12 Main-Course Cauliflower Recipes: From Easy to Ambitious
Cauliflower, often overlooked, transforms into a culinary star when roasted to bring out its sweet and nutty flavors. In Australia, whole heads are currently affordable and can feed a family. This collection offers 12 recipes, ranging from quick roasts to elaborate centerpieces, perfect for dinners with leftovers for lunch.
Meera Sodha’s Roast Cauliflower with Harissa Pilaf
This vegan recipe combines cauliflower florets with warm spices and fragrant baked rice, finished with fresh lemon juice. Using a purple cauliflower turns the florets bright pink when acid is added. You'll need two baking dishes and foil to cover them.
Rukmini Iyer’s Spiced Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas, Halloumi, and Lemony Bulgur
A double-tray recipe that serves three or provides dinner for two plus lunch leftovers. It features chickpeas and halloumi for a hearty meal, with half a pomegranate adding seasonal flair in Australia.
Alice Zaslavsky’s Chicken and Cauliflower Rissoles
Inspired by Georgian kotletki, these rissoles use a quarter of a cauliflower mixed with chicken mince for juiciness, coated in panko for extra crunch.
Thomasina Miers’ Crispy Cauliflower Steaks with Saffron Escabeche
Coated in polenta, these steaks are flash-fried and roasted, served with an escabeche made from floret offcuts, offering a meat-free alternative.
Felicity Cloake’s Cauliflower Cheese
A classic dish where cauliflower is boiled, fried in butter, and grilled in a cheese sauce until golden. Variations include Tom Hunt's recipe using a whole head with turmeric and red leicester for an orange hue.
Meera Sodha’s Cauliflower Korma
This vegan recipe uses 1.6kg of cauliflower to replicate korma's creaminess without dairy, inspired by a Brick Lane curry house. Unsweetened soy milk is recommended for a creamy texture.
Tony Tan’s Whole Roasted Char Siu Cauliflower
Simmer the cauliflower, blitz a marinade with char siu flavors, and roast for a burgundy-colored, smoky-sweet dish.
Felicity Cloake’s Aloo Gobi
Frying potatoes and cauliflower before adding onions enhances flavor through the Maillard reaction. Use waxy potatoes like Dutch creams in Australia for best results.
Georgina Hayden’s Cauliflower, Lentils, and Chorizo Warm Salad
A quick and easy recipe using tinned lentils, perfect for leftovers. It combines cauliflower with chorizo for a flavorful salad.
Ravinder Bhogal’s Whole Roast Cauliflower Wellington with Cheese Sauce
An ambitious dish taking nearly 2.5 hours, featuring a roasted cauliflower coated in mushroom and chestnut mixture, wrapped in puff pastry, and served with mustard-spiked cheese sauce.
Yotam Ottolenghi’s Curried Cauliflower Cheese Filo Pie
A comfort food pie with cheddar, butter, and milk, requiring at least 15 minutes of rest after baking to avoid burns from the molten filling.
Sophie Wyburd’s Cauliflower Cheese Risotto
Half the cauliflower is roasted, half grated for a soffritto, with hot stock added slowly over 30 minutes for a creamy risotto, avoiding the pitfalls of cauliflower rice.
