Cauliflower Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta dish (fettuccine) coated in a rich Parmesan sauce originating in Rome in 1907/8.  Many additions/adulterations have come about over the last century, notably in the US - cream, chicken, salmon, mushrooms.  And now cauliflower.

In our house the cauliflower florets usually get air fried or used in Piccalilli, with the stalk and leaves used in Cauliflower Cheese Soup or Cauliflower Masala Soup.  But the weather is warming up in the UK so I'd thought I'd use the leaves in a pasta sauce.

I added anchovies, reminded of a Bagna Cauda Dip/Sauce, but you can omit these adding more Parmesan, or nuts if preferred 

Serves 4

350g cauliflower stalk & leaves, roughly chopped

1 large garlic clove

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tin anchovies in olive oil, or 100g parmesan, or 40g walnuts or cashews

Parmesan/Grana Padano for serving (optional)

Chopped parsley for serving (optional)

Chilli oil or flakes for serving (optional)

Cover the cauliflower with water in a small pan.  Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 10 minutes until really tender.  If using nuts, add these to the pan to soften with the cauliflower.

When tender, drain the cauliflower and nuts, keeping the cooking water.  Liquidise the cauliflower and nuts together with the rest of the ingredients in a heatproof container, adding enough cooking water to make a thick hummus consistency sauce.

Serve over pasta, with freshly grated parmesan, parsley, and chilli to taste.

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Air Fryer or Oven Roasted Vegetable Salad

Now it is Sunday Roast season, I am putting a tray of mixed vegetables in the oven whilst the roast is cooking if there is space, or after.  These vegetables are then a potted up with some pulses, seeds/nuts, and a dressing as a grab and go midweek packed lunch.

Last Sunday I roasted half a cauliflower and half a squash, and mixed in a can of drained chickpeas after roasting the dish.  As the spice mix (leftover from my son making southern fried chicken) I tossed the veg in before cooking was really quite spicy, I made a cooling tahini dressing with a few spinach leaves whizzed in just for colour. It filled three takeaway containers.  A few weeks before I roasted 500g beetroot and 750g sweet potato

Firm vegetables roast well; squash, sweet potato, cauliflower, beetroot, carrot, parsnips, celeriac, fennel. But softer vegetables (aubergine, courgette, onion, peppers, cabbage) work well too, just with less cooking.

Toss the vegetables in a few tablespoons of olive oil and roast for around 45 minutes at 200C in a fan oven, or 20 minutes in an air fryer at 180C. You can add a little salt, paprika, cumin, or harissa as you wish. Toss/stir around halfway through the cooking time. 

Add a tin of drained green lentils, beans, or chickpeas, sprinkle over some mixed seeds, add some cheese (feta, goats cheese, cottage cheese) if you like, and a dressing like tahini dressing, vinaigrette, chermoula, chimichurri, zhoug, or salsa verde.

If feeling the need for some more carbs, adding some cooked quinoa, pearl barley, pasta, couscous etc

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Easy Aloo Gobi, Indian Potato & Cauliflower with Green Lentils

Most Indian recipes call for a long list of spices.  We do have these, but I thought I'd make an easy Aloo Gobi with a ready mixed spice blend. I used a spice mix called Chaat Masala as it needed using up (and goes well with potatoes - see Yotam Ottolenghi's Chaat Masala Potatoes), but Garam Masala, or even curry powder would work well.

I also added a tin of green lentils, and some ground flax seeds, for more fibre and to thicken the dish a little.

500g salad or all round potatoes

2 tbsp light olive oil

1 small cauliflower

1 small onion

1 large clove of garlic

1 tbsp chaat masala or garam masala, or 1 tsp hot curry powder

1 can green lentils, including liquid 

1 mug frozen peas

3 tbsp ground flax seeds

Turn the a medium heat on under the olive oil in a large sauté pan and start chopping the potatoes into bite sized piece.  Place the potatoes cut size down in the pan as you cut them.

Once potatoes are all cut and frying gently, cut the cauliflower into similar sized pieces to the potato.  

When you can smell fried potatoes, turn the potatoes over with a slice, make a clearing in the middle of the pan and add the cauliflower.  Cover with a lid whilst you peel and thinly slice the onion.

Flip over the cauliflower and potatoes when you have sliced the onion. Mix the cauliflower into the potatoes and make a clearing in the middle of the pan for the sliced onion. Put the lid back on until the garlic is peeled, sliced and ready to go into the middle of the pan.

Whilst the onion is frying (don't worry if there not much oil left in the pan - browning adds flavour!), sprinkle over your chosen spice and stir every thing together.

Pour in the cooked lentils and their liquid, and another can of water from the tap.  Cover and bring to the boil.

Once boiling add the frozen peas and the ground flax seeds.  Bring to the boil again, this time without the lid.  Once boiling, set a timer for 5 minutes to make sure the potato is cooked (You should be able to push a for into a piece without it feeling hard like uncooked potato. If it crumbles it is definitely cooked!), to cook the peas, and dry the dish out a little.

Serve with chutney and/or extra chilli if wanted.

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Whole Vegetable or Wet Brine Fermentation

After the success of my Red Cabbage Sauerkraut aka Red Cabbage Coleslaw Sauerkrat, I thought I'd try fermenting my Piccalilli ingredients ie cauliflower and green beans using the @ZOE fermentation guide

Whole vegetables, or vegetables that contain less water, require a wet brine to ensure they are submerged below the brine and kept away from airborne bacteria.

Makes a large 2L  jar

1 cauliflower

200g green beans

Salt

Water

Break the cauliflower into bite sized pieces. Top and tail the beans and cut in half. 

Mix the cauliflower and beans in a large mixing bowl. Place the jar onto digital scales, zero them, and weigh in the mixed vegetables plus the water required to cover them.

Note down the total weight of the vegetables and water. 2% of this weight is the required amount of salt.

Weigh the required amount of salt into the mixing bowl, then with your hand over the mouth of the jar to stop the vegetables falling out, pour the water into the mixing bowl. Stir the water until the salt has dissolved and then pour back over the vegetables in the jar.

Use a pickle weight or smaller water filled jar to ensure the vegetables are covered by the brine, and put the lid on if you can. Leave to one side on the kitchen counter.

In a few days the odd bubble will rise up the side of the jar.  Burp the jars daily, or leave the lid on loosely. Mine is in a cheap preserving jar and seems not to seal properly, so I have had to stand it on something to collect the overflowing brine caused by fermentation, but I do not have to burp it.

Zoe Nutrition recommend waiting at least 2 weeks before starting to eat your fermented vegetables. After 2 weeks, the jar can be put into the fridge to slow down the fermentation.  However, you can always leave it out at room temperature to continue fermenting until it is all eaten. Mine is about 5 days old.  I tasted it a few days in, as soon as it started to ferment/overflow.  The cauliflower has a slight garlic taste, even though there is no garlic in the jar.  The beans seem a little tough. 

Already, I am planning my next fermenting combination; red cabbage & grated beetroot, and cauliflower & crinkle cut baby beetroot which should be an interesting colour.

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Cauliflower Korma Soup

Inspired by The Doctor's Kitchen Masala Cauliflower Soup, and the many @Zoe and @mob bean based recipes I realised my own Cauliflower Korma recipe would make a very tasty soup.  

On a damp February day it is both filling and warming, and contains 16+ plants.

3 tbsp coconut oil

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

2.5cm ginger root, roughly chopped

5 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

500g cauliflower florets, leaves or stalk roughly chopped

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/8-1/4 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin coconut milk

100g almonds or cashew nuts

1 litre recently boiled water

2 vegetable stock cubes 

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan over a medium high heat, and fry the onion pieces until until they start to brown.

Stir in the dry spices, and then the rest of the ingredients. Cover and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for 20 minutes.

Liquidise and serve.

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The Doctor's Kitchen Masala Cauliflower Soup

Stumbled across The Doctor's Kitchen delicious plant based recipes on BBC iPlayer last weekend.  

This Masala Cauliflower Soup may look beige, but is delicious...

Serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

200g onion, roughly chopped

2 tbsp garam masala

5cm piece fresh root ginger, roughly chopped

1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

400g cauliflower including leaves & stalk, roughly chopped into small pieces 

400g tin green lentils or other beans in water

200g frozen or fresh spinach

2 vegetable stock cubes

1 lemon, juice only

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the onion in the olive oil with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes until it begins to soften.

Stir in the garam masala, ginger and chilli flakes (mine are hot chilli flakes and 1/2 tsp was quite enough!), then add the rest of the ingredients apart from the lemon juice,   The recipe said to drain and rinse the lentils.  Not only did I use butter beans because that was the only can of beans I had, but I added the water from the tin to the soup to add a little more flavour.  I also used saved cauliflower stalk and leaves as the cauliflower itself was used in another dish last week.  And finally I dropped in frozen spinach rather than thaw it first as suggested in the original recipe.

Pour in 800ml recently boiled water, cover and bring to the boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes until the cauliflower is soft.

Liquidise with a stick blender or a liquidiser.  Stir in the lemon juice and season to taste.  I added a spoonful of greek yoghurt to mine and a drizzle of chilli oil.  I might try with a can of coconut milk (and reducing the hot water to 400ml) next time for a creamier soup.

I served it with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of chilli oil.

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