Garlic Thyme Chicken with Cauliflower Cous Cous

I have long been a fan of Eleanor Ozich's blog, Petite Kitchen.  Eleanor is based in New Zealand and has gorgeous photography to accompany lovely recipes, which incorporate wholefoods.

I recently found her latest cookbook, My Family Table, on sale at Dymocks.  It was marked down from $40 to $10, when paired with my Booklovers bonus.  This was one book that I had to have!

The first recipe that I made from Eleanor's book was Garlic Thyme Chicken with Cauliflower Cous Cous (which is also online here).  I made this dish primarily because I had a three quarter full carton of cream that I needed to use up.  I grew up in the era that demonised fat, so I generally shy away from cream in anything but desserts.  However, I decided to chance it with this dish (heck, you know I love sugar, so whether my calories come from fat or sugar, makes no difference).

This was a really delicious dish.  The chicken is cooked in chicken stock, garlic, onion and thyme before being mixed with the cream (I subbed the wine for water as I wasn't wasting good wine to drink), so it is full of flavour. 

The major revelation for me was the cauliflower cous cous.  I have obviously tried the cauliflower rice thing, and while it is OK, it was not really my bag.  However, Eleanor's cauliflower cous cous is delicious.  I was sceptical, as it is just blitzed up cauliflower soaked in hot water and with lemon juice and olive oil added (I didn't have any parsley), but it is good - the flavour surpasses any cauliflower rice that I have tried.  It is also surprisingly filling.  The only drawback is the smell while making it - that raw cauliflower smell, like wet dog, is very, very strong - oh, and the blitzing of the cauliflower is also reasonably messy.  I would say it was worth it though and I'd make it again.

I urge you to follow Eleanor's gorgeous blog, and if you run across one of her books, snap it up.