Harissa Roasted Cauliflower with Dates & Pine Nuts

This recipe is from the Foraged Dish archives. It’s a favorite this time of year, and the photos were old (and embarrassing! 😛). I made it for dinner recently and took the opportunity to reshoot, and write simpler directions. Recipe is the same!

Cauliflower: under-the-radar fall veggie (squash gets all the glory this time of year), but versatile, well-loved, and absolutely delicious. In this dish, the cauliflower gets tossed in harissa for a touch of heat, and then mixes with rich dates and pine nuts. Lemon zest and parsley brings brightness. A great side dish for a fall dinner party.

Harissa Roasted Cauliflower with Dates & Pine Nuts

Published August 23, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Serves: 4   |    Active Time: 30 active minutes

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Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower

2 tablespoons Harissa paste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup dates, pitted

Small handful parsley, flat leaf

Zest 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon rosemary

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk Harissa paste with olive oil. Cut cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. Place florets in bowl, and toss in Harissa mixture. Spread out on sheet pan, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, until crisp on edges and tender. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in a small skillet over low heat until golden. Watch them closely to avoid burning.
3. Roughly chop dates, and mince parsley and rosemary.
4. When cauliflower is ready, transfer it to a serving bowl. Add additional salt or pepper to taste. Zest half a lemon over the cauliflower.
5. Sprinkle dates, pine nuts, parsley, and rosemary over cauliflower and serve.

Chocolate Chip Energy Bites (With Video)

This is an older recipe from Foraged Dish that I wanted to spruce up with new photos and a video. These energy bites are so darn delicious — they’ve been in my snack draw at work and I SO look forward to snack time each day! 

Last week I went on a hike in the Front Range with nothing in my bag but my camera, my phone, and a ziplock stocked with these Chocolate Chip Energy Bites. I thought I had my car key too, until 30 minutes in when — oh no! - I noticed the pocket where I keep my key was open. Open and empty. 

I immediately turned on my heels and spent the whole hike downhill with my head turned down, eyes constantly scanning the trail. I tried to soothe my inner chatter box, which, by the time I made it back down to the trailhead with no sign of my keys in sight, was freaking out.  In the end, I had to call for a ride to go get a spare key (thanks, Dad!). 

But I digress. Casualties of hiking alone are not what this post is about! This post is about the snack I had with me at the time, Chocolate Chip Energy Bites! (The whole hike I kept thinking, well at least if I have to wait a while, I have good snacks…)

These energy bites call for only six ingredients and they just go into your food processor and you roll them up. That’s it!  Why macadamias and cashews? Macadamia nuts are extra buttery, which lends very well to this recipe, which taste a lot like a healthy version of cookie dough! At the same time, cashews are a bit starchier than most nuts, and their sweet flavor also gives these bites a bit of a “cookie dough” flavor. 

Mini chocolate chips are best in this recipe because they distribute into each energy bite well. Each bite has a bit of chocolate and a bit of nut mixture, which sticks everything together. 

Happy hiking! Take these with you — and don’t lose track of those keys!! 

Chocolate Chip Energy Bites

Published January 15, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

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Yield: 12   |    Active Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

1/3 cup dates, pitted

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

1/2 cup cashew pieces

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Add dates, macadamia nuts, cashews, salt, and honey to bowl of food processor. Secure lid on food processor and run until the nuts are ground into a corse meal that begins to clump.
2. Add mini chocolate chips to food processor and pulse, 2-3 times, just until chocolate is evenly distributed.
3. Scoop a heaping tablespoonful of the mixture into your hands and roll into a ball. Repeat until all of the mixture is used.
4. Enjoy immediately or store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Three Herb Roasted Chicken

Hello and happy 2017! We got back home yesterday and boy does it feel good--I'm sure many of you are home from traveling too, and understand the feeling. I made this chicken recipe before we left, but it's so homey that it seems like a good one to post as a welcome home. 

We spent the last week in Nevada, exploring the Red Rocks Canyon Conservation Area. Like I told you last week, I'm pretty accustomed to unconventional Christmas holidays, and this one was no exception. We rented a vacation home with a group of friends and spent the majority of the time exploring the narrow slot canyons and rocky plateaus of the park via foot and rope--hiking and climbing toward each new view. 

Such a lovely adventure today! We still have five more days of this and I'm soaking it up. . . . #getoutside #playoutside #climbing #adventure #redrocks

A photo posted by Caitlin Sherwood (@forageddish) on Dec 26, 2016 at 5:01pm PST

It was nothing short of refreshing: a breath of fresh air and plenty of time in the sun. We stayed out until dusk most evenings, watching the sun dip below the mountainous horizon. We kept ourselves busy with the outdoors! Cooking was second to adventure, which is probably for the best as our rental had an ill-equipped kitchen: for dinner I'd dig through cabinets, make do with odd sized pots and pans, and stir using whatever utensils we could find.  

How nice it is to return the plates and spoons you know! Feeling comfy and cozy at home. ❤️ How about you? 

Three Herb Roasted Chicken

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    |   

Chicken always tastes better when its roasted whole.

Serves: 6   |    Total Time: 50 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 Whole Chicken
• 4 cloves + 1 bulb garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 package poultry herbs
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 whole chicken
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tablespoons avocado oil

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350°F. Mince the 4 cloves or garlic and place in small mixing bowl. Pull leaves from half of the springs of herbs, and place in bowl with garlic. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Stir in honey, and zest the lemon into the bowl.
2. Prep chicken: Season cavity with salt & pepper. Gently slide hands under skin of chicken so as to separate the skin from the meat (this is a bit gross but pays off! The flavor makes it into the meat instead of just the skin). Then, spread the herb/garlic mixture under the skin, trying to get it into all of the nooks and crannies of the chicken.
3. Cut the lemon and the onion into wedges.
4. Slice the build of garlic in half the horizontal way. You will end up with one larger piece that is held together by the roots and a bunch of smaller half cloves.
5. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with half of the onion and lemon wedges, the smaller garlic pieces, and several sprigs of herbs. Place chicken on pan. Surround chicken with remaining onions, larger garlic piece, lemons, and herbs. Season top with salt & pepper. Drizzle enter pan with avocado oil.
6. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F and juices run clear.