The Thieving Mouse

19/11 THIEVING MOUSE

I have a confession, I have stolen. From someone I love with all my heart - The Town Mouse. This recipe is my version of their genius, for they have created two of my favourite dishes and I had to find a way to find the same satisfaction at home. Morphing into a sneaky mouse, thieving inspiration from their roast cauliflower and cabbage - I suddenly found myself addicted to a match made in vegetable heaven.

I do insist that my version doesn't compare in any respect to Mouse's but in the most scattered moods I find great comfort in its warm embrace. I also recommend a dry gin martini with an olive, but for that you must visit The Town Mouse - nobody does it better. I expect one night to hear Gollum's raspy voice whispering "they stole it from us, our precious" but until then let us hungry mice indulge in stolen inspiration. Bon appetite.

Ingredients (all approximate) - 

1/2 Red Cabbage
1 Cauliflower
1 Avocado
50g almonds
50g Raisins
50g Apricot Chutney
50ml Olive Oil
50ml Balsamic Vinegar
50g Butter
75g Parmesan Cheese
50g Breadcrumbs
Salt + Pepper

What I did - Oven at 160

Somewhat haphazardly divide the cabbage half again and separate each layer so that you can create a bed of purple leaves in a wide baking dish. Next decapitate all the heads from the cauliflower and scatter on top. Chop the almonds into small wood chips and scatter over long with the raisins.

For the dressing you can do one of two things, either use a large glass jar and violently shake it together or use a small hand blender to blitz to smithereens. Either will work the same, one just involves a trained arm. Use a fork to scrape the avocado into the jar, try to make the curls as small as possible. Drown with the oil and vinegar then dollop in the apricot chutney (or any spicy fruit chutney, this is just a family recipe always at hand). Just add a dash of both salt and pepper before blitzing or shaking until the avocado is no longer and you have a thick creamy dressing.

The creamy white and waxy purple leaves are ready for their dressing, so oblige them. Pour the whole mix over then using a touch more oil, rinse the dressing jar into the pan.  Now its time for us thieving mice to get our hands dirty. Mix everything together so that the dressing is muddled in and around the cabbage and cauliflower - the less even the better once its baked. Add the butter in small nibs around the pan, nothing is better than butter.

Now time to snow the breadcrumbs - nothing speaks more of a hungry mouse than breadcrumbs - over the dish so that theres a fine layer over all the vegetables. Then do the same with the parmesan, grate until there is a web of cheese threads on the dish. Bake for about 1 and a half hours until everything has cooked through and the tops of the vegetables are golden, and crisp. Then throw it under a very hot grill for the final five minutes to char the top slightly.

No need to stand on ceremony, dish out hot from the oven and let your hunger take over, no mousetrap to hold you back - unless its a dry martini.

JG