This week it's one of my favourites, the beautiful cauliflower.
Everybody in Scotland loves cauliflower, it's much better than broccoli: if cauliflower is Elvis then broccoli is Will Young.
This is the best time for cauliflowers. People tend to go for the little ones but there are a huge range out there from the big, beautiful white ones to the smaller, pale yellow variety.
They've got a wonderful, white flower head and then there's the stalk. Now most people throw this away but you can eat it. It's like sugar cane inside and it's wonderful, peeled, boiled and baked in an oven, served with cream cheese.
I think that the pale yellow ones have got more flavour but people tend to avoid them.
They make beautiful soups and then there's the classic, cauliflower cheese, one of the best dishes in the world. It beats macaroni cheese hands down.
Cauliflower is very versatile. One of the classic things you can make with it is cauliflower a la grec. It may sound disgusting but it's a lovely cold salad. Take the florets and bring them to the boil, cook them for five to six minutes, drain the water out, add three parts olive oil to one part white wine vinegar, finely chopped shallots, fennel and caraway seeds, peppercorns and lemon juice and leave to soak for half a day. It works well with feta and the dressing is gorgeous. You can also get clever if you want to and add hazelnut oil. It works well with kebabs and meat dishes, it's lovely.
Another fantastic thing to do with it is to grate it like cheese, dry it in the oven until it goes brown and crispy and then sprinkle it on top of vegetables bakes and soups. The flavour is so intense, you'll love it. You can also add this to chopped cucumber, dill, garlic, lemon juice and thick Greek yoghurt to make a fantastic dip.
Alternatively, you can take your cauliflower soup, blend it and pass it through a sieve until it looks like creamy porridge. Take half a pint of the mixture, four egg yolks and a quarter pint of cream and mix it together to make a sort of savoury crème brulee. Add a bit of your dried cauliflower, parmesan, capers and olives to the top and serve.
You can also make a beautiful soufflé. Take half a pint of your soup mixture and let it go cold. Take four eggs, separate them, whisk the yolks, add them to the cauliflower soup and put to one side. Then take the four egg whites and whisk them until they look like candy floss. Season it with a bit of parmesan and fold the egg whites in to the soup mix. Put the mixture in a grease lined tray, cover with plenty of parmesan and nut meg and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. It will come out like a big fluffy omelette, the kids will love it.
However, there's one thing you should never do with cauliflower. Don't put it in a sandwich. Like carrot, it's not something that should ever been found between bread, it's just not right!
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