Flower power: Autumn raging outside? Warm up with some cauliflower, writes Hugo Arnold
I've gone vegetable mad. Perhaps it's a reaction to eating so much grilled fish and meat over the summer. Last night it was a casserole of root vegetables with herb dumplings and pickles. We had more root vegetables earlier in the week, this time as a gratin, partnered with cheese and cream. Heaven.
The Italians, who know a thing or two about vegetables, serve them as a course on their own, with nothing more than olive oil and some salt and pepper. At a time when we seem bent on chasing the most exotic ingredients we can find, don't forget more traditional vegetables.
Cauliflower is my current favourite. With cheese it comforts, with spices it invigorates; slicing it thinly into a rich mustard and mayonnaise dressing makes a hearty salad ideal for eating with some ham and a baked potato while autumn storms thrash about outside. You can add some wow factor by using a purple or green cauliflower.
Supermarkets seem to specialise in snow-white cauliflowers; I prefer ones that are a creamy ivory. Always, though, look out for sprightly leaves, which indicate freshness. Check the base of the stem, too: dry and cracked and your cauliflower has been sitting in purgatory for too long. Not fair on it, and certainly not fair on you.
Another favourite recipe is cream of cauliflower soup. Too often, though, the emphasis is on the cream. For all cauliflower's brashness, its florets can provide a delicate flavour. Go easy on the cream and add sweetness with good, but light, chicken stock. You can add croutons with garlic and parsley, a poached egg, lardons of bacon or even a slick of pesto.
A cooked salad of green beans and white cauliflower with black olives, oil and seasoning makes a change from summer's more delicate leaves. And although your preference may be for fashionable al-dente eating, the Turkish habit of stewing vegetables gently in olive oil with garlic is one of my favourite ways, and it works well with cauliflower. With bread and a few lamb chops it makes a fine meal - but it is far better as a course on its own. Just the Italian job.
Recipes serve four
Mustard cauliflower, grilled polenta and creamed leeks
250g polenta
1 tbsp butter
6 leeks, trimmed and cut into 3cm slices
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 dessertspoon Dijon mustard
1 cauliflower
olive oil
4 tbsp cream
Make the polenta according to the instructions on the packet. Pour the sticky mass on to a board and leave to set, which takes about 10 minutes. When it is cool, cut it into slices.
Heat the butter in a small pan and add the leeks, with a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Cover and stew over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, or until just tender. Allow to cool slightly, liquidise, return to the pan and set aside.
Heat the mustard seeds in a dry frying pan until they start to pop. Transfer to a bowl with the Dijon mustard.
Cut any tough stalks from the cauliflower and cook in plenty of salted water until tender (about five minutes). Drain, roughly chop, add to the bowl and stir, to coat with the seeds and mustard.
Lightly coat the polenta slices with olive oil and grill until just golden. Gently reheat the leeks, stirring in the cream. Check the seasoning, then serve with the grilled polenta and the cauliflower.
Warm salad of cauliflower, cashel blue and roasted peppers
1 cauliflower
4 red peppers
pinch dried chilli flakes
4 tbsp Cashel Blue or similar cheese
1 garlic clove, peeled and mashed
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
100g black olives
olive oil
1 lemon, quartered
Cut the cauliflower into manageable pieces and steam or cook in boiling salted water until just tender (about five minutes). Cut the peppers into quarters lengthways, deseed, remove the core and grill, skin side up, until the skin blisters and darkens (don't worry if it goes pretty black). Remove to a bowl, cover with cling film and set aside to cool. When they are cool enough to handle, remove the skins. Soak the chilli flakes in a tablespoon of boiling water. Mash the cheese with the chilli, garlic and parsley.
When you are ready to serve, arrange the cauliflower in the middle of each plate. Scatter the red peppers over the top. Add the cheese mixture and black olives. Next, blend the juice from the grilled peppers with four tablespoons of olive oil and drizzle over the vegetables. Check the seasoning and serve with a lemon quarter.
Cauliflower, leek and chicory gratin
1 cauliflower (about 500g), broken into florets
4 leeks, trimmed and cut into 4cm slices
4 heads of chicory, trimmed and quartered lengthways
500ml milk
40g butter, plus a little more for the topping
40g plain flour
200g goat's cheese, crumbled
bunch parsley, finely chopped
4 tbsp breadcrumbs
Blanch the cauliflower in boiling salted water for eight minutes, adding the leeks halfway through. Refresh under cold water and drain. Place in a gratin dish with the chicory.
Combine the milk, butter and flour in a saucepan and place over a moderate heat. Stir with a wooden spoon or whisk until smooth and silky. Let it bubble for five minutes, stirring all the time to cook the flour. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese and parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the cheese mixture over the vegetables, top with the breadcrumbs, dot with butter and bake in a preheated oven, at 180 degrees/gas four, for 30-40 minutes, or until brown and bubbling.