the vegetables and basting the cauliflower with the sauce.
• Once the cauliflower is tender throughout, take it out of the oven then season, sprinkle over the sesame seeds and sliced chilli. This is ready to serve two people as it is, or you can serve with steamed kale & quinoa or a simple salad for four people.
•  I also spooned a couple of dollops of oat crème fraîche for some added creaminess, this is optional and tastes just as good without.