Romanesco cauliflower isn’t just about good looks. It has a sweet, nutty taste somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower, is full of fibre and rich in nutrients.
This quick and simple roasting method, using lemon zest rather than spices, emphasises its flavour. The recipe’s from veggie-mad Lizzie Streit at It’s a Veg World After All.
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 romanesco cauliflower head
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp lemon zest plus a little more, to taste
sea salt and ground black pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 225C / Mark 7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place florets on the parchment paper and drizzle with olive oil and crushed garlic. Mix everything around with a spatula. Grate the lemon zest over and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender and browned. Serve warm, topped with more lemon zest to taste.
More ways to love your veg on our recommended recipes page – nearly 400 to try!
This quick and easy to prepare dish from Felicity Cloake is perfect for Veganuary‘. Absolutely no need to buy it ready to cook and ridiculously over-packaged from a supermarket!
Serves 2
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes
Ingredients
1 cauliflower
olive oil
lemon juice
chopped parsley
chilli flakes
Method
Wash the cauliflower and remove any leaves. Cut the stem so the cauliflower sits flat on a board, then cut into chunky cross sections about 2 cm thick. Put in a shallow dish and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice.
Season well, then cook on a very hot griddle or frying pan for about 5 minutes on each side, or until soft and charred. Scatter with chopped parsley and chilli flakes. Why not serve with chips? We did!
We’ve had cauliflower in our veg boxes every week now for… I’ve lost count! But then we are in Cornwall, the UK’s cauliflower kingdom. We’ve so many suggestions for preparing cauliflower on Camel CSA’s recipes page, it’s hard to find new ones.
Felicity Cloake of How to cook the perfect fame has the final solution: simply give the whole cauli a good roasting. As she says:”It makes a great centrepiece.” (And it’s perfectly delicious.)
Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, about 1kg
Fine salt
50g butter, softened
2 tbsp olive oil
For the sauce (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 anchovy fillets, roughly chopped (optional)
Leaves from a couple of sprigs of thyme or rosemary
1 lemon
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
For the dip (optional)
150g creme fraiche
75g feta or similar cheese, finely crumbled
1 lemon
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
Trim the leaves of the cauliflower, if necessary, so the top of the white part is exposed and level the base so it sits flat. Heat the oven to 240C. Bring to the boil a large pan of water with 1 tbsp fine salt per litre dissolved in it, then lower in the cauliflower, stem-side up.
Bring to the boil again and cook for eight minutes, turning once if necessary, then drain and leave to dry in a colander, florets-side down, for 10 minutes.
Beat the oil into the butter. Rub all over the cauliflower and season, then roast on a baking tray for 20 to 30 minutes until well browned, basting occasionally.
Meanwhile, if you’re making the sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan and fry the garlic and anchovies, if using, until the garlic is golden and the anchovies begin to break down. Stir in the herbs and the grated zest of the lemon, followed by the tomatoes and 2 tbsp lemon juice.
Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Season to taste, then pour into a shallow bowl and place the cauliflower in the middle.
If you’re making the dip, stir the cheese into the creme fraiche. Finely zest in the lemon, then add a scant 1 tbsp of its juice. Top with a little olive oil and serve alongside the cauliflower when it is cool enough to handle.
We had this tasty curry recently, the lentils and coconut milk give a nice creamy sauce. Use the green coriander in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
25g fresh root ginger, grated
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
75g red split lentils
150ml vegetable stock
1 cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced
400 ml can coconut milk
75g green beans
3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan and gently cook the onion for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent. Add the garlic, ginger,ground coriander, cumin and turmeric and cook for 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Stir in the lentils, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of oil in a frying pan and fry the cauliflower for 2-3 minutes until lightly browned. Add to the lentil mixture with the carrots and coconut milk. Bring the curry back to a gentle simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes. Stir in the beans and cook until all the vegetables are tender.
Stir in the chopped coriander and lemon juice, then season to taste. Serve with rice, warm naan or chapatis.
This recipe was recommended by Ann Smith who worked alongside Mark and Bridget, our professional growers, earlier this year. Ann says you could substitute pumpkin or squash for sweet potato.
Serves 4
Preparation time 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
Oil
1 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons medium curry powder
4 teaspoons plain flour
350g sweet potato, cubed
350g cauliflower florets
850ml vegetable stock
100g green beans, trimmed
1 teaspoon garam masala
Method
Fry onion until soft, add garlic, curry powder and flour. Cook for 1 minute. Add sweet potatoes, cauliflower and stock. Bring to boil, simmer for 10-15 minutes (until sweet potatoes are almost tender). Add beans and garam masala. Cook for 3 minutes.
This is a really tasty side dish from food guru Yotam Ottolenghi in his Easy Ottolenghi series in The Guardian. For a change he’s cut back on his usual long list of ingredients!
He says: “I’ve been using chorizo a lot recently, as a quick way to add intensity to all sorts of vegetable dishes, but this also works very well without it; if you do leave it out, increase the paprika to about a tablespoon.”
Serves: four to six as a side dish
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients
1 large cauliflower (1kg), trimmed and separated into 3-4cm florets
150g cooking chorizo, skinned and cut into 2cm pieces
2 red onions, peeled and cut into 2cm wedges
30g pitted green olives, torn in half
2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
30g pumpkin seeds
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp olive oil
Flaked sea salt and black pepper
20g parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Method
Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Put everything bar the parsley in a bowl with a teaspoon and a half of salt and a good grind of pepper. Mix well to combine, then spread out on a 30cm x 40cm baking tray lined with greaseproof paper.
Roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring gently halfway through, until the chorizo is cooked and the cauliflower is soft and browned. Leave to cool down for about 10 minutes, stir in the parsley and serve.
I sometimes like to serve cauliflower cheese with rice – I think this goes back to a college refectory which sold inedible jacket potatoes but there was always rice to accompany the daily curry! This recipe seems to combine the cauliflower cheese and the rice in one dish. It is taken from Paola Gavin’s classic Italian Vegetarian Cookery.
Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 20-25 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium cauliflower
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp parsley, finely chopped
175 g long grain rice
450 ml boiling stock or water
1/2 tsp salt
25 g butter
40 g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
350 ml bechamel sauce (made with 30 g butter, 25 g flour, 300 ml hot milk, salt, pepper and freshly grated nutmeg)
40 g grated Gruyere cheese
Method
Cut away the stem of the cauliflower and break the curd into florets. Steam for 10 minutes or until tender.
Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan and cook the onion and parsley over a moderate heat for 3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook for one minute, so each grain is coated with oil. Add the boiling stock or water and salt, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the rice is tender but still firm. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and 25 g of the grated Parmesan cheese.
Prepare the bechamel sauce, remove from the heat and stir in the Gruyere cheese.
Spread a layer of rice in the bottom of a well-buttered shallow baking dish. Spoon a little of the cheese sauce over the rice. Cover with a layer of cauliflower. Repeat the layers, ending with the cheese sauce. Sprinkle the top with the remaining grated Parmesan cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 190°C/Gas mark 5 for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden.
My husband has just made this delicious, warming curry for tea. The recipe is from Michael Pandya’s Complete Indian Cookbook which Frank bought back in the 1980s.
Serves 4
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
25 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cauliflower, cut in florets
450 g potatoes, peeled and quartered
100 g peas
1 medium onion, finely chopped
450 g tomatoes, peeled and chopped
450 ml water
salt to taste
Spices:
pinch of asafoetida powder
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 brown cardamom
For the paste:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2.5 cm piece garlic, chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
To garnish:
1 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Method
Heat the butter and half the oil in a saucepan and add the asafoetida powder. Stir for 5 seconds then add the cauliflower, potatoes and peas. Fry for 5 minutes over a moderate heat. Remove the vegetables to a plate and set aside.
Heat the remaining oil and add the onion, cloves, cumin and cardamom and fry until the onion is golden brown. Make a fairly smooth mixture by blitzing the paste ingredients in a blender. Add the paste to the onion mixture and cook for 5 minutes.
Mix in the fried vegetables and tomato and fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the water and salt and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cloves and brown cardamom before serving hot, garnished with the garam masala and coriander.
This recipe comes from Community Harvest Whetstone – a veg growing coop in Leicestershire.
Serves 2
Preparation and cooking time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
For the base:
1 large cauliflower
1 free range egg
1 Tbs olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated mature cheddar cheese
For the tomato pizza sauce:
100-150g tomato passata
1 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
salt to taste
Topping:
grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6, line and grease a large pizza tray. In a food processor blitz the head of the cauliflower into a grainy paste. Transfer into a large bowl and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes. Wait for the softened and cooked cauliflower to cool a little. Mix in the egg, season with salt and pepper, add the cheese and mix well. Tip out the cauliflower mixture onto the greased pizza tray and press down firmly to make a large pizza base about 1 cm in thickness. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the base is golden brown. While the base is cooking combine the pizza sauce ingredients and spread over the pizza base, top with the grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese and bake in the oven for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted. Gently slice up the pizza and leave to cool a little. Slowly transfer the slices onto a plate as the base is very soft and crumbly.
This recipe is from Jamie Oliver’s book Ministry of Food. It comes recommended by Charlotte, one of the founder members of Camel CSA.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
800g cauliflower
olive oil
200g Cheddar cheese, grated
2 chicken or vegetable stock cubes
salt and black pepper
1 teaspoon English mustard
Method
Dice the carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Cut the cauliflower into florets. Into a large pan add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and put over a medium heat, add the diced vegetables and cauliflower. Cook for 10 minutes with a lid partially placed over the pan or until the carrots have softened and the onion is lightly golden.
Grate the cheese. Put the stock cubes into a jug and pour in 1.8 litres of boiling water from a kettle. Add to the vegetables in the pan. Stir and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or so until the vegetables are cooked.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the cheese and mustard, season with salt and pepper. Use a hand blender and pulse until silky smooth – if using a liquidiser let the soup cool down, never put hot liquid into a liquidiser. Top with more grated cheese. You could also top with some crispy bacon.
