First and foremost, I would like to thank 
PRODUCTS USED
Cauliflower Soup
- Cauliflower
- Onion (diced)
- Garlic (chopped)
- Carrot (roughly diced)
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- Beef Stock
Salmon with Cream of Cauliflower Sauce
- Salmon Fillet (diced)
- Cauliflower
- Eggyolk
- Heavy Cream
- Salt (to taste)
- Pepper (to taste)
- Butter (to taste)
- Soy Sauce (to taste)
- Oyster Sauce (to taste)
- Cucumber (peeled)
Cauli-Cookies&Cream Chocolate Mousse
- Cauliflower
- Cookies&Cream Chocolate Bar
- Eggyolk
- Sugar
- Heavy Cream
- Green Tea Flavoured Cookie Stick
The moment I found out that the main item for this week's challenge is cauliflower my heart literally skipped a beat, because not only it is one of my favourite vegetable, but also because the only dish with cauliflowers that came to my mind is via the Chinese cooking style- stir-fry cauliflower with mix vegetables.
After reading how other contestants of previous rounds create their dishes, I felt inspired and motivated and so I decided to challenge myself to make something that I don't usually make while incorporating the main ingredient that is the cauliflower (we used mostly only the white ones in Malaysia).
I first thought of only making one main dish, but turns out the cauliflower would be too big and too much for only one item. So in the end I decided to make a simple 3-course-meal and tried to use all the cauliflower so to not waste it and they turned out to be one of the best meals I've ever tried myself!!
Process
Cauliflower Soup
I was cooking some beef meatballs when the idea of using the stock from the meatballs as my soup base came to mind.
While waiting for the beef meatballs to be cooked so that I could use that beef-infused-stock for my soup later, I cut out the cauliflower into small pieces.
I then cooked all the cauliflower in the beef stock so that they will absorb the flavour. Once the cauliflowers are cooked and soft, I separated them into 3 different bowls for different items.
In a separate smaller pot, I stir-fried the onions, garlic and carrots using a medium fire for about 3 minutes.
I then added the cauliflower and beef stock into the pot and let it soft boil until the carrots are soft.
After seasoning the soup with salt and pepper, I used a hand blender to blend everything into a thick soup texture and added a little butter into the soup to give it's surface a shine.
I garnished the top with chopped dry parsley.
Salmon with Cream of Cauliflower Sauce
I first skinned off the salmon fillet and diced the fillet with a chef knife.
I then marinated the salmon with soy sauce, oyster sauce and course black pepper.
I cut the salmon skin in half and deep fried it with batter to make them crispy.
I then sauteed the marinated salmon making sure I do not over-cooked them.
In a bowl, I peeled the cucumbers into long pieces with a peeler and soaked them in ice water so that their colours will be more vibrant and the texture to be more crunchy.
For the sauce, I first mashed the cauliflowers that I separated earlier with a fork and seasoned it with a little salt for flavour. In a mini pan, I slow cooked one eggyolk, heavy cream and butter like how a custard is usually made but with salt and pepper instead of sugar. After it is done, I strained the sauce and mixed in the cauliflower.
For plating, I first put the cucumbers as the base, then the salmon fillet on top. I put the cauliflower sauce on top of the salmon with a tablespoon and lastly, I arranged the deep-fried salmon skin on top of the sauce.
Cauli-Cookies&Cream Chocolate Mousse
In a mini pan, I cooked an eggyolk, heavy cream and sugar with low heat until the mixture thickens.
I then added in the cookies&cream chocolate bar inside the custard and melt it. I then add in the mashed cauliflower that I separated earlier and leave the custard aside to cool.
In a bowl, I whipped about 1/2 cup of heavy cream with sugar using a hand mixer machine.
I then mixed the cauli-cookies&cream chocolate custard and the whipped cream together with a rubber spatula making sure not to over-mix it. I wrapped the mousse with a plastic film and chilled it.
After it is chilled, I filled the mousse in a cup-sized bowl and added a piece of green tea flavoured cookie stick.
RESULT
To be honest, I am very proud of how the items turned out to be. I was genuinely amazed to find out that the cauliflower surprisingly matches well with the cookies&cream chocolate mousse and also the green tea flavoured cookie stick. it was a purely experimental approach and I am glad I took the risk to blend in the cauliflower into the dessert as I really enjoyed the texture of the cookie bits from the chocolate bar and a pleasantly unique flavour from the cauliflower in the mousse. I also liked how my cauliflower sauce turned out it really went well with the salmon, non overpowering each other. I seldom make cauliflower soup and usually I just add cream to thicken the soup but I am happy that I decided to use the beef stock from the beef meatballs as my base because it gives the cauliflower soup a whole new taste!
LAST BUT NOT LEAST
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