In Season - April

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is so savoury, so delicate - when roasted, these beautifully nutty flavours emerge. It's a much-maligned vegetable, often reduced to a vehicle for other flavours or over-boiled to mush. But I've been playing around with textures: first roasting the florets, then deep-frying in a very light, crispy batter and tossing with white miso and cured lime dressing. My mum used to make a Middle Eastern dish of rice with toasted almonds and deep-fried cauliflower, so it channels those memories. We've aksi been using it as a lacto-ferment. At first it's pungent, but once fully fermented and thinly sliced, it makes a bright carpaccio. I serve it with a smoked almond beurre noisette, fresh parsley and shatta (fermented chillies), either as a dish in its own right or with trout.