Posh Vegetarian nosh with... cabbage

The glorious cabbage - another humble vegetable that is disliked by people up and down the nation. Like the cauliflower yesterday, this cabbage was also grown in Lincolnshire, England.

So what was I going to with this Savoy Cabbage - the King of cabbages? I decided on doing something that would not be too labouring, after all it's Friday evening and I don't want to be in the kitchen all evening. I decided on cooking the cabbage simply with garlic and pine nuts, and this was the final result.

This pretty plate of food had slices of roast potatoes, veggie pie and cabbage with garlic and pine nuts. It really was simple and actually quite delicious. Both the garlic and the pine nuts gave the cabbage a sweetness, to counter that bitterness you often get with winter cabbages.

Cabbage with garlic and pine nuts

Ingredients

1 small cabbage, sliced thinly

6 cloves of garlic, sliced
4 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of pine nuts

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Roast pine nuts in oven for 5 minutes, until slightly brown. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

Steam cabbage, until cooked. Drain and leave to cool.

In a large frying pan heat oil with garlic until infused. Then add cabbage stir well to coat in oil and cook for a few minutes until it is warmed through. Add seasoning to taste, along with pine nuts and stir well before serving.

I think next time, I may even use the cabbage cooked this way stirred into pasta. Now that's a thought.

Cooking with Cauliflower

Cauliflower is not to everyones taste, and it’s not to mine either. The one way I will eat cauliflower is if its an ingredient in Thai green curry. D loves cauliflower, it’s one of his favourite vegetables especially when I make my mothers vegetarian special: gobi, muttar and aloo salan also know as cauliflower, pea and potato curry. The smell of cooking cauliflower also puts people off. I have found that adding a bay leaf or two during the cooking process of cauliflower does somewhat reduce that smell lingering in the air.

Like many others am so bored of the usual cauliflower dishes such as cauliflower cheese, cauliflower soup or the chefy cauliflower puree, as a consequence other chefs and cooks have tried new ways to rejuvenate interest in the vegetable. An example is Ferran Adria's El Bulli cauliflower cous cous that has excited even the most accomplished of chefs.
So after some procrastination and looking into my cupboards for inspiration, this is what I decided on. Cauliflower, caper and chilli pasta. Exciting huh?

Cauliflower, caper and chilli pasta
Serves 2
Ingredients
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
7 - 8 tablespoons of olive oil
Small Cauliflower
1 tablespoon of capers, minced
1 teaspoon of chilli flakes or to taste
1- 2 tablespoons of black olives, chopped (optional)
Seasoning to taste
Chopped Parsley
Method
Cooked Pasta of choice, I used penne, but farfalle would be nice too,
In a large pot, put pasta onto cook until al dente. Drain.

Cut the cauliflower in half, and then in quarter. Now slice each quarter as thinly as you can, don’t worry about the small pieces of florets that fall off as your cutting the cauliflower, add this to the cooking as well.

In a large frying pan, add garlic to cold oil and heat up, till translucent and flavours begin to infuse, be careful not to brown the garlic.

Add chilli flakes and cauliflower slithers and cook for about 8 – 10 few minutes until you begin to smell the aromas and the cauliflower is beginning to cook through. Then stir the minced capers and olives and cook until well coated.

Tip in cooked pasta and parsley and stir thoroughly. Serve.

Mango or lime pickled roast potatoes

Also known as Achari Aloo. This was something my Dad used to make when we had our family version of Sunday roast dinner done the South Asian way. Dad also experimented with tandoori tikka masala coating. Yes with that awful red food dye. Fortunately the tikka masala potatoes did not work so well, good thing as I have avoided fake food colourings and unnatural dyes all my adult life.
Use any lime or mango pickle, but ensure that it has plenty of liquid. Try not and use too much of the mango or lime pieces, as these will only dry up on cooking, it is the oil these are preserved in that you really want to use to coat the potatoe

Mango or lime pickled roast potatoes
Serves 3 - 4 as an accompaniment
Ingredients
2lb potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons of lime or mango pickle
Preheat oven to gas mark 7.

Method
Boil the potatoes in a large pan with salted water to the boil, until the potatoes are almost cooked. Drain well.

Return the potatoes to the pan and gently sir in the oil and pickle.

Spread potatoes onto large baking tray (or two) and put in the preheated oven for 30 – 50 minutes until golden and crisp.

These can be served as part of a South Asian buffet or in place of rice.