Africola’s roasted cauliflower with capers and dates
Africola, Adelaide, is serving a delicious vegetarian alternative to a ‘big fat steak’. Here’s how to make it.
The dish: Whole roasted cauliflower with capers and medjool dates at Africola, Adelaide.
Backstory: South African-born Duncan Welgemoed sees the world differently from most Australian chefs.
He cannot help it. He was raised with the foods of his homeland, a diverse cocktail of native, European, Cape Malay, Indian and Afrikaans influences. Overlay that with an education in formal French-inspired cooking in England, and the inspiration of Australia and its (often native) produce and you have a unique perspective.
The idea behind Welgemoed’s cauliflower dish comes from using vegetables as the main component to a meal, a substitute to “the big fat steak”, as he puts it.
“At Africola, we explore certain parts of Africa,” he says. “For the past two years we have looked on southern African cuisine for inspiration, which is meat-focused and protein-heavy. Now we are venturing north and looking at the Maghreb, which is the northernmost part of Africa along the Mediterranean Sea: Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.”
The cuisine tends to be more vegetable-focused. “This dish is something I had in the Latin Quarter in Paris which is filled with Tunisian and Moroccan hole-in-the-wall restaurants and blew me away,” says Welgemoed. “It’s something that will always be a staple on our menu.”
Produce: The Adelaide Hills is where most of Africola’s vegetables, as well as wild fruits, come from. “It’s an important region for us in terms of produce, winemaking and the community,” says Welgemoed. Centred on the subregion of Basket Range, it’s part of a demimonde of foodie/winey creatives and bohemians, “and one we celebrate in central Adelaide at Africola”. The capers are South Australian; the dates Turkish.
The twist: “You should feel proud of demolishing your vegetables,” reckons Welgemoed. “The fact something like a cauliflower was your main course and was as delicious as a roasted protein would give you bragging rights. We won’t mention the obscene amount of butter you added to the dish.”
The price: Africola sells this dish for $15 but it also slow-smokes the cauliflower before roasting it and serving it with pickled cauliflower, breads and house-made chilli sauce.
Other great cauliflower dishes: Roasted cauliflower, bourbon-soaked currants and candied pecans at Harpoon Harry’s, Surry Hills, Sydney; steamed cauliflower with ginger at Lee Ho Fook, Melbourne; roasted cauliflower with nduja, tomato and almonds at Mary’s, Newtown, Sydney.
Africola’s Whole roasted cauliflower with capers and dates
Ingredients:1 large cauliflower | 50g pitted medjool dates | 1 clove of garlic | 80g capers | 50g chopped roasted almonds | 50ml extra virgin olive oil | 100g unsalted butter | 1 lemon | salt and white pepper
Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes and then refresh it in ice water. Chop the dates, capers and crush a little garlic with a tablespoon of almonds. In a hot pan, add a little olive oil and roast the hell out of the cauliflower in the oven until it starts to caramelise. Once all browned, add the butter to the pan and when its foaming add the rest of the ingredients. Baste the cauli with butter, dates, capers etc until it has soaked in all the flavour. Drain, season with salt and white pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.