Boiling the Greens

Cauliflowers from the kitchen garden do not arrive in the pristine condition that they do from Waitrose. But I had washed them and inspected them, and washed them again with such care. So it seemed unfortunate in more than one way that there was a caterpillar lying, reasonably discreetly, among the florets dressed in tomato (wouldn't you guess?) and gratinee'd in parmesan and breadcrumbs, on Mr HG's plate. He hadn't noticed. Although he is also capable of eating a caterpillar out of sheer politeness (or hunger, the diet continues) and might have been planning to down it before I noticed.

I had blanched the cauliflowers first, plunged into boiling salted water to seal their colour and crispness before later cooking. Surely the same sealing effect would have been undergone by the caterpillar? So it wouldn't have leaked anything from caterpillar insides into the dish.

And then the full horror dawned. What is inside caterpillars? Butterflies. I had boiled a butterfly. Sob.