If in 2015 it was all hail king kale, then in 2016 it has been deposed by that old favourite, cauliflower, and I’m hanging out the bunting to celebrate its ascension to the vegetable throne. There’s only so many kale chips a man can consume.

Once old and forgotten, this giant flower you can eat (which should be cause for applause alone) has become cool again just like names such as Doris, and having tattoos that were once the mark of prison time or life in the merchant marine.

Cauliflower is flexible

Heck, it is so versatile it’s like the Leonardo DiCaprio of the cabbage world, able to turn its hand to just about anything whether you are grating it to cook down with milk into a silky puree to lay under scallops, slicing it thinly to make the prettiest of filigree pickles, or just steaming it to serve doused with new season olive oil and salt.

These days, cauliflower has found a new role as a carb-substitute. While I quite like a raw or lightly steamed cauli ower ‘cous cous’ and cauli ower ‘hummus’ I thank goodness that I can go gluten when I’ve found myself in a room full of friends who try to convince themselves that a cauli ower pizza base is anything other than a cruel joke. Far better, if you are looking for a carb-stitute, make a garlicky mash; just steam your cauli ower with a handful of garlic and emulsify with olive oil.

Cauliflower has loads of friends

Coconut is only one of the odd array of flavours that cauliflower loves. This includes cumin, coriander, dill, fennel, sumac, tarragon, dukkah and nutmeg as well as butter, harissa, anything bacony, white-fleshed seafood such as prawns or lobster; chickpeas, freekeh, barley, spelt and just about every other ancient grain; cheeses from blue to Gruyere; celery, pomegranates, yoghurt, anchovies, lamb, lemon, dried fruit and fatty nuts such as macadamias and pine nuts, to name a few.

Cauliflower is meat for vegetarians

While I’ve been disappointed in some of the hucksterism that surrounds modern cauliflower recipes I will give kudos to the concept of using cauliflower as a meat substitute on the barbecue – cut the cauliflower into steaks thick enough to get all the charry tastiness without losing the creaminess of the cooked flesh inside.

Cauliflower is well travelled

Cauliflower’s versatility is further proven by how it is used in cauliflower-loving countries such as the UK, US, Turkey and across the Middle East. Israel has a special place in the cauliflower cookbook because it was from here that The New York Times first identified the trend of baking whole cauliflowers back in 2006. They attributed this to the restaurant of local celebrity chef, Eyal Shani but the truth is that Eyal himself admits he learnt the recipe from his mother – as all good celebrity chefs do!

It is, however from my time in Istanbul that I’ve taken inspiration for this recipe: a whole roast cauliflower with crispy chickpeas and tarator sauce.