RECIPE: Puree, Level 4- Cauliflower Puree

The perfect bed for some roasted veggies or a rich meat recipe to round out the flavours and bring a light but warm hug to the dish 🥰☁️

Cauliflower puree with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and roasted kale.

I stumbled into making a cauliflower puree when I was making the lamb meatballs. I thought that the other starchy root vegetables such as potato or sweet potato would be too heavy and I wanted a light taste to subtly support, cradle, cuddle (call it what you want) the beautiful richness of the lamb. 

Truth be told, I love cauliflower on any day of the week so it stands to reason that I love it as a substitute or alternative side dish. I've prepared cauliflower before on The Fourth Place as Level 6 Soft and Bite Size and Level 7 Regular Easy to Chew, and it's an easy vegetable to replicate and adapt with different sauces and cooking methods. My take on the puree today is that I wanted a 🔥roasted🔥 flavour to come through and so decided to oven bake the cauli rather than steam or boil it. I also drizzled it with olive oil to give it a silky texture and the flavours beautifully lined up with the lamb meatballs I served them with. 

When you're pureeing cauliflower, it's almost easier than preparing it in other ways because you don't have to be so concerned about the cauliflower florets and the cauliflower stem being cooked differently and coming out as different textures, you just have to make sure that ALL of it is sufficiently cooked and soft to be easily blended. And heaven forbid we don't use all of the cauliflower. We are "No to waste" here at The Fourth Place. 

If I was pairing the cauliflower with a different kind of meat or cuisine, then I might consider adding some dairy to make it creamy, kind of like mash potato, but I felt that in this context, this was not dairy's place. Instead, I chose to keep it light but elevate the flavour by adding a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and a punch of colour. You could do this with any sauce or flavoured liquid really, such as balsamic glaze, honey, chilli oil or flavoured fruit sauces depending on the other flavours in the meal or depending on the kind of cuisine you are cooking. But I wanted the pomegranate molasses to match the sweetness of the barberry's I used in the lamb so it was very strategic. 

🥬 The roasted cavolo nero (kale) I garnished the cauliflower puree with was a personal choice. It's one of my favourite side serves/garnishes/snacks but it is absolutely not a puree option. Although, it did give a nice little pop to the dish. This kind of garnishing is fine if you are using the puree as a bed to a more solid textured meal such as Level 7- Regular or Regular Easy to Chew, however, it's best to stick with sauces and spices to garnish the puree if you're working with modified foods so as to keep the choking risk down.

Of course the size of the cauliflower is going to impact the serving size. Go for a large cauli for some generous portions, or two small ones. Otherwise I moderate sized one will get you far enough for four people..

Cauliflower Puree

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower, cut up

⅔ - 1 cup of water

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Wash and cut the cauliflower into chunks of about 5cm or smaller.

2. Drizzle with olive and season with salt and pepper.

3. Spread out onto a baking tray and bake in a moderate oven for approximately 30 minutes or until soft enough to penetrate easily with a fork.

4. Allow to cool slightly before adding to a blender, or a bowl with a stick blender. Slowly add the water bit by bit and blend until you reach a smooth puree consistency. 

5. Further season with salt and pepper to your taste before serving. 

Spread that bed of puree before you dollop your main on top, and finish with a dash of your favourite sauce or herb... yum! 🥰😋✨