Mustard carrots, cauliflower & lentils
grownandgathered
On Saturday we officially launched our little book into the world. It was a truly incredible night for us, surrounded by beautiful friends, family and supporters. We honestly couldn't have imagined a more amazing night and wish you all could have fit into the amazing Pope Joan to help us celebrate.
For those who couldn't be there, Lentil shed some tears, we were truly overwhelmed by the love in the room, there were lots of spring flowers from the farm, an abundance of wine - including our own, food from our book (including a cake table, who doesn't love a cake table!), and lots of shared stories around the creation of the book.
Because you couldn't all be there, this week we are sharing a recipe for an awesome spring salad that we all enjoyed at the launch, one from the book. So you can create it at home, share it with your family, and feel like you were there too!
This salad is full of mustard, honey and carrots - that were just born to be together. Throw in cauliflower and lentils and you’ve got an incredible dish. Its flavour is grounded from the lentils and sharp from the lemon, and it packs a mustard punch. Combining vegetables with a pulse (peas, beans or lentils) always makes for a robust salad that carries enough depth to be eaten as a quick and super-healthy meal. We always have some cooked lentils or beans sitting in the fridge ready to go to add to salads like this.
On Saturday we enjoyed this with our G&G viognier spritzer (guide to making your own wine this season is in the book!!). But enjoy with any great white wine you have!
Enormous thanks go out to Matty Wilkinson for putting our recipes to the test and presenting everyone with an incredible feast and Lizette & Alan of Warialda Beef, the legends at Faire Ferments and Tahbilk Wines for donating such amazing pastrami, cider and wine respectively. It really made for a magical night.
Field notes
On growing cauliflowers.
You can grow cauliflowers all year round. Growing cauliflowers in peak summer can be a challenge, but with the right varieties and a whole lot of dill and garlic chives planted around them to ward off white cabbage moths, grubs and aphids, it’s absolutely possible.
Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main // Time 1 ¼ hours
Recipe.
Ingredients
½ head of cauliflower (about 400 g)
400 g Dutch carrots (or larger carrots cut to a similar size), trimmed to leave 1 cm of green stem
120 g mustard greens, coarsely chopped
1 ½ cups cooked puy lentils (as per preparation guide on page 147 of the book)
Mustard dressing
1 tablespoon yellow mustard seeds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon unprocessed honey
¼ preserved lemon (see page 212 of the book), finely chopped
Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
juice of 1 large lemon
unrefined salt
ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced.
For the dressing, grind the mustard seeds using a mortar and pestle until about half are ground and half are just cracked. Add the remaining dressing ingredients and continue to grind gently until combined.
Cut the cauliflower into rough 4 cm florets and 1 cm-thick slices of stem and add to a bowl with the carrots. Add the mustard dressing and combine thoroughly with your hands. Spread the vegetables out on a baking tray in a single layer and roast for 1 hour, or until the vegetables are super tender on the inside and just beginning to blacken around the edges.
Meanwhile, for the vinaigrette, place the oil and lemon juice in a jar, season to taste, seal with the lid and shake well.
Place the mustard greens in a serving bowl, pour over the vinaigrette and roughly massage with your hands to bruise the leaves. Add the lentils and toss gently. Set aside for the flavours to come together while the vegetables continue to roast.
When the vegetables are ready, add them to the greens and lentils and gently combine. Serve immediately.
NOTES
Olive oil has a smoke point of around 200–210°C, so roasting at 180°C ensures the flavour of the vegetables, not burnt oil, is what you taste.
If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a high-powered blender.
To make a vegan version of this recipe, replace the honey with unrefined sugar.
