Cauliflower leaves with garlic, currants, pine nuts and isot pul biber

This recipe was developed for us by local chef, food writer, caterer and teacher, Alan Rosenthal. Find out more about him and his recipes on his website. Follow him on Instagram.

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You’ve essentially got two vegetables in a cauliflower; those pure white florets being one, and the leaves being another. The leaves have the familiar flavour of cauliflower, but with a little less intensity. You can rub them with oil and seasoning and bake in a hot oven until crisp, or, as in this recipe, cook them more like a green leafy vegetable.

Here, spice comes from isot pul biber. I love this variant of the Turkish chilli flake grown in the Urfa region, as it’s deliciously fruity and rich, almost raisin like, and not quite as hot as some. If you can’t find any, then feel free to use another type of pul biber but do check to see how spicy it is before adding to the dish!

You could make this dish go further by adding some crumbled feta cheese just before serving and maybe some chickpeas along with the sliced leaves at the start of cooking.

Serves 3-4 as a side dish

Ingredients

50g butter

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

2 tbsp currants

2 tbsp pine nuts

½ tsp isot pul biber chilli flakes

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

300g cauliflower leaves, rinsed and dry ends removed

Salt

Method

Begin by melting the butter in a wide saucepan pan that has a lid. Add the garlic, pine nuts and currants and cook gently for around 5 minutes until the garlic begins to turn a little golden at the edges and the currants have puffed up.

Meanwhile, prepare the cauliflower leaves. Identify the larger outer leaves with thicker stalks and cut them, across the stalks, into thin slices. Keep the inner, more delicate leaves whole.

After 5 minutes, add the lemon zest, pul biber and a generous pinch of salt to the pan. Stir it all around and allow to cook for a minute or so. The chilli will start to infuse its rich colour into the hot butter.

Now add the sliced cauliflower leaves, leaving the more delicate leaves until later. Cover the pan with the lid and allow to cook on a gentle to moderate heat for 5 minutes, stirring from time to time.

Now add the whole leaves to the pan, stirring once again and replace the lid for a final 5 minutes.

Finally squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish and serve.