Cauliflower Leaf Crisps

I PROMISE you  it has nothing to do with weirdo diets. And everything to do with I hate to fail in my gardening efforts. 

Those of you who grow cauliflowers will understand.

Despite netting, protecting and slug removal my cauliflowers this year have ended up as so :

• 3 about the size of a golf ball,
• 2 the size of cricket balls
• 1 lovely large full head that was attacked by slugs.

I honestly don't know how our ancestors stayed alive. 

Maybe they ate slugs. Maybe the slug eating was why the Romans left. 

I don't know. 

this recipe

Anyway. The one thing that I HAVE managed to grow successfully is a huge amount of cauliflower leaves.  Maybe they might have had the odd nibble by a caterpillar on the edge, but mostly i have had a LOT of leaves. 

So here's where I go a bit 'clean eating'  but only because I know cauliflowers are closely related to Kale. And I quite like a bit of kale.  However the cauli leaves are quite a bit tougher, so you can't really use them in place of kale in salads or stir fry.

However...as I have discovered through sheer bloody minded resolve to get SOMETHING, ANYTHING from my love and attention to these brassicas, the leaves make a darn good crisp. 

How do I know this? Well, I stuck some in the oven, slicked with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and some spices.

VOILA! Crisps!

And I'm very glad I did. They withstand the heat of the oven better than kale and stay crispy in a Tupperware container longer.  That is if you can keep yourself from munching them all at once.

So, just like that, my frown has turned upside down and I can say my cauliflowers were a success this year, because now I have crisps. 

And who doesn't love a crisp.

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Cauliflower Leaves Crisps

A nifty, thrifty way to make cauliflower leaves taste delicious

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Author: Louise-Claire Cayzer

Ingredients

• 10 or so Cauliflower leaves
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin Olive Oil
• salt to taste
• sprinkle garam masala (OPTIONAL)
• sprinkle smoked paprika (OPTIONAL)

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to around 180C
• Remove the stalks from the cauli leaves and cut into pieces around 1" square
• Slick the olive oil onto the leaves and sprinkle with salt and spice of your choice
• Put the cauli leaves onto an oven tray & bake for around 20 minutes until crispy
• Greedily apply to face.