Cauliflower Three Ways

March23

Veg -centric dishes are often my choice when we dine at Winnipeg’s trendiest restaurants-Pizzeria Gusto, The Merchant Kitchen, Deer + Almond, Segovia and Enoteca. These are dishes that focus on flavour. Being meatless is secondary. Proteins are still included, but they’re more of a flavour enhancer. We spotted many such dishes on Scott Bagshaw’s Enoteca menu and finally decided upon the Roasted Cauliflower utilizing “cave aged” gruyere to intensify the taste. Panade added moisture, rough cut almonds provided crunch, orange segments the acidity and capers the saltiness.

We’ve included more veg-centric dishes in our own repertoire at home so recently when Carly Peters the editor of Local Fare Magazine (published on behalf of the Manitoba Restaurant Association) contacted me to see if I had any cauliflower recipes in my repertoire, the answer was an immediate “yes”.

Our son and his wife (known as J1 and J2 in this space), were the first to introduce us to Buffalo Florets. We were all up at the beach house and they were on dinner duty. They served roasted cauliflower that had been tossed in Frank’s Hot Sauce and then roasted again, as an appetizer course. Loving Buffalo wings but not the calories and fat, we got a kick out of this alternate. When Carly and her photographer arrived to photograph this dish, I had prepared carrots and celery sticks to dip into blue cheese dressing to offset the fieriness of the hot sauce.

Curried Cauliflower is a take off on one of our families’ favourite casseroles-The Best of Bridge’s Classy Chicken. A mixture of mayonnaise, lemon juice, cheese and curry powder smothers a crown of cauliflower and then buttered panko flakes add some crunch.