Cauliflower recipes

Crisp, golden fritters packed with cauliflower, spring onion and cumin, served with a cool, tangy yoghurt dip — ready in under 25 minutes from start to finish. These are the kind of recipe that converts cauliflower sceptics, because there is nothing shy about them. Brilliant as a weeknight starter, a light supper alongside a salad, or heaped up for a casual sharing spread.

A deeply savoury open tart with a sharp, mustardy shortcrust base and a filling of roasted cauliflower set in a rich Gruyère and crème fraîche custard. This is the kind of thing you make when you want to show off what your garden is doing without making it look like you tried too hard. It slices beautifully and is just as good at room temperature as it is warm.

Thick slabs of cauliflower are seared hard in a cast iron pan until deeply golden, then finished in the oven and served over a smoky Spanish romesco sauce. The romesco — made from roasted red peppers, tomatoes and almonds — is rich enough to make this a proper main course. It is the sort of dish that makes people forget they are eating vegetables.

This is not cauliflower pretending to be rice — it is a proper stir-fry where finely grated cauliflower becomes the base of a fast, satisfying dish packed with ginger, garlic, sesame and egg. It comes together in under 30 minutes and is the kind of thing you can pull off on a Tuesday with whatever is in the fridge. Think of it as a lighter, fresher cousin of egg fried rice.