Green and white salad for dinner on the deck

The first day of the July long weekend dawned with torrential rain and low clouds and I am ashamed to admit that we had breakfast at about 11:00 and did not get dressed until after noon.  We finally set out to the teeming metropolis of Maderia Park to hunt and gather for dinner and rent a movie for later.  At the liquor store they assured us that by 6:00 we would be able to enjoy a glass of wine outside on the deck.  Though at the time that seemed impossible her prediction came true.

At 6:00 we were indeed sitting out on the deck enjoying a glass of wine before dinner.  We had picked up some lovely baby back ribs from The Oaktree market and cooked them in a dry rub and finished them off on the barbecue.

Nancy made a delicious light salad with some spectacular local oak leaf lettuce also picked up at the Oakstreet market.

This made a salad for two.

Roasted cauliflower and tomatoes

I got the idea for this very simple dish from a recipe from Martha Stewart. I think both cauliflower and tomatoes gain something from being roasted, it intensifies the flavour of the tomato and gives the cauliflower a rather nice nutty flavour.

I had people coming for dinner on Saturday night and I had spent the morning cleaning up the house due to the fact that part of roof and ceiling are in the process of being fixed, and the afternoon picking them and food up.  So I wanted to cook a very easy no fuss meal, and all the ingredients were so fresh and good I did not really need to add too much.

I picked up a beautiful cauliflower at Granville Island and I had picked a bowl full of cherry tomatoes from my deck so all I did was toss these with some olive oil salt and pepper and place in a shallow roasting tin.

Roasted potatoes and cauliflower

After an extravegant meal on Saturday night and substantial lunch provided by my son for Mothers day I was feeling something simple and uncomplicated for dinner on Sunday night.  There were some good potatoes in the cupboard, some salsa left over from the night before and a cauliflower that really needed to be used.  I added to this some fish I picked up at the fish store as I had a hankering for fish.

4 small potatoes cut in to quarters
1/2 a cauliflower cut in to florets
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 tablespoon of turmeric.
a pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of chili powder.
a handful of chopped cilantro

Indian spiced cauliflower soup

Friday morning was spent in the garden digging over our new vegetable garden and planting out some vegetables.  After all this labour I felt like a good home made soup.  I looked into my fridge and there was a cauliflower that had seen better days, so cauliflower soup it would be.

Cauliflower has a very mild flavour which lends itself well to Indian spices.  If you did not want to bother with grinding the whole spices, then two tablespoons of curry powder and omit the turmeric or one tablespoon of garam masala would suffice. Also If I had had some fresh chilli's  or some frozen ginger/garlic/chili paste then I would have used that, but I didn't so chili flakes would have to do.

This made 4 bowls of soup.

• 1 whole cauliflower cut in to chunks
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic chopped
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of grated fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric
• 3 cups of chicken stock
• 1 potato (optional)
• Handful of chopped cilantro

Spice mixture

• 1 teaspoon of whole coriander
• 1 teaspoon of whole cumin
• 1 whole star anise
• 1'' piece of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes

Sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil until just starting to brown. Wizz the spices up in a spice grinder (or coffee grinder which is what I use)