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Eats #7: Cauliflower Cover Up

Ingredients: head of cauliflower, sea salt, olive oil, knob of butter, 2 teaspoons cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons coriander seeds, 1-2 dried chillies, handful blanched almonds, lemon.

Difficulty: 1/5
Rating: 1/5

This weeks last weeks recipe was “Roasted cauliflower with cumin, coriander and almonds” (page 342, Cook with Jamie)

Remove the outer leaves of the cauliflower and cut into florets - pop into boiling salted water for a few minutes, drain and allow to steam dry.

Crush the cumin and coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar, add the chili, almonds and a pinch of salt. Heat a dry pan until hot and pour in the spice mixture and toast for a few minutes. Toss the cauliflower in olive oil and a knob of butter and add to the pan, fry until slightly golden and add the zest and juice of a lemon.

Roast in the oven for 15 minutes and you’re done.

Summary

What can I say about last weeks recipe… Not a lot to be honest! It was always going to be a challenge to make what’s essentially a boring vegetable exciting and this recipe failed to wow my taste buds.

The chili, lemon, cumin and coriander gave the cauliflower an extra dimension in terms of flavour but the combination was a little odd for my liking. The lemon was too tangy and dominated the other flavours and the almonds gave each mouthful a weird texture.

I have to admit that there were a couple of diversions from the recipe - I used fresh chili instead of dried and I could only find almond flakes instead of whole almonds but I don’t think either would of changed the outcome.

Perhaps nothing could make cauliflower exciting for me or perhaps the recipe just isn’t to my liking… one things for sure, I won’t be cooking this dish again in a hurry.