This recipe is a riff on Yotam Ottolenghi‘s cauliflower cake from his book Plenty. The first time I made it it felt a little bland to me, so I spruced it up with some broccoli. I still wanted to spruce it up a little more, so I changed the herbs Yotam uses and switched them out for Korean gochugaru and gochujang.
Variations on broccoli cauliflower cake
In the recipe below I’ve given you both options. I think switching up the cheese, to a nice blue for example, would also be good. I do recommend mixing cauliflower and broccoli, because just cauliflower makes for a pretty bland cake in my opinion.
Broccoli Cauliflower Cake
A riff on Yotam Ottlenghi's cauliflower cake, spruced up with broccoli and Korean gochugaru and gochujang.
Equipment
- Oven
- Collander
- Pan for boiling broccoli and cauliflower
- Frying pan
- Large bowl
- Springform ⌀ 9.5" - 24 cm
- Parchment
- Small bowl
Ingredients
- 1/2 head cauliflower roughly 1/2 lb - 225 g, cut into florets
- 1/2 head broccoli roughly 1/2 lb - 225 g, cut into florets
- 1 t - 5 g salt
- 1 medium red onion see instructions
- olive oil for frying
- 1 t - 5 g gochugaru Korean chili flakes
- 7 medium eggs
- 1 T - 15 g gochujang Korean chili paste
- 1/2 t - 2.5 g salt
- 1 c - 125 g flour
- 1 1/2 t - 7.5 g baking powder
- 5 oz - 150 g Parmesan coarsely grated
- black pepper freshly ground
- butter for coating the springform
- 3 T - 45 g sesame seeds untoasted
- 3 t - 15 g nigella seeds
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400º F - 200º C.
Prepare the vegetables
- Place 1 lb - 450 g of broccoli and cauliflower florets in a pan, add 1 t - 5 g of salt, cover with water, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes or until you can push a fork through with ease. Drain in a collander so the vegetables can completely dry out before the next step.
- Slice 3 'rings' off 1 medium red onion and set aside to place on top of the cake, coarsely chop the remaining onion and fry in some oil in a frying pan with 1 t - 5 g of gochugaru until soft, take off the heat and set aside for the next step.
Make the broccoli and cauliflower cake
- In a large bowl, mix 7 eggs with 1 T - 15 g of gochujang and 1/2 t - 2.5 g of salt until the gochujang has been completely incorporated.
- Now mix in 1 c - 125 g of flour, 1 1/2 t - 7 g of baking powder, 5 oz - 150 g of coarsely grated parmesan and some freshly ground black pepper until everything is fully combined.
- Now gently scoop in the precooked cauliflower and broccoli florets so you don't break them apart, along with the pre-cooked red onion.
- Mix 3 T - 45 g of sesame seeds with 3 t - 15 g of nigella seeds. Coat the bottom of your springform with some parchment and brush the sides with butter (oil should work too). Nw toss the sesame/ nigella seed mixture along the rim of the springform so the sides are coated.
- Pour the broccoli, cauliflower, egg mixture into the springform and spread out the mixture in a semi even layer. Top with the 3 remaining sliced of red onion and bake in your pre-heated oven for 45 minutes until done. Serve with a simple green side salad and maybe some bread.
To make cauliflower cake Yotam Ottolenghi's way
- Use all cauliflower instead of broccoli and add 1/2 c - 75 g of sea asparagus (optional). Use plain chili flakes and 1/2 t - 2/5 g of finely chopped rosemary instead of gochugaru with the onions and switch out the gochujang for 1/2 c - 15 g of chopped basil.
Notes
This cake keeps well for a couple of days in an airtight container in the fridge. Reheat in a microwave or hot oven.
