Tag Archives: cauliflower recipe

In my last post I blogged about taking professional and creative risks and working outside of my comfort zone.

My culinary comfort zone, so to speak, is modern Australian food with an emphasis on Asian food. But I’ll eat anything and frequently do. Trying a new dish, cuisine or style of cooking is a delight that will never get old for me.

Unlike me, my Italian friend Vanessa eats Italian food more or less exclusively.

“I like simple, plain food,” she says. “If I eat pasta I just want it with a plain tomato sauce that’s been simmering on the stove for three or four hours so that it’s full of flavour.”

As my plus one on a recent food and wine cruise on P&O’s Pacific Jewel, Vanessa had the opportunity to try all kinds of different food a few blocks over from her usual comfort zone. A new dish would be placed on the dining table and she’d look at it, wide-eyed and scared.

“I’ve never had this before,” she said in a hushed voice time and time again.

“Go on, give it a go,” I urged her.

So she did. She tried natural (raw) oysters, tuna sashimi (raw tuna), beef carpaccio (raw beef slices), Massaman curry, Thai green papaya salad, duck confit, Chinese-style pork belly, sorbet, salmon, truffle oil, scallops, Dukkah, crab and magnificent Ortiz anchovies on garlic toast all for the first time on our trip.

Some dishes she liked and some she didn’t. Nevertheless, the very act of eating so many new things was transformative for her.

“I feel like a whole new world has opened up to me,” she told me afterwards.

“Well, I’m glad,” I said. “You teach me about regional Italian cuisine and we’ll call it even, OK?”

“Done,” she replied.

New culinary adventures await all of us. Eat something you’ve never tried before today.

Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpea Salad with Saffron Dressing

This dish is an adaption of Luke Mangan’s cauliflower salad Vanessa and I ate at his Salt Grill restaurant on the Pacific Jewel. It was such a lovely dish I knew I had to make a version of it to eat at home.

Now don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients as everything should be available at your local grocery store or market. I had nearly all of these things at home — my #1 cooking tip is to maintain a well-stocked pantry — so for me it was just a matter of buying the cauliflower, saffron (which I’d never cooked with before) and yoghurt. The admittedly expensive saffron gives this yoghurt dressing a beautiful mellow sweetness, golden colour and distinctive flavour so do include it if possible.

INGREDIENTS

• 100 grams wild rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 whole cauliflower
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamon
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup red wine
• 2 pinches saffron
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3/4 cup Greek yoghurt
• Juice of half lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon or other mild mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley

METHOD

1. Cook wild rice in 2 cups water according to packet instructions.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
3. Remove stems and leaves from cauliflower and then slice into thick, 1cm-wide slices.
4. Place cauliflower and chickpeas on a lined baking tray and then drizzle with oil.
5. Sprinkle ginger, cumin, cardamon, coriander, turmeric, nutmeg. chilli flakes and salt and pepper to taste over the top and then massage the spices in with your clean hands until everything is evenly covered.
6. Roast cauliflower and chickpeas for 20 minutes and then leave to cool.
7. While the cauliflower is cooking, soak the currants in the red wine for 10 minutes and then strain to discard wine.
8. Make dressing by soaking saffron in 2 tablespoons water for 10 minutes. Pour the saffron-infused water through a sieve into a small bowl, discarding the  saffron. Mix this water with yoghurt, lemon, mustard and honey.
9. Toast pine nuts by stirring them in a dry (no oil) pan for a few minutes until nicely brown but not burnt.
10. To assemble, spoon wild rice onto one large serving platter and then top with half of the dressing.
11. Arrange cauliflower, chickpeas and parsley on top and then spoon over the rest of the dressing before garnishing with currants and pine nuts.

NOTES

• Gluten and meat free.
• Serves 2-3 as a main meal or 4-6 as an entree

More salad recipes

• Duck, Orange and Pomegranate Salad
• Lamb with Pomegranate, Mint and Broad Beans
• Beetroot, Walnut and Mint Salad
• Thai Beef Salad
• Fiery Vietnamese Chicken Salad

Disclosure

Vanessa and I travelled on the Pacific Jewel’s food and wine cruise as guests of P&O.

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We’re only a quarter of the way into Winter and my skinny jeans are already tight. Damn. How did that happen?

In Summer I seem to exist on salads, fruits, healthy desserts and sorbet. Naturally I’m at my lightest then.

In Winter, however, I turn into a dessert and carb monster, devouring all the sweet treats and carbs within my reach. I’m in the midst of a raging affair with raisin toast — we just can’t get enough of each other — and the crumpets on my kitchen bench are becoming sulky and spiteful. Meanwhile, the curry and rice in my fridge keep whispering dirty sweet nothings to me late at night, “eat us, Christina. You know you want to.”

Hmmm… I think I’ve worked out why my skinny jeans are so tight.

Luckily, I’m also eating a lot of soup at the moment, which besides being healthy is perfect for this time of year.

This soup — Cauliflower, Leek and Chorizo Soup — was devised when my toddler insisted we buy some cauliflower while out grocery shopping. I then noticed leeks were on special and in the deli section I picked up some nice chorizo.

There are two ways you can make this dish: one is more concerned with taste (the chorizo is fried with the leeks so the chorizo oil flavours the soup) and the other is more concerned with appearance (the chorizo is fried separately so it crisps up and looks pretty on top of the soup). Which method you choose will tell me a lot about you as an individual. Not that I’m judging you – I went for appearance over taste for this shoot. But can you blame me?

A few nights of eating soups like this and I feel all virtuous and born-again. Which is a good thing because all it takes is a job for a client — like shooting this Apple & Raspberry Almond Crumble — to make me fall off the (dessert) wagon again.

But I’m not worried. I found a great deal on a local gym membership and I fully intend to start going regularly as soon as I am feeling better. I’m going to wave goodbye to my food blogger butt and say hello to my yoga butt.

Right after another bowl of this tasty soup. And maybe a crumpet or two.

Cauliflower, Leek and Chorizo Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 leek, washed and sliced thinly (white part only)
• 1 chorizo, diced
• 1 whole cauliflower, trimmed and cut into small pieces
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into small pieces
• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1/2 cup cream (optional)
• EVOO to garnish
• Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

1. Heat up non-stick pot and then add oil.
2. Fry leek over medium heat for a couple of minutes and then add chorizo and cook for a minute or two until starting to crisp up.
3. Add cauliflower, potatoes and chicken stock. Turn heat up to high and bring to the boil.
4. Once boiling, turn heat down to low, cover with a lid and cook for 12-14 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
5. Use a stick blender to process soup until smooth.
6. If not using cream, ladle into bowls and then garnish with EVOO and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with bread rolls.
7. If using cream, let soup cool down for 15 minutes and then add cream and mix well. Gently heat up again until desired temperature, garnish with EVOO and salt and pepper and serve with bread rolls.

VARIATION: cook the chorizo separately in a small fry pan in a little olive oil until crisp and then use it to garnish the soup.