Ajo blanco with roasted cauliflower

& springtime recommendations

Ajo blanco - the cold almond soup from Spain, which I actually prefer as a sauce - is very good friends with spring vegetables, including:

~ bulbous radishes and their perky, peppery leaves
~ salad potatoes cooked in heavily salted water until they fall off a fork
~ blanched chubby spears of asparagus
~ peas and broad beans, currently from the freezer but of the fresh variety in the coming weeks, if you can face the faff of podding
~ cauliflower, roasted hard and fast until the tips of the florets turn from milky white to dark muscavado brown

Of all these friendships, the last is one I discovered at Riverford Field Kitchen recently and is now my favourite. There is something about the combination of the sauce, alive and kicking with garlic and sherry vinegar, and the gently but distinctly flavoured brassica that works especially well.