Someone brought the most brilliant little appetizer to my last neighborhood wine tasting. Two important details: one, she's NOT a cook, so it was actually a surprise that she would attempt something like this and then absolutely nail it; and two, she got it from the Great British Baking Show.
It was made by one of the contestants who made a tableau of little canapes that looked like a vegetable garden. For this one, she baked off tiny cheese scones, removed the tops, placed on each a little cut-out of lettuce about 1/4" larger than the approximately 1" diameter perfectly round scoop of cauliflower puree. Each was the spitting image of a miniature cauliflower, and they were beautiful, clever and so so GOOD. She departed from the recipe only to skip the final dusting of nutmeg, thinking that would make them look dirty (good choice I thought).
The filling would be excellent inside some little cocktail peppers, too, for a more paleo-oriented presentation.
Here's the recipe:
Ingredients for cauliflower topping:
• freshly ground black pepper
• few pinches grated nutmeg
• handful chives
• 14 oz cauliflower
• 3½ oz garlic and herb cream cheese
• 1½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
Ingredients for scones:
• 10½ oz self-rising flour, plus extra for flouring
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 3½ oz unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• handful chives, finely chopped
• 3½ oz Comté, grated (alternatively use Gruyère)
• 5 fl oz full-fat milk
Instructions – Cauliflower Puree
• Preheat the oven to 225
• Place some water in a large saucepan with a little black pepper, a pinch of grated nutmeg and the chives and dill.
• Steam the cauliflower over the flavored water until cooked. Place the cooked cauliflower in a roasting tray and bake in the preheated oven until dry. Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.
• Blend the cooked cauliflower using a stick blender or food processor. Add the garlic and herb cream cheese, salt, Dijon mustard and a pinch of grated nutmeg and black pepper.
Instructions – Cheese Scones
• Peheat the oven to 375 and line a baking tray with non-stick baking parchment.
• Sift the flour, salt and pepper into a large bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Mix in the chopped chives and grated cheese.
• Gradually mix in the milk until the mixture comes together to form a dough.
• Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and very gently knead to create a smooth, soft dough.
• Gently roll out the dough to about ½ inch thick and cut into rounds with a 1½ in round pastry cutter.
• Place the scones on the prepared baking tray and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until risen, lightly golden-brown and crisp.
• Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Instructions – Assembly
• Cut the top off each scone.
• Spoon the purée into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe a little of the mixture on the top of each scone.
• Remove some leaves from the Little Gem or other leafy lettuces and, using a 2 inch fluted pastry cutter, cut through the leaves to create circles which will represent the leaves of a cauliflower. Place a lettuce circle on top of each scone and press gently to help it stick to the purée. Pipe more purée on top of the lettuce (to resemble the florets of a cauliflower) and finish with a fine grating of nutmeg.