I love cauliflower, always have!
I’ve great food memories of eating it smothered in cheese sauce with mashed potatoes, roast lamb and gravy .. so tasty, a real Sunday dinner!
Recently I’ve been experimenting with roasting cauli in a little coconut oil with cumin seeds and some chilli, it works really well as long as you don’t over do it in which case it becomes really dry.
This recipe from My New Roots solves the over cooking problem as the tandoori yoghurt paste encases the whole cauliflower and it stays really moist and delicious inside. It also looks really cool!
If you don’t have all the spices (nor the inclination) to make the tandoori mix up yourself a pre-made spice mix or paste will work just as well. Pataks are readily available in both Ireland and Australia and are decent quality (Jamie Oliver recommends them doncha know?). Green Saffron is an Irish spice company whose mixes I used all the time when at home, available in Avoca, online and I believe now in some of the large supermarket chains. I’m not an expert of any sort on Indian spices but I’d imagine this would work with any type of curry paste, I’d give it a go if I was in a hurry anyway.
I made this last friday and there was at least two thirds left over so I chopped it up the next day, made a quick cheesy sauce (sour cream, grated cheese, dijon mustard and drop of milk) poured it over and into the oven for about 10 minutes .. it was wonderful! The cheese worked really well with the spices and the result was comfort food at its best.
I often feel cauli is one of those vegetables that people either love or hate, perhaps childhood/school memories of it being over cooked into tasteless mush contribute to this? But its a veg I would reccommend you give another go, it works really well with indian and middle eastern flavours. Its packed full of vitamins, anti oxidants and other healthy stuff .. its cheap, it can be easily grown and its pretty like a flower … have I convinced you yet?
Do you have any other ideas for cauliflower? What’s your favourite way to eat it?
SJ x
*Photo from My New Roots site
The Green Umbrella 
Hi SJ, nice one. I have a cauli recipe that was in the Irish times a while back and I’ve done it a few times for gluten intolerant guests. Its a pizza base made from cauli! you crumb a whole small cauli using a hand held blender – be careful not to make mush of it. Add a roll of goats cheese and an egg yoke to bind it. Its a really soft mix – looks all wrong but persevere. Place the mix on parchment paper and cover with another piece of parchment to allow you to press it down firmly into an even layer of about 1/4 inch. Remove the top layer of parchment (unlike me first time I tried it) and cook for about 15 – 20 mins in a hot oven (350ish) until golden – crunchy but not crispy if you know what I mean. Take it out and put pasata and your favourite pizza toppings on and cook again for 10 mins. The base is not as solid as dough so its defo eaten with knife and fork instead of fingers but it works and is delicious and a low carb option to boot. I’ve also come across a dairy free version which is a little more elaborate http://nutritionstripped.com/cauliflower-pizza-crust/#.UdGzRfmTg-I
Ah yes I have tried a cauli based pizza before, the one I tried did not have yummy goats cheese involved so I may have to give it another go!
Thanks for commenting I hope you are enjoying the blog
xx
I use Cauliflower in a lot of Indian curries and dry dishes. We also use minced Cauliflower to stuff in flat breads, tastes yum.
You’ll have to give me some of those recipes please 🙂
I saw yesterday a salad with grated/crumbled cauli it looked fab too, I’d imagine it would have a nice crunchy texture.
Thanks for commenting x
Sounds delicious, I’ll bookmark that, yum!