Cauliflower is a humble vegetable. But for many years, this easy-on-the-wallet veggie was mistreated, served to generations of families boiled or steamed with nary a seasoning or condiment in sight. Thankfully that’s changed in recent years. Now the brassica’s mild and nutty flavour, firm texture, and craggy florets are being used as the perfect vehicle for an array of flavours. While big hunks of meat or pretty plates of pasta make lovely centrepieces at a dinner party, cauliflower is just as impactful. (Who here among us hasn’t gasped as a big head of the stuff has arrived at the table, golden with char or drizzled in a glorious sauce?)
These recipes make the most of this endlessly versatile, budget-friendly brassica in all sorts of ways – with various spins on classic cauliflower cheese, jazzed up with spices and made extra comforting with the addition of carbs. Try these 11
dishes out, and you’ll realise you definitely can win friends with cauliflower.
You might never look at a cauliflower the same way after whipping up this ultra-cheesy recipe from Use It All, a cookbook from Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards of Sydney’s Cornersmith. As the book’s name suggests, it’s all about cutting back on waste – and this satisfying bake uses every element of the cauli, from its head to its leaves and stems. The end result is a golden-brown fusion of rich bechamel cheese sauce and smooth, velvety cauliflower (plus the satisfaction found in ensuring no part of the vegetable goes near the garbage bin).
Three ingredients – baby cauliflower (leaves remain on), Atlantic sea salt and olive oil – is all it takes to make this roasted baby cauliflower from Miznon, a group of diners spread across the world, including an outpost in Melbourne. It’s oh-so-simple, but makes for an extremely handsome centerpiece for a dinner party.
As Cornersmith’s bake proves, cauliflower and cheese are great bedfellows. Yotam Ottolenghi and Noor Murad (co-author of Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love) keep the cheesy-cauliflower dream alive with this hot mess of a filo pie. It’s essentially a cauliflower cheese in pie form, given extra impact with English mustard and curry powder, as well as a bit of lemon zest at the end for a little acid to cut through the richness. Ottolenghi and Murad say it’s the ultimate comfort food. Who are we to say they’re wrong?
The mild flavour of cauliflower makes it the perfect medium for high-octane flavours like miso, which is the star of this beautiful dish from former Tokyo Tina chef Sushil Aryal, who says cauli makes an ace meat substitute. But the dish doesn’t just rely on miso for its big delicious factor: the cauliflower sits in a pool of walnut and tofu emulsion, is dusted with furikake, and finished off with zesty coriander and spring onions. Cue the “oohs” from your dinner-party guests.
While a whole cauliflower makes a gorgeous centrepiece, we’re pretty sure you’ll receive no complaints when you plate up these fried morsels packing big flavour thanks to curry leaves, Kashmiri curry powder and chilli powder. The coconut chutney served alongside amps up the taste of these golden florets even further. And, just like cauliflower itself, this dish is extraordinarily versatile. Use coconut yoghurt in place of the chutney if you’re catering for a vegan crowd, or evolve it into a breakfast dish by adding fried or scrambled eggs.
Nomad executive chef Jacqui Challinor knows her way around a vegetable; they’re often menu highlights at Nomad in both Sydney and Melbourne. And this heavy-hitter is no different. It harnesses fire and smoke for a lovely char set off with a zingy escabeche of currants and an earthy almond puree. While it’ll stun as a side, it’s just as impactful as the main event.
Ottolenghi might think his cauliflower cheese pie is the ultimate comfort food. But Darren Robertson, of Bondi all-day diner Rocker, is also on the record as saying this toastie is the “ultimate comfort food”. We’ll call it a draw. Here, classic cauliflower cheese is made with a trio of fromage (aged cheddar, parmesan and Emmenthaler) and slammed between two slices of sourdough, bringing together the easy joys of a toastie with the cheesy joys of cauliflower cheese.
Crunchy and creamy – though still defiantly vegan – this salad from US chef Molly Baz stars cauliflower two ways. There's caramelised and craggy roast cauliflower that helps scoop up the ranch dressing, then there's raw cauliflower for crunchy contrast. The whole thing is amped up with a tofu-based dressing, heaving with herbs and miso, and jalapeno for a hit of extra fire.
We can almost guarantee you will win friends with this wholesome and hearty cauliflower and tahini salad from Melbourne institution Brunswick Street Alimentari. It’s a crunchy, textural beauty bursting with fresh herbs and juicy currants. The finishing flourish? A wonderfully creamy, zesty dressing that brings together tahini, Greek yoghurt and lemon for plenty of souped-up flavour.
Roasted cauliflower with yoghurt has become a familiar sight in recent years. What takes Bar Lourinhã’s version of the brassica dish above and beyond is the tang of buttermilk, as well as a clutch of flavour-enhancing spices: nigella, fennel seeds, red Aleppo pepper and urfa biber, a dried Turkish chilli. It makes for the perfect side for a dinner party, or an unexpected main dish.
Iconic Adelaide restaurant Lucia’s may have played a big part in introducing the city to pizza in the 1950s – but this cauliflower fritter, which often appears in salad specials, holds its own on the menu. Shallow frying means the fritti are unexpectedly light, equalling a perfect pre-dinner snack. Its Parmigiano Reggiano-spiked batter make these fritti extra special.
