Tag: cauliflower

Cauliflower and pomegranate ‘couscous’ with octopus

This light cold salad was a completely experimental creation of mine. I’ve been wanting to do something resembling couscous, but neither myself nor my husband are friends of the wheat couscous. I think cauliflower is a great, healthier replacement of it, as well as the texture of the cauliflower working very well. I’ve also recently been wanting to utilise pomegranates in cooking, and thought these two ingredients were going to be the ones I was going to build the rest of the dish around of. The pomegranate and the grapes bring sweetness, and to balance this I added lime juice and capers, and it worked really well. The end result is a delightful couscous salad that is fresh, sweet, sharp, salty and earthy all at the same time. You can serve the octopus warm or cold, I served it cold.

1 cauliflower
2 pomegranates
20 red grapes
1 lime – juice
3 tbsp capers
1 dl pine nut kernels
2 spring onions
handful of pea shoots
225g cooked octopus

1. Place all the cauliflower florets in a blender, and process to a grainy texture.

2. Cut the pomegranates in half. I find the easiest way to pick the seeds out without breaking the juicy outer coating, is to break the fruit by had piece by piece, and remove the seeds by hand. Half the grapes lengthwise.

3. Add  the lime juice, capers, finely chopped spring onions and coarsely chopped pea shoots. Cut the octopus to pieces of your liking. I cut the thicker ends of the tentacles to about 5-10mm thick pieces, and the thinner ends longer.

img_3336

Cauliflower soup

This tasty soup is very easy and simple to make. I usually use some crispy bacon for some crunch and texture, but this can easily be left out to make the soup a vegetarian version.

1 cauliflower
4 large potatoes
2 medium onions
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp bouillon powder
2 dl double cream
2 dl sweetcorn
salt
ground black pepper
1 liter water
150g-200g bacon

1. Peel and chop the potatoes, onions and garlic. Cut the  cauliflower, and add all four ingredients to a pan. Pour water over, and add the bouillon powder. Bring to boil and simmer until cooked and soft. If you don’t want to use bouillon powder you can always replace the water and the powder with same amount of vegetable stock.

2. Cook the bacon in the oven / under a grill, until overcooked but not burned.  I normally use smoked bacon, but use whatever bacon you prefer. Take out and let cool. Once cooled, crumble to small pieces by hand.

3. Once onions, potatoes, garlic and cauliflower are cooked. Let cool slightly, and puree in a blender. Pour back in the pan and add cream, sweetcorn and crispy bacon crumble. Season with salt and pepper.