Mental note to self…do not mention the weather.
Further mental note to self….do not mention how shocking it is that we’re already half-way through April.
Aargh! Big fat fail on both counts – I seem to be having the same conversation with everyone, over and over again. But it’s been such a shock; days getting shorter, hail and snow on the ground, wind that sounds like it’s going to whisk the roof of my house away.
It all makes me feel like snuggling up in front of the fire, veging out in front of endless episodes of Girls and eating huge bowls of pasta and crumble.
But…instead of the carb fest, the Season’s Eatings calendar/booklet recipe for April is a perfect alternative (I can’t promise it will fix the crumble cravings though!). It’s Cauliflower ‘Rice” Salad and if you’re a loyal blog follower (and by the way if you are, I love you!!) you will have seen this photo before – it was in the Otago Daily Times last year, in one of my first columns for The Mix weekend supplement. Which means that, even if you don’t have a Seasons’ Eatings calendar, you can read all about it (and find a link to the recipe) here.
And we do still have copies of the recipe booklet for sale too, if you haven’t already grabbed one!
This recipe is a great substitute for rice, couscous or pasta. I often use other vegetables instead of cauli – parsnip, carrot and broccoli all work well too. If you have a food processor you can whip it up in less time than it takes to steam rice. If you’re chilled to the bone and you want something warmer, give it a quick stir-fry, adding the currants and pistachios at the end.
Here’s what it looked like when I made the recipe with broccoli instead of cauliflower, adding finely chopped dried apricots in place of currants, and almonds instead of pistachios. We really like to mess with recipes in this house – we’re crazy like that.
And while I think of it, I want to give a huge shout out to the lovely people who took the time to share photos of their Easter Nibl creations with me. I love that you posted them on the Nibl Facebook page – I don’t love that they only seem to show up for me and I don’t think other people can see them. You rock! (But boo for technology – if anyone knows how I can fix this particularly annoying glitch in my FB settings, let me know and I’ll send you a chocolate fish!)
Keep warm, people. And can you believe’s it’s April already?
Cooking the cauliflower rice? Now there’s an idea! I can’t believe I had never thought of that! I will try that out pronto. I don’t like to gloat but here in Nelson we’ve been *spoiled* with the weather. It seems like summer just will not end.
You know me Jenny, I like to shake it up!
And that bit about the Nelson weather is possibly just a little bit boastful but I don’t mind, as it reminds me that I need to come to Nelson again. It’s been way too long!