Roast Cauliflower Steaks infused with Ginger and Spices
A brilliant way to cook cauliflower, serve it plain or embellish it in lots of exciting ways. Terrific as a vegan or vegetarian main course.
Think of it as a palette for lots of tasty toppings, rosemary oil with tomato dice, tapenade with olive oil and rosemary, chermoula, salmoriglio, labneh with harissa and coriander, spicy mince or ragú, pomegranate seeds, tahini, coriander….
Serves 6 or more
1 fresh cauliflower – approx. 700g
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon roasted and ground cumin seeds
1 teaspoon roasted and ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
fresh coriander leaves and lemon wedges, to serve
Method
Preheat the oven to 230°C/gas mark 8.
Remove the leaves (save for a cauliflower cheese gratin), but just barely trim the base of the core.
Cut the cauliflower head into 2cm thick slices or 'steaks' through the base, save the two outer pieces for cauliflower rice or gratin.
Mix the ginger, garlic, spices and salt with 5 tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a wide frying pan over a high heat.
Sear the cauliflower steaks for about 2 minutes on each side until nicely coloured - use more oil if necessary.
Carefully transfer to a roasting tin in a single layer, spoon the spicy oil over each steak, flip over and drizzle a little more on the other side.
Roast for 15-20 minutes until the steaks feel tender when the stalk end is pierced with the tip of a knife, checking after 8-10 minutes, it may need to be turned.
Serve along with lots of fresh coriander and lemon wedges or as an accompaniment to a simple roast, lamb chop or curry.
Traditional Irish Salad
This simple old-fashioned salad is the sort of thing you would have had for tea on a visit to your Granny on a Sunday evening – perhaps with a slice of meat left over from the Sunday joint.
It is one of my absolute favourites.
It can be quite delicious made with a crisp lettuce, good home-grown tomatoes and cucumbers, free-range eggs and home-preserved beetroot. If, on the other hand, you make it with pale battery eggs, watery tomatoes, tired lettuce and cucumber and (worst of all) vinegary beetroot from a jar, you’ll wonder why you bothered.
We serve this traditional salad as a starter in Ballymaloe, with an old-fashioned salad dressing which would have been popular before the days of mayonnaise.
Serves 4
2 free-range eggs
1 butterhead lettuce (the ordinary lettuce that one can buy everywhere)
4 tiny scallions or spring onions
watercress sprigs
2–4 tomatoes, quartered
16 slices of cucumber
4 tablespoons Pickled Beetroot
4 sliced radishes chopped parsley
Lydia Strangman’s Cream Dressing
2 eggs, free-range if possible
1 tablespoon dark soft brown sugar
pinch of salt
1 level teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon brown malt vinegar
50–125ml cream
Hard-boil the eggs for the salad and the dressing (4 in total).
Method
Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil, gently slide in the eggs and boil for 10 minutes (12 if they are very fresh). Strain off the hot water and cover with cold water. Peel when cold.
Wash and dry the lettuce, scallions and watercress.
Next make the cream dressing.
Cut 2 of the eggs in half and sieve the yolks into a bowl.
Add the sugar, a pinch of salt and the mustard.
Blend in the vinegar and cream.
Chop the egg whites and add some to the sauce. Keep the rest to scatter over the salad.
Cover the dressing until needed.
To assemble the salads, first arrange a few lettuce leaves on each of 4 plates.
Scatter with a few tomato quarters and 2 hard-boiled egg quarters, a few slices of cucumber and a radish on each plate, and (preferably just before serving) add a slice of beetroot to each.
Garnish with scallions and watercress.
Scatter the remaining egg white (from the dressing) and some chopped parsley over the salad.
Put a tiny bowl of cream dressing in the centre of each plate and serve immediately, while the salad is crisp and before the beetroot starts to run.
Alternatively, serve the dressing from one large bowl.
Roast Rhubarb
I’ve become a huge fan of the sweet and intense flavour of roast rhubarb.
Serves 6
900g rhubarb
200-250g sugar
Method
Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400F/Gas Mark 6.
Slice the rhubarb into 2 1/2cm (1 inch) pieces and arrange in a single layer in a medium size oven proof dish.
Scatter the sugar over the rhubarb and allow to macerate for an hour or more, until the juice starts to run.
Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and roast in the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes depending on the thickness of the stalks - until the rhubarb is just tender.
Serve alone or with ice-cream, panna cotta, labneh or thick Jersey cream.
Pan-grilled Spring Onions
I'm absolutely not a gadget person so I tend to keep kitchen equipment to essential to avoid clutter, however one good buy in my book is what we call a pan-grill.
This is a black ridged cast iron pan which I find gives a super result for vegetables, fish meat and polenta. For me it’s one of the few bits of indispensable kitchen equipment.
Serves 6
18 Spring onions or scallions
3 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt
Method
Wash the spring onions, trim the root ends and cut into 6-inch (15cm) lengths approx. Drizzle with oil, season with salt and freshly ground pepper and toss on a preheated pan-grill
Cook on a medium heat until golden on one side, turn and allow to cook on the other side.
Serve hot as part of a vegetable plate with grilled fish or meat.