Cauliflower risotto with almond parmesan crumb (Paleo and vegan friendly)

It’s funny how things can change so quickly. In April, I was happily planting dozens of home grown vegie seedlings and hundreds of seeds and garlic bulbs into my community garden plot, having spent the previous weekends digging a couple of tonnes of horse manure, mushroom compost and various other goodies into the soil.
Fast forward almost four months and there’s not much too see for all the effort, except for some happy garlic. I should have been harvested broccoli and cauliflower by the truckload by now, but the plants are still only 15cm tall. My broad bean plants have barely grown after emerging from the soil a month late, and I’ve just discovered cockies have destroyed a third of the sad little plants, apparently just for the fun of it. Thanks goodness for the backup brassica crop I planted in the backyard under a plastic greenhouse tent, so I can still enjoy home grown broccoli.
What this shows is that sometimes all the preparation and experience in the world doesn’t prevent failure in the garden, particularly when it’s hit by one of the longest and coldest winters in decades. I’ll start growing up seeds for summer in the next couple of weeks, so I can get them into the ground as soon as it’s warm and frost free. This way,  my summer crops should be done early enough to get next winter’s crops in nice and early.



Turning cauliflower into 'rice' takes literally seconds in the blender. Before...

...After

I did at least have a kind community garden neighbour gift me with one of their cauliflowers. The other option is, of course, to do what everybody else does and buy your vegies. When buying produce there’s a few great principles to follow:

• Buy seasonally – so you know it’s not travelled too far, is fresh and hasn’t lost its nutrients while spending months in cold storage.
• Buy local – farmers markets provide a wonderful opportunity to buy direct from a local farmer, ensuring that the profits go to the grower and not the supermarket. The produce will also likely be picked-yesterday fresh and there will usually be more organic options to choose from. If you need to buy from the supermarket, try to buy Australian (or whichever country you live in).
• Be environmental – buying from the farmers market or Australian produce at supermarkets also reduces the amount of transport miles required to get the food to you, which means less fuel and pollution.
• Buy organic – your environment and your body will thank you. The world’s bee population is under serious stress from the amount of pesticides being used in conventional farming, and those same chemicals are not particularly good for our own health either. Organic can cost more, so if you need to limit what you buy, choose produce that are typically the worst culprits for pesticides and other chemicals: apples, capsicum, blueberries, celery, grapes, cucumber, lettuce, nectarines, peaches, potatoes, strawberries and spinach. The cleanest conventional crops include watermelon, onions, cabbage, corn, pineapple, eggplant, peas, avocado, rockmelon, grapefruit, mushrooms, kiwifruit, asparagus, mango and sweet potato.

Lemon thyme, garlic and onion.

Back to that cauliflower – here’s a recipe that will see off the winter chill. The almond crumb really makes the dish sing.

Cauliflower risotto with mushrooms

Almond meal, smoked paprika, cumin, Himalayan salt.

Serves 2-3 people

½ head of cauliflower

1 onion, finely diced
½ stalk of celery, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 cup vegetable or chicken-flavoured stock

The leaves from several sprigs of thyme or lemon thyme

2 tbs olive oil, plus extra to serve
Salt and pepper

Almond “parmesan” crumb, to serve

¼ cup almond meal
1 tsp each of paprika and cumin, ½ tsp salt – vary quantities to taste
 
Put the cauliflower in the food processor and blend for 5-10 seconds or until it’s in rice-sized pieces and set aside.
In a clean dry frying pan, toast your almond meal and spices over a medium heat. Stir throughout and take off the heat once you’ve got a lovely brown colour (but before it burns – this can happen quickly). Empty into a small bowl. Note – you’ll only need a small amount of this topping but it will keep for ages and can be used to brighten up other savoury dishes.

Onion, celery and thyme.

Add the olive oil to the pan over a medium heat and gently sauté the thyme, onion and celery for three minutes, then add the garlic and continue to stir for a couple more minutes.
Turn the heat up to high, add the cauliflower and stir it to combine with the onion mix. Do this for a couple of minutes to toast the cauliflower slightly, then add the stock. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the stock has nearly gone and the cauliflower is a nice texture – not soft but al dente.
To serve, pile it up on a plate, drizzle a good olive oil over the top, sprinkle with the almond crumb and garnish with any leftover thyme leaves.