Vegetarian Cuisine has come a long way since the time when all you would be offered would be a salad or Risotto. Leading restaurants throughout the world offer delicious vegetarian dishes applying as much creativity as with meat and fish recipes.
Here’s one of Craig’s favourites from his vegetarian cuisine playbook.
Butter Roasted Cauliflower Florets, Smoked Puree. Piccalilli
First make a beurre noisette to cook the cauliflower florets. Place the butter in a small pan and set over a medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly
200g of unsalted butter
Preheat a water bath to 85°C
Place the cauliflower florets in a vacuum bag and pour in the brown butter. Add a pinch of salt, little curry powder and mix everything together in the bag, ensuring the cauliflower is fully coated in the butter. Seal the bag, then cook in the water bath for 35 minutes
1 large cauliflower
For the cauliflower purée, add the milk, double cream and salt to a pan and bring to a simmer. Add the cauliflower and cook until tender and soft to the touch, this will take 5-10 minutes add a couple of drops of liquid smoke. Blend until very smooth
200g Cauliflower, finely chopped
150g of milk
100g of double cream
3g of Salt
A couple of drops of liquid smoke
For the Piccalilli
2 large cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
2 red peppers,
1 table spn hot sauce
12 shallots, cut into eighths
3 red onion, roughly chopped
sea salt
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons turmeric
1 nutmeg, grated
2 tablespoons English mustard powder
4 tablespoons flour
500 ml white wine vinegar
2 apples, grated
2 mangoes, peeled, stoned and roughly chopped
6 tablespoons sugar
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 bay leaves
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Method
Put all the vegetables in a bowl, add the salt and enough water to cover.
Leave in a cool place for about 1 hour.
Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the vegetables. Add the mustard oil to the pan, then fry the mustard seeds, cumin, turmeric and nutmeg for a moment. Lower the heat, add the mustard powder, flour and a splash of vinegar. Stir well to make a thick paste. Gradually add the remaining vinegar and 100ml water, stirring all the time to make a smooth paste. Add the apples, mangoes, sugar, garlic, oregano and bay leaves. Cook for 2–3 minutes.
Drain the salted vegetables and add them to the pan, stirring well to coat with the spicy paste. Cook for 10–15 minutes until the vegetables have just softened and started to release some juice. Spoon into sterilized jars.