How to Gussy Up Cauliflower

Make this dressing in a pestle and mortar as there is too little to make in a processor. Combine 6 anchovies with an egg yolk or two and about 4 tblspns seedy mustard and black pepper. Pestle away until it has made a paste. Then stir in lemon juice and olive oil to taste. 

Break the cauliflower into florets and steam until just cooked but still firm. Spread on a serving dish and drizzle (I don’t like this word, but it is hard to think of another in this context) over the dressing, serving at once. 

If this is too much trouble, try drizzling over some melted butter and scattering with toasted almonds. Or melted butter and grated Gruyere. The flavour of organic cauliflower is excellent on its own as well.

Salads for February

You've heard the expression wet lettuce? Well there is something about lettuce and February that simply doesn't fit. OK, for my teenage son - a serious salad addict - yes, but for the rest of us, bulking up a salad is essential to meet the challenge of chill grey days. So, start with potatoes and beans - fresh or frozen:

Steam potatoes in their skins, and peel while still warm because it is easier. Chill and then cut into rough cubes. Dress them in a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice and finely chopped parsley and chives if you have them. Trim and cut up the beans and steam them until just done but still firm. Wash dry and tear up any leaves you might have like lettuce or frisee. Grill or fry a couple of slices of smoked bacon until crisp and crumble it, if you like – but the salad is very nice without. Make a dressing with a crushed clove of garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil and seasonings. Combine beans and potato and dress them. Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves, with crumbled bacon over the top. Crumbled salty fetta cheese would be an option as well.

An extension of this would be Salade Nicoise. Combine lettuce, cooked beans and potatoes, slices of onion, hard boiled eggs, anchovy fillets and best tinned tuna. Toss in the same dressing. Or you could sear on a hot griddle pann some thin slices of fresh tuna and serve them on top of the bean, potato and lettuce salad with a few fine slices of onion.

Aubergine & Roast Tomato Salad

tomatoes Slice aubergine crossways, and sprinkle with salt, leaving to drain in a colander for an hour or so. Lightly oil a griddle pan, preferably with raised bumps for a nice charred pattern, and toast the aubergine slices on both sides until soft. Set aside. Cut plum tomatoes in half lengthways, and roast in the oven with a little olive oil and herbs until slightly blackened. Crumble some feta cheese and wash green leaves. Make a dressing with lemon juice, a trace of garlic, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil. Assemble leaves on the plate, piling the other vegetables on top artistically, and sprinkling with the cheese. Dress at the last minute with the dressing. Good first course.

Tahini Salad Dressing

Blend a couple of tblspns tahini (sesame paste) with the same amount of water, a clove of garlic, a small chopped onion, salt, pepper and lemon juice until creamy. Makes a good dip for carrot sticks, sliced sweet peppers, tomato wedges and cauliflower florets as well.

Tofu Mayonnaise

Blend tofu with a garlic clove and seasoning, plus a couple of tblspns sunflower or grapeseed oil. Season with lemon juice or white wine vinegar to taste. Makes an excellent dip with raw vegetables.

Salad Facon Maman Blanc

This is one of those delicious salads that are served simply as a matter of course in French provincial restaurants. Raymond Blanc is miraculously self taught, but his mother and grandmother, with their in-built culinary excellence, have served as inspiration at the very least. Whisk together 1 tblpsn tarragon wine vinegar, with 3 tblspns grapeseed or peanut oil and one of hazelnut oil, plus salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the dressing into a large bowl. Add plenty of torn lettuce of different varieties if possible. Scatter over grated Gruyere, slivers of ham, sliced mushrooms, and a handful of toasted hazelnuts that you have lightly crushed. Toast hazelnuts in the oven, watching like a hawk, until just golden, then crush in a pestle and mortar. You could make this salad just with the cheese and nuts and leave out the ham. Toss and serve immediately.

Anyone bored of vinaigrette?

Try these alternatives:

Creamy Lemon Pepper Mix together plain low-fat bio-yoghurt with fresh lemon juice, salt and fresh black pepper to taste. Very low fat. Use immediately.

Mango Madness Best Indian mangos are getting a little ripe now, so this is a good use for them. Peel and cut one up, removing seed. Whizz with 1 tblspn sesame oil, 1 tblspn grape seed oil, 2 tblspns rice vinegar, 1/2 tsp curry powder. Store in a jar in the fridge.

Hazelnut Vinaigrette Mix champagne vinegar and hazelnut oil together to taste, and season only with salt and pepper. This is an incredible flavour with crisp lettuce on its own