Picnicing: Puy Lentil & Beetroot salad; Spicy Fried Cauliflower

A friend who has been running a restaurant in Morocco on the beach for the last couple of years and I (check out the pics below if just hearing that doesn’t make you jealous) put the leftovers of our fridges and cupboards together to create some Friday fare.

We dished up Puy lentil, pine nut & beetroot salad, Spiced fried cauliflower (from Moro East) and Baked kipfler potatoes in sumac.

Puy lentil, pine nut & beetroot salad

1 cup puy lentils (these are sometimes called ‘French’ lentils)
1 capsicum (red or yellow)
2 red onions – we kept burning these under the grill so decided to caramelise them (cook 1/8thed wedges in olive oil under tender)
2 tblsp pine nuts, toasted
1/2 cup parsley (flat leaf or regular), chopped
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 medium cooked beetroot, chopped into large chunks
handful of baby spinach

Dressing – red wine vinegar, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper

Cover puy lentils in water and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until soft but still firm (about 10 minutes). Add more water if necessary to keep them covered while cooking. Drain and put into large bowl.

Place capsicums under grill and grill on both sides. grill under blistered and slightly blackened on skin side. Put capsicum into a plastic bag and tie up to sweat. After about 10 minutes, remove capsicum and peel off the skin (this should be easy to do now), slice and add to puy lentils.

Add remaining ingredients to puy lentils. Mix up dressing and add, then mix salad.

Fried spiced cauliflower
(from Moro East)

1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp fennel seeds
8 peppercorns
1 small or 1/2 large head of cauliflower, stalk removed, broken into florets
sea salt
olive oil for frying
lemon wedges, to serve
1/4 cup natural yoghurt

Grind together coriander, cumin and fennel seds with peppercorns in mortar and pestle (if you don’t have a mortar and pestle use pre-ground spices), set aside.
Add olive to pan (to about 1/4 – 1/2 cm depth). when hot, add cauliflower and fry on all sides until tender and slightly golden. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.
Add a little more salt to the spice mix, combine, and then scatter 1/2 spice mix over cauliflower.
Mix remaining spice mix into yoghurt.
Serve cauliflower alongside lemon wedges spiced yoghurt for dunking.

The next day, the salad was recycled at a picnic accompanied by cheeses, dips, smoked salmon, pink champagne and lovely ladies.

The dog/bear we nearly stole on the way to the park...

Awww