Whole roasted cauliflower with red wine, shallots & wheatberries
- Preparation and cooking time
- Prep:
- Cook:
- Easy
- Serves 4
For vegetarians, cauliflower is veg patch royalty. This dish captures all that is right about the marriage of grains and vegetables
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower , outer leaves removed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 3 large banana shallots , quartered
- 4 Portobello mushrooms , sliced
- 2 tsp thyme leaves
- 1 garlic clove , crushed
- 150ml red wine
- 100g young leaf spinach
- 350g wheatberries
- 1l hot vegetable stock
- 50g hazelnuts (skin on), roughly chopped
- ½ tsp crushed pink peppercorns
- 50g vegetarian parmesan , finely grated
Method
- STEP 1
Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Sit the cauliflower head upside down on a chopping board and cut the tough stem away. Leave some of the base so that the cauliflower remains intact.
- STEP 2
Heat the oil in a large flameproof casserole dish on a low-medium heat. Add the mustard seeds and, once they begin to ‘pop’, add the shallots. Fry gently for 4-5 mins until starting to caramelise, then add the mushrooms, thyme and garlic, and cook for a further 4-5 mins, stirring every so often. Pour in the wine and reduce by half. Stir in the spinach and allow the leaves to wilt.
- STEP 3
Next, add the wheatberries, season well and combine. Make a well in the centre and put the cauliflower in the middle. Pour the stock around – not over – the caulifower, then season.
- STEP 4
Cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 50 mins-1 hr until the cauliflower and wheatberries are tender. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the hazelnuts, peppercorns and Parmesan over the cauliflower. Return to the oven for a further 5 mins, then serve.
