Mon petit chou-fleur

What do you do with the cauliflower that no one wants to eat?

Last year my household nearly died of cauliflower. I mean, truly. No one choked on a floret or developed a life-threatening brassica allergy; cauliflowers didn’t rain from the sky in a veganised end-of-days or assume human form and threaten us with bodily harm, but oh boy, we ate so much of it. Cauliflowers were cheap and plentiful and so I bought one every Sunday at the market even though they were also omnipresent in every vegetable box I ordered.

Ghost broccoli (you’ll need to have watched Wellington Paranormal to get this oblique reference)

It was fine at first. I made The Salty Pidgin’s addictive crispy cauliflower, I roasted it in various salads (like this one - which is still great!) and we ate a version of Nagi’s cauliflower cheese steaks. I even made a cauliflower version of Coronation Chicken! But week in, week out, the other members of my household started to look less than thrilled when ‘something something cauliflower’ was the answer to ‘what’s for dinner?’ It felt like a curse.

So we’ve been on a largely cauli-free diet since then, but last weekend I fell off the wagon and bought a massive $3 specimen at the market. It sat in the fridge ever since, occupying far too much space and looking at me accusingly. Rather than face another week of this torture, I’ve just turned it into soup.

Cauliflower and blue cheese soup

This recipe (a version of which appears in the Brassicas section of Homecooked) is like a magic trick because it wins over people who loathe a) cauliflower and/or b) blue cheese. It’s super easy, doesn’t require anything fancy, freezes well - and removes all traces of cauliflower buyer’s remorse. I’ve specified half a cauliflower below, but you can easily use a whole one if you add a bit more stock. Don’t skip the lemon juice, you really need the acidity to balance the richness.

Makes about 1.5 litres, easily enough for 4

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, peeled and sliced

½ a large cauliflower, broken into small florets

½ tsp ground turmeric

3 cups vegetable stock

100g blue cheese

Freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon

Set a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the oil, followed by the onion, garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Sauté for five minutes, until the onion is soft but not coloured. Add turmeric and cauliflower and cook, stirring often, for another five minutes. Add the stock and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, until cauliflower is tender. Drop in two-thirds of the cheese, then remove the pot from the heat.

Using a blender or a stick blender, puree the soup until smooth (you’ll have to do this in batches if using a blender). Return the soup to the pot and add the lemon juice. Taste and adjust the seasoning – it’s unlikely to need any salt, but will benefit from some cracked black pepper. Reheat to simmering point, then divide between bowls and crumble the remaining cheese on top. Serve immediately.

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Good Things

Delirious

I didn’t quite make it through reading all the Ockham Book Awards shortlist before they were announced last week, but I have read Delirious by Damian Wilkins, which won the big prize. In case you’re wondering, I think it’s a deserved winner. (The others I read, The Mires by Tina Makereti, and Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu, are also excellent.)

Bennetto Dark Salted Caramel

Another day, another dark salted caramel chocolate… but this one is worth looking out for. As if the fetching wrapper wasn’t enough, this is beautiful silky chocolate, punctuated by crunchy caramel and salt flakes. It’s made in Christchurch by Lucy Bennetto, a former English teacher who has a thing for chocolate. I got a bar recently for judging a work bake-off and forgot all about it until last Friday, when I pulled it out of my bag and nearly ate the whole thing by myself in an afternoon.

Not-so-Humble Flour

I was pretty excited to discover this at the store today - and not just because of the pretty packaging. Decent wholemeal flour is the lifeblood of my sourdough starter, but it can be hard to find anything grown and milled in Aotearoa. Humble Flour Co’s flours are locally produced (as opposed to just packaged here) from spray-free grains. Here’s hoping they can make a go of it.

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Next time on Fancy Butter… I honestly have no idea, but I’ll be able to tell you what I think of the new Mission Impossible because I’m running out the door to see it right now!