Whole Roast Cauliflower, Carrot Skin Dukkah and Carrot Pesto Yoghurt
Thu, 19 May 2022
A simple and delicious way to eat cauliflower, making it the star of the show and incorporating your zerowaste Dukkah and carrot top pesto.
Ingredients
1.0kg whole cauliflower
100g Dukkah
100floz rapeseed Oil
½ a lemon zest
2 tbsp Carrot top pesto
Yoghurt Dressing
100ml natural yoghurt
½ lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Preheat your oven to 200C
Slice across the base of the cauliflower so that it sits upright, leaving the smaller leaves attached. The bigger leaves and stems will be roasted
Place the whole cauliflower into a steamer and steam for 15 minutes or blanch in a pot of boiling water and cool with ice cold water.
Mix the dukkah and ½ the rapeseed oil together in a bowl
Put the cauliflower onto a roasting tray, then evenly coat the top with the dukkah mixture, season with sea salt and drizzle over the rest of rapeseed oil. Place into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the dressing, mix the yoghurt and lemon together in a bowl, season with salt and pepper and mix together well.
Remove the cauliflower from the oven and place onto a serving platter. Spoon over the yoghurt dressing and then the carrot top pesto
Enjoy
Carrot skin Dukkah:
Fantastic recipe to use up vegetable skins and leaves you with a great seasoning to finish and season dishes with.
Ingredients
50g Nuts – you can use any nuts here that you have in your cupboard, a great way to use ends of packets etc.
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
20g vegetable skins (works best with carrot, parsnip or even onion)
Method
Lay your carrot skins on a roasting tray and place in your oven at 50C for 30 minutes or until the skins are dried. Once cooled then place in your Kenwood blender and put on high speed until it’s chopped fine
Increase your oven to 180C. Mix everything else together in a bowl then spread over another baking tray and cook for 8-10 mins until the dukkah looks toasted.
Put the toasted nuts and seeds into a food processor and pulse 2/3 times, or pestle & mortar (you want them to be chopped but not smooth)
Add in your toasted carrot skins and mix through by hand, place in a sealed container until needed.
Carrot top pesto:
If you’re lucky enough to have access to a farmer’s market, you’ll see lovely bunches of fresh whole carrots (including the delicious tops), and now more and more supermarkets are starting to sell them. This also gives you more for your money, as the tops are delicious in salads, pastas and spread on top of warm bread. Here is a simple recipe for a pesto that is a great condiment in any kitchen.
Ingredients
1 peeled clove garlic
½ a freshly-squeezed lemon and rind
carrot tops from 1 large bunch of carrots (remove the thick stalks and chop them separately)
small bunch of fresh mint leaves or basil leaves
4 scallions (spring onions)
2oz of nuts
3tbsp rapeseed oil
Method
Blanch the carrot tops and stems. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Have a bowl with ice cubes and cold water in it ready. Once boiling, add the carrot tops and chopped stems to the pot. Cook for 3 minutes or until bright green and tender. Remove from the pot, drain the hot water, and add the carrot tops and stems to the ice cube bowl to stop the cooking process.
Remove the carrot tops and stems from the cold water, squeeze out any excess liquid, and spread them on a chopping board to dry slightly.
Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the oil) into your food processor. Blend into chunky paste. Add the rapeseed oil a little at a time until all is combined. Season to taste with salt, pepper