Remember the comfort blanket mashed potato?  Well recently I’ve fallen in love with a fantastic substitute in mashed cauliflower.  Yes Cauliflower, that weird white cruciferous veg which on it’s own I have always struggled to enjoy (except when drowned in a cheese sauce that is).    This is so simple to do, and with a few canny flavour infusions you can create a delicious comforting side dish for any meal.

Here’s how: Steam the cauliflower florets until tender, and drain well – The cauliflower can retain a lot of water and you don’t wan’t soggy mash.  Then if you want a more purée-like mash use a hand blender to create the mash.  If you’d rather a more chunkier texture then a food processor will create that, or even use a potato masher.  It’s that simple.

The simplest way I like to eat is with fresh garlic, some herbs, black pepper and a drizzle of coconut oil (added at the blending stage).  You can also top with shavings of creamed coconut.

Here I had a garlic, coconut oil mash with Gluten free 97% pork sausages, and steamed kale.

Here I added some dessicated coconut and fresh coriander to the mix which goes really well as an accompaniment to a curry (a pork mince, spinach and broccoli curry).

I also reckon a good dollop of fresh basil pesto would be a fantastic culinary combination.

You can also make ‘rice’ substitute with cauliflower and I hope to experiment with a Paella, Risotto and Kedgeree dish in the near future!