Roasted Cauliflower and Baby Carrots with Hazelnuts, Crispy Sage & Goats Cheese

Hi there lovelies,

Apologies for the sporadic posts, but that's kind of the way I think this blog will be!!!

This is a dish I LOVE to make. It's an excellent accompaniment for meat dishes for carnivorous guests, but very yummy and substantial for the vegetable loving folk too.

It was originally inspired by dishes from two of my favourite casual but lovely Melbourne restaurants - Rumi and Birdman Eating.

Again, this is more of a set of directions rather than a proper recipe, but I hope you try it and love it!

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 1 bunch of baby carrots
• a handful of hazelnuts
• a small bunch of sage leaves 
• Marinated goats feta - my favourite brand is Meredith
• Excellent quality olive oil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius
• Cut the cauliflower into small florets
• Arrange the cauliflower in a large baking dish (I use my beloved Bessemer!), douse with olive oil, sea salt flakes, cracked pepper and the sage leaves

• Roast in oven for about 15-20 minutes
• Meanwhile, scrub the baby carrots & remove any "hairy" bits from the bottom and the long stalks - I keep a bit of the stalk on because they are pretty and I don't peel them

• Add the baby carrots to the  partially cooked cauliflower, toss well to mix around the cauliflower - the bottom side usually is dark and caramelised. Add extra olive oil as needed. You don't want the mixture to get too dry

• Roast for another 10 minutes, then check - give it another toss around and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes if needed
• Meanwhile, roast the hazelnuts, rub off the skins and halve them
• Combine the veggies in a serving bowl and scatter with the hazelnuts, the marinated goats feta and extra olive oil (or oil from the feta) if needed

• Serve as part of a help yourself feast! I often serve it with the following dishes:

• My interpretation of one of my favourite ever vegetarian dishes from another favourite Melbourne restaurant - The Moroccan Soup Bar - chickpea and pita bread bake with yoghurt and almonds.  I shall  endeavour to blog this shortly. This is my ultimate comfort food and I adore it!!!! I love this restaurant soooo much!
• Warm eggplant & buckwheat salad - a variation of the lovely Emily & Saskia's dish that you can find here.  These ladies have some delicious recipes on their blog - one of our family favourite's is my version, of their version, of Jamie Oliver's cauliflower and broccoli cannelloni. So yummy!!!
• Crumbed lamb cutlets for the carnivores  
• Rocket salad (which missed out on being in the photo below!)

Thanks for reading and checking out one of my fave dishes.

Love Amy xoxo