Cauliflower and Roman cabbage couscous

I recently held a course on healthy vegetarian cuisine in Rome and my pupils were dentists and pharmacists who are members of a professional consortium that is very well known in the capital. Thanks to the support of a nutritionist and of passionate specialists we presented some topics and recipes that are linked to the famous “functional food”. The final goal of the initiative was focus on the fact that a healthy diet is able to influence both our physical and mental health. We can also say that certain foods, if correctly preserved and cooked, can make us feel well. The recipe we present here explicitly follows these principles, in particular:

• raw cabbage besides being a mine of useful nutrients for our body, as many people know, can help fighting tumours and other common diseases

• almonds are an excellent source of proteins, carbohydrates and other substances that are useful for our nervous system

We believe that this new creative cuisine can also be healthy and craveable; it is important for young cooks to be able to understand at least the fundamentals of a healthy diet in order to cook, keeping in mind the health of the guest for whom they are cooking. If it is true that we are what we eat...

Cauliflower and roman cabbage couscous with persimmon petals, coconut vinegar and raw-diet mayonnaise with almond milk

For the couscous:
1 cauliflower
1 Roman cabbage
1 ripe persimmon
coconut vinegar*
spicy oil
herbs
flowers
desalted capers
whole salt
lemon juice

For the raw-diet mayonnaise:
200 g almonds with their peel
750 g water
260 g (cold pressed) corn oil
60 g (cold pressed) extra virgin olive oil
20 g lemon juice
4 g salt
one pinch of curry

Method:
1) Using a “microplane“ finely grate both the cauliflower and the Roman cabbage; keep the grated pulp in two sieves so as to let as much vegetal water as possible come out.
2) Put the almonds in the cutter (we used a Bimby processor) and blend at the highest speed for a few seconds. Slowly add the water indicated in the recipe and continue to blend so as to obtain a lump-less liquid. Put 200 g of almond milk in the special glass. Add the juice, the salt and a pinch of curry; blend with a hand processor for a few seconds. Add the two oils and gradually pour them on the almond milk. Meanwhile continue to blend, at the highest speed, until you finish adding the ingredients. You should have obtained a stable and foamy mayonnaise. Keep it to a side.
3) Remove the skin from the persimmon; using a small knife, recover the petals that are located inside of it and keep them to a side. Blend the remaining pulp and season it with some drops of lemon juice, the spicy oil and a pinch of salt. Keep the sauce to a side.
4) Pour a tablespoon of persimmon sauce on the base of the plates; cover with the grated pulp of the cauliflower and that of the Roman cabbage. Season with extra virgin olive oil, salt and some drops of coconut vinegar. Decorate with the strips of persimmon, the herbs, capers and edible flowers. Finish with some drops of raw-diet almond milk mayonnaise.