Serves 4
Cauliflower rice is a great way to add more vegetables into your diet. Forget rabbit food, this is seriously satisfying and moorish and goes brilliantly with a cold beer. Simply put chopped cauliflower (including the core) into a food processor and pulse until it has the texture of rice; in a few batches if needed. For this ‘dirty rice’ recipe use a cast iron pan if you can; the sausage meat will catch on the bottom which is all good flavour and colour, making it ‘dirty’. Dark brown is all good but adjust the heat and scrape the pan often so it doesn’t blacken.
Ingredients
Olive oil
400g sausages, skin removed
1 large white onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 sticks of celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds
Salt
1 large cauliflower, cut into chunks then pulse in a food processor until it resembles rice
To garnish
4 spring onions, sliced
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges
Few stalks of fresh thyme
Dried chilli flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
Method
- Add a glug of oil to a wide shallow cast iron pan and add the sausage meat to the pan; mash it into the oil with a fork to break it up. Cook over a medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes to get it crispy and brown; scrape and stir it as you go. Remove the meat from the pan, scraping some crusty bits from the bottom and set it aside
- Add a glug more oil to the empty (but no doubt still brown) pan and fry the onion, pepper, celery, garlic, thyme and cumin with a good pinch of salt for about 8 minutes or until soft, scraping the bottom of the pan as you go
- Mix in the cauliflower rice then add the meat back into the pan. Stir and cover the pan with a lid and cook over a medium-low heat until piping-hot throughout, about 4-5 minutes, scrape and stir halfway through
- Serve garnished with a wedge of lime, chopped spring onions, fresh thyme leaves, chilli flakes and black pepper and perhaps that cold beer!
