4 ways to take cauliflower to the next level

Cauliflower is hot right now. If the only way you eat it is boiled, smothered in cheese sauce, try one of these trendy methods.

Roast it

Whole roasted cauliflower takes on any flavour and looks beautiful. It can be as simple as rubbing it with something, such as herbs and oil, a sauce, or a pre-made paste, eg red curry, tikka masala, then baking it. Some chefs recommend putting a dish of water in the bottom of the oven to help steam the centre, then browning the outside until crispy under the grill as you finish cooking.

Fry or deep fry it

Like the tacos on our cover, smother cauliflower in a light (or thick) batter and fry it, and you get a great crunchy texture. Most fried cauliflower recipes add spices, garlic, or other flavourings to the batter mix.

Make rice

It doesn't get much easier than whizzing raw cauliflower in a food processor until light and fluffy. You can eat it raw, mixed into a salad, or you can cook it with a little olive oil or butter and salt to get something quite close to hot rice. Tastes fabulous.

Use it as a pizza base

There are a variety of ways to turn cauliflower into a crisp, crunchy pizza base. Some involve steaming it first. Others whizz the raw florets into rice, often with added extras such as almonds, almond flour, oats, garlic, herbs, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Add an egg to bind it, then cook in a hot oven until crispy. It tastes amazing and is gluten-free if you avoid using gluten flour.