Cauliflower cream soup — two ingredients — Easiest soup ever

This has to be the easiest soup ever: cauliflower cream. Two ingredients: cauliflower and vegetable stock (simmer the cauliflower in the stock and blend). Decorate with a drizzle of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper (if you want to make it into four ingredients!). 

Vegan, low carbs, low fat, gluten free, delicious. 

  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Roasted Cauliflower with spicy yogurt crust

This is a really yummy way to cook cauliflower, and to transform a side vegetable into a masterpiece!

Remove the leaves and wash the cauliflower under running water, then place whole into a stock pot filled with salted water. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes (it will depend on the size of your cauliflower) until it just starts to soften, but it is still nice and firm (i.e. no florets breaking off!).

 In the meantime prepare a marinade with plain yogurt and the spices and seasoning of your choice. I used smoked paprika, crushed garlic, cumin, olive oil and salt. Roast the cauliflower until the top is crunchy (I roasted some potatoes and onions at the same times, but the potatoes had been part-boiled before, so about 30 minutes.

The cauliflower can be cut into slices, there was a lot and the leftover slices I pan fried the day after and they were even better (like all leftover fried food lol!).  I did try this recipe with a raw cauliflower to start with, and it didn't work: first the salt water needs to go through the vegetable or the centre will taste bland, and second, it was too hard. So make sure you boil it in salted water first!

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Cauliflower in the garden

Photo by Arantxa Zecchini Dowling ©

Cavolfiore al forno: do you like cauliflower cheese?

When I was living in London, over 20 years ago now, every eatery I went to (unless it was some sort of hippy/alternative/macrobiotic/ethnic restaurant) would have two hot veggie choices: vegetarian lasagne and cauliflower cheese. I am not joking: that was it! The vegetarian lasagne was usually frozen stuff, and it seems that most pubs and cafes ordered it from the same company (i.e. it always tasted the same!). The cauliflower cheese was either boiled cauliflower with cheddar melted on top, or baked cauliflower with a white sauce... and the consistency of porridge. Meat eaters pitied me and wondered why on earth I would choose to be a vegetarian. Things are different now, and there is more choice, but I am sure that lots of vegetarians still have nightmares about that bland 'cauliflower porridge'.

Anyway, here is a version that is not too cheesy (but you can add more cheese on top if you like), and tastes good. 

Cavolfiore al forno

Ingredients
1 large cauliflower, plus plenty of water and a pinch of salt
100 g salted butter
100 g plain flour
1 l milk
nutmeg
white pepper
salt to taste
100 g freshly grated parmesan cheese (or the cheese you like)

I usually remove the leaves form the cauliflower, then I wash it and boil it whole in a large pot with plenty of water and a pinch of salt. This way I make sure that it is not overcooked and mushy. Then I divide it into florets. 

For the sauce (Besciamella) melt 100 g of salted butter in a saucepan, then add 100 g of plain flour and stir. Add 1 l of milk slowly, stirring constantly without making lumps, then simmer until the sauce thickens. At the end add freshly grated nutmeg, white pepper, and salt to taste. Spread a little sauce in the bottom of a oven dish, then arrange the cauliflower florets on top. Cover with the rest of the sauce, banging the dish so that there are no air bubbles. Sprinkle with 100 g of freshly grated parmesan cheese and place in the hot oven for about 40 minutes, or until the top is golden. Serve hot. Easy!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Quinoa and cauliflower pie, gluten free

I got the idea from this Italian blog and although I changed almost everything in it, I kept the main ingredients: cauliflower and quinoa. I liked this idea because A: I really wanted to do something else with quinoa that didn't involve a salad or a risotto-type-of-dish, and B: I had cauliflower.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

1 small cauliflower

200 g feta cheese

2 free range eggs

Half tsp cumin seeds

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil

Wash the quinoa, then place in a good pot with 2 cups of water. I also decided to cook the cauliflower at the same time (save gas, flavour and nutrients). Cut and wash the cauliflower florets and place over the quinoa. Simmer for 20 minutes. turn the heat of and let it rest for 15. Cube the feta and add to the quinoa and cauliflower, mixing very well. Add the eggs and mix well. With a mortar and pestle lightly crush the cumin seeds and add to the mixture. Adjust with salt and pepper. Brush a terracotta or other oven dish with olive oil, them pour the mixture in, patting it down well. Level the top and drizzle with more olive oil. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes. Let it cool down lightly before serving, so that it will cut well. 

Even better the day after, re-heated.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Red radicchio, green cauliflower and the Vegan version of the banana cake

What do vegetarians eat? Lots of vegetables! Some people call it rabbit food, I don't know why, I swear to you that we are not rabbits!  Let's start with the red radicchio, my brother made this: cut the red radicchio into strips and place onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and dried oregano (he says that dried thyme is better but we didn't have any).  Bake until the red par of the leaves is crispy (and most of the bitterness is gone!).

 And what about this lovely green cauliflower? I think that green cauliflowers taste 'sweeter' than the white ones, and this one did! I just boiled it al dente, let it cool down and dressed it with extra virgin olive oil, salt and Aceto Balsamico di Modena. Simple but perfect!

I had more mushy bananas so I made another banana cake, but vegan this time. The original version is here, I just changed the ingredients a little, removed the eggs and added sultana and grappa!

Vegan Banana Cake

2 tbsp sultana

1 small glass of grappa

5 ripe bananas

A few drops of lemon

100 g icing sugar + some for dusting

100 ml vegetable oil

200 g self rising flour

Soak the sultana in the grappa. Mush the bananas with the lemon juice, add the sugar and the other ingredients and beat well, then fold in the sultanas with the grappa. Grease a cake mould and pour the cake mixture in, bake at 180°C for approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Reverse onto a serving plate and serve warm or cold. It will be moist and I think that this cake taste better than the previous one, great with tea or coffee, although it may not be as suitable for breakfast. (Don't worry about the grappa, you can barely taste it and the alcohol is all gone!)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini and her brother ©

Honesty boxes, Tofu and Brassica Green Curry, and a Super Juice

One of the things I like best about New Zealand are the little stalls on the side of country roads, unattended and with a few offerings, mostly fruit, vegetables and flowers. Usually they are alongside a driveway, near the letterbox, and sometimes you don't see the house from the road, often you don't see anyone, as a matter of fact! So how do you pay? You leave your money in a honesty box. I have a couple of these near my house, one sells cute flower bouquets from the garden, and sometimes little bags of fruit, another sells orchids. When I don't have enough cutting flowers in my garden I go there, it is unexpensive, honest fun.

Tofu and Brassica Green Curry

Ingredients:
1 tbs green curry paste (see recipe here)
1 can coconut milk
1 couliflower, cut into florettes
half carrot, sliced (I sliced it in the shape of flowers)
1 block tofu, cut into pieces
1 large broccoli, cut into florettes
1-2 chili peppers
Thai or regular fresh basil leaves
Thai or Vietnamese fresh mint leaves

Place the paste in a pot with the coconut milk, the cauliflower, carrot, and the tofu. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the broccoli, cover and simmer for 5 minutes (I like my broccoli to be still green and a little crunchy). Add the chili peppers and the fresh herbs, cover and simmer for 5 more minutes. Add salt to taste and serve with Thai rice.
Serves 4

Super Juice

To make 1 litre of juice I used:

10 carrots

1 red beetroot

6 green apples

1 piece of ginger

Put everything through the juicing machine, filter and serve immediately.

Serves 4

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Cauliflower and Borage Curry

This turned out to be a fantastic vegan curry, and quite innovative too: I have never seen a curry made with borage!!!

Yes, borage again! I have tons of it in the garden, you can eat the flowers, the stems and the leaves, but I limit myself to the smaller tender leaves. They are prickly, but that goes away with cooking.

The only thing to remember is to discard the pods with the seeds that have already formed (they are too hard), like the one in the photo below. Flowers and flower buds are soft, and can be cooked.

Sizzle one tsp of fenugreek seeds and one green chili with one tbsp of vegetable oil.

Add one small tsp each of turmeric, ground coriander, ground fennel and paprika, and also a good pinch of salt.

Add one onion, chopped, and sizzle for two minutes, and then add half cauliflower, cut into florettes. Coat the cauliflower well with the spices.

Add one can of coconut milk, and then one can of water (to rinse the coconut milk can). Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add the borage, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add one tsp of masala powder and simmer for other five minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft. At the end decorate with fresh borage flowers.

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©