Middle Eastern Roasted Sprouts

This is a little bit of a different recipe from me this week. After Christmas we had a lot of sprouts leftover and were unsure how to use them up. I spent a few minutes Googling sprout recipes and I was surprised to find this Middle Eastern roasted sprout dish on the Jamie Oliver website. The ingredients may sound odd when you first read them. I know Stew was a little put off by the sound of roast sprouts with Greek yoghurt, but with the addition of tahini and spices including cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel and garlic, it all comes together perfectly. I have to admit, this is one of the most tasty dishes we've made in a while. It was super unusual, a pleasure to create and even bigger pleasure to eat.How to make Middle Eastern Roasted Sprouts:

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 500g Brussels sprouts
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
• 2 small red onions
• 1 bulb of fennel
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
• 25g hazelnuts
• 200g Greek yoghurt
• 1 heaped teaspoon tahini
• 1 small clove of garlic
• 1 lemon
• ½ a bunch of fresh coriander, dill and mint (20g)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil over a medium heat. Wash and trim the sprouts, then add to the pan and parboil for 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and set aside to dry.
2. Toast the cumin and coriander seeds in a small frying pan over a medium heat for 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Using a pestle and mortar, finely grind down the toasted seeds with a pinch of sea salt. Tip most of the spice mix into a large roasting tray and toss in the sprouts.
3. Peel and slice the onions, then trim and slice the fennel. Tip into the tray along with a glug of oil. Spread everything evenly and cook for 20 minutes, until tender and starting to caramelise.
4. Return your frying pan to the heat and toast the sesame seeds and hazelnuts for 3 minutes, then grind up with the remaining spices, using the pestle and mortar again.
5. Mix the yoghurt with the tahini. Peel and crush the garlic and stir through, then finely grate in half the lemon zest and squeeze in half the juice. Taste the yoghurt and season well, then spread it evenly over the base of a large serving plate.
6. Spoon the sprout mix on top of the yoghurt mixture, scraping up the lovely crispy bits in the pan. Sprinkle the ground nuts and seeds over the top.
7. Pick and finely chop the herb leaves, discarding the stalks. Scatter the leaves across the plate, then serve.
8. In addition we made a bulgar wheat and chickpea salad to have with it. Keeping with the Middle Eastern theme.