“It was a little moment of revelation; I remember when I first combined roasted cauliflower and raw grated cauliflower in the same dish. So different from one another, but working so well combined,” recalls the king of Middle Eastern cooking, Yotam Ottolenghi. “This is lovely as it is, served as part of a spread, or spooned alongside some roast chicken or lamb.
“Don’t throw away the leaves of the cauliflower here. They’re lovely to eat, roasted and crisp, or grated raw as you would the rest of the cauliflower.”
Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower (800g)
- 1 medium onion, roughly sliced (130g)
- 80ml olive oil
- 25g parsley, roughly chopped
- 10g mint, roughly chopped
- 10g tarragon, roughly chopped
- seeds from 1/2 medium pomegranate (80g)
- 40g pistachio kernels, lightly toasted and roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt
Read: Creamy Cauliflower and Garlic Rice
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.
Coarsely grate a third of the cauliflower and set aside in a bowl. Break the remaining cauliflower into florets, roughly 3cm wide, and add these to a separate bowl with the cauliflower leaves, if you have any, and onion. Toss everything together with two tablespoons of oil and a quarter of a teaspoon of salt, then spread out on a large parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for about 20 minutes, until cooked through and golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
Read: Refreshing summer salads
Once cool, put the roasted vegetables into a large bowl with the 50ml oil, the grated cauliflower and the remaining ingredients, along with a quarter of a teaspoon of salt. Toss gently, just to combine, then transfer to a platter and serve.
Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi with Tara Wigley and Esme Howarth, photography by Jonathan Lovekin, is published by Ebury Press.
Have you tried raw cauliflower? Do you eat cauliflower leaves? Let us know how the recipe turns out in the comments section below.
– With PA
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