‘The Dirty Dishes: 100 Fast and Delicious Recipes by Isaac Carew, Published by Bluebird, RRP $39.99’ 

Cauliflower cakes
“This is a twist on a potato rosti I used to make when I was a Saturday boy for my dad in the restaurant. One of my jobs was grating about a million potatoes to make crispy potato rostis. The amount of time and finesse it took to get the rostis perfectly crisp and brown on either side . . . I have never concentrated on something so much in my life! Having said that, these are really simple to cook. Just watch out for the water content in the cauliflower mixture before you start frying because you don’t want it to be too soggy.” p. 180

serves 2

sea salt
1 x 500g head of cauliflower, cored
and cut into florets
olive oil, for frying
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp smoked paprika
40g strong flour
50g vegan hard cheese, grated
15g chives, chopped
pinch of smoked sea salt (optional)

To serve
green salad
dollop of dirty chilli sauce

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil over a medium heat. Add the cauliflower and boil for 3 minutes.
Drain, then set aside to stand for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, hit a saucepan with a small amount of olive oil and sweat the onion for 2 minutes. Add the
garlic and smoked paprika and sweat for another 3 minutes.

Add the cauliflower to the onion and stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute.

Either transfer the mixture to a food processor and pulse for 10 seconds, or chop the mixture until
fine on a chopping board. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the vegan hard cheese, chives and a
pinch of smoked sea salt, if using.

Form the cauliflower into 6–8 cakes. Either fry them in a splash of oil for 3 minutes on each side and
serve straightaway, or make the cakes in advance and allow them to firm up in the fridge for an hour
before frying.

Serve with a simple salad and the dirty sauce

.
TIP Boiling the cauliflower partly cooks it, takes some of the bitterness away and makes it easier to
form into cakes.