YES to autumn/winter bakes! Not that I stop baking over summer and the warmer days but I think warm baked food is essential for surviving the cooler days!
I’ve been a bit quiet on here recently unfortunately it’s been hard to keep up with preparation for my 2 month trip in a couple weeks, the culinary tour in Ukraine, planning my wedding in Spain, work and creating recipes and then juggling property hunting (we were so close!!) and of course other daily life chores. I keep trying to SLOW down..and I find the only 2 ways to do that is EXERCISE AND COOKING, and sleep of course. Those two things really give me clarity – the exercise is a break from thinking 100 things in half an hour and the cooking…well it’s like meditation..and chopping an onion has never ever been so satisfying as it has been recently.
Anyway – lets talk about this recipe! Cauliflower is the best, I love exploring its potential. It can be used in so many ways! I also have a big love for white creamy cheeses, and I’m really over hearing that cheese and dairy isn’t good for us. Perhaps for some yes but I eat it and feel great, but only the best quality!! In fact lots of the cheese I buy is organic and farmed ethically. That is really important as the animals need to be taken care of, loved, have lots of movement and sunshine AND be provided with nutritious natural feeds – not feeds containing soy and other harmful ingredients that have been genetically modified.
I’ll actually be posting an article very shortly about my friends dairy farm 3 hours north from Sydney so I’ll chat more about the topic of organic dairy then! Anyway, this recipe has cheese, cauliflower and silverbeet. I don’t cook nearly enough with silverbeet but it is a spinach so it can be treated the same way. The main cheese here is quark. I only discovered it last year, can’t recall exactly when BUT wow, it’s so good for everything savoury and sweet, and I love this one from Harris Farm that is by Barambah organics. Harris Farm have such a great selection of good quality cheese from Australia and overseas!
Anyway try this cauliflower recipe!! It works well as a weeknight meal side with some roasted lamb, lemon mediterranean chicken or other vegetable dishes!
Cheesy cauliflower silverbeet bake
Serves: 5-6 as a side dish
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45-55 minutes
Ingredients:
1 x large whole cauliflower
4 x silverbeet leaves
1/2 cup pure cream
200g feta cheese
300g organic quark cheese (Barambah)
ghee or butter
salt
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
- Remove the large outside leaves and thick stalks from the cauliflower (see tip below). Cut off the large stem and the core as much as possible and then using your hands separate the cauliflower florets – they will all be different shapes and sizes.
- Cut off any more of the stem as much as possible so that the large cauliflower florets can be placed upright when baking.
- Heat a pan and melt some ghee or butter. Cook the tops of the larger cauliflower florets until golden brown then set aside. Cook the smaller cauliflower florets until lightly golden as well and set aside.
- Cut off the bottom stems of the silverbeet but keep most of it as they are full of juice then roughly chop the silverbeet leaves crossways 1 cm thick.
- Arrange a bed of silverbeet on the base of a deep skillet or other pot suitable for baking.
- Arrange the cauliflower florets over the silverbeet, filling any spaces with cauliflower and covering the silverbeet.
- In a food processor combine the pure cream, feta, quark and season with salt.
- Use a spoon or spatula to roughly spread this creamy and cheesy mixture over the cauliflower and silverbeet then place into the oven and bake for 45-55 minutes depending how golden and crispy you would like the top surface and how well cooked you would like the cauliflower.
Enjoy!
Tip:
Keep the cauliflower leaves as they are edible. Place into a container for storage and use to roast cauliflower chips or add them to any roast. You can even grill them and top with fresh yoghurt and pomegranate to create a great side!
Created with Harris Farm Markets
Anastasia
xx