12 Cauliflower Recipes: From Simple Roasts to Festive Wellingtons
Cauliflower, often overlooked, transforms into a culinary star when roasted, revealing sweet and nutty flavours. Boiling is a distant second, while roasting reigns supreme. In Australia, whole heads are affordable and can feed a family generously. Here are 12 recipes, from easy to ambitious, for filling dinners and lunch leftovers.
Meera Sodha’s Roast Cauliflower with Harissa Pilaf
This vegan dish combines florets with warm spices and fragrant baked rice, finished with fresh lemon juice. Using a purple cauliflower turns the florets bright pink with acid. You'll need two baking dishes and foil to cover them.
Rukmini Iyer’s Spiced Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas, Halloumi, and Lemony Bulgur
A double-tray recipe enhanced with chickpeas and halloumi for a substantial meal. It serves three or provides dinner for two plus lunchbox extras. Half a pomegranate, in season in Australia, pairs perfectly with the roasted cauliflower.
Alice Zaslavsky’s Chicken and Cauliflower Rissoles
Inspired by Georgian kotletki, these rissoles are rolled in panko for extra crunch. Using a quarter of a cauliflower with chicken mince results in juicier morsels, a spin-off from childhood favourites.
Thomasina Miers’ Crispy Cauliflower Steaks with Saffron Escabeche
Polenta coats these cauliflower steaks, which are flash-fried, roasted, and served with an escabeche made from floret offcuts. A plant-based delight with no animal products in sight.
Felicity Cloake’s Cauliflower Cheese
Cauliflower is boiled, fried in butter, and grilled in a cheese sauce until golden and bubbling. Lancashire cheese is ideal, but cheddar, gruyere, or red leicester work too. For variation, Tom Hunt's recipe uses a whole head with turmeric and mustard for an orange hue.
Meera Sodha’s Cauliflower Korma
This vegan korma uses two large cauliflowers (1.6kg total) for a creamy dish without dairy. Inspired by a Brick Lane curry house, it replicates traditional creaminess with non-dairy milk like unsweetened soy.
Tony Tan’s Whole Roasted Char Siu Cauliflower
Combining sweet and smoky char siu flavours with roasted vegetable, this recipe involves simmering the head, blending the marinade, and smearing it before baking. The result is an alluring burgundy colour.
Felicity Cloake’s Aloo Gobi
Frying potato and cauliflower before frizzling onions adds Maillard reaction flavour. Use waxy potatoes like Dutch creams in Australia. Stir in lime juice at the end for a fresh touch.
Georgina Hayden’s Cauliflower, Lentils, and Chorizo Warm Salad
A quick and easy recipe using tinned lentils for convenience. It's perfect for leftovers and makes a hearty lunch option without the hassle of boiling dried legumes.
Ravinder Bhogal’s Whole Roast Cauliflower Wellington with Cheese Sauce
A festive masterpiece combining roasted cauliflower with a mushroom and chestnut mixture, wrapped in butter puff pastry and served with mustard-spiked cheese sauce. Allow nearly two and a half hours for this weekend special.
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Curried Cauliflower Cheese Filo Pie
With cheddar, butter, and milk, this pie offers wintertime comfort. After baking, rest it for at least 15 minutes to avoid burning your mouth on the molten filling.
Sophie Wyburd’s Cauliflower Cheese Risotto
Half the cauliflower is roasted, while the other half is grated for a soffritto. Stir in hot stock slowly over 30 minutes for a creamy risotto, a worthy alternative to cauliflower rice.
