CAULIFLOWER CONUNDRUM

Posted in Side dishes, Veggies by sallybr

I love cauliflower, from gratins and purees to soups and curries, passing by tempura and souffles… 😉 The only way I dislike it is raw in “crudites”, which, to my mind, are an abuse of culinary practice. I will not serve crudites and its partner, “the dipping sauce” for my guests. Back to the point, I love cauliflower. But, in truth, my husband does not share my appreciation for it.
“I take it we are having cauliflower….” is his usual remark when he spots it on the counter. The tone of disappointment and resignation permeates the kitchen. His mind is probably racing through philosophical thoughts on the ups and downs of marriage, certain that a deep “down” is approaching, set to arrive at dinnertime.

But my response is: “Oh, don’t worry, I think you’ll really like it”. And for those of you on his team, I say the same. Give this recipe a try. It’s luscious, creamy, not too heavy, and surprisingly simple to make.

The recipe is from chef Thomas Keller, of restaurant Bouchon , a place I’m dying to visit. It’s on a page of a book that I mentioned before: Secrets of Success.

CAULIFLOWER AU GRATIN
(from Thomas Keller, per Michael Bauer’s Secrets of Success)
(receita em portugues na segunda pagina)

1 large head of cauliflower. florets separated, stems diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt
1 + 1/2 T olive oil
1 T minced shallots
1 T minced garlic
1 cup water
1 cup heavy cream (see my comments)
1/2 T prepared horseradish
ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Gruyere cheese

To prepare the florets:
Fill a bowl with water, add the lemon juice, and place the cauliflower florets inside, allowing it to sit for 2 minutes. Drain. Transfer them to a pan with salted boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes, until just starting to get tender. Drain, place in an oven-proof serving dish. Alternatively, you can steam the florets, which works very well.

To prepare the creamy base:
Heat the oil in a sautee pan, add the diced cauliflower stems, the shallots, and the diced garlic, and cook for a few minutes, until tender. Add the water and cook, uncovered, for 5 more minutes, until reduced by half. Remove from heat and add the cream. Transfer to a blender, add the horseradish, and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Pour the cream over the florets and stir. Top with the grated cheese and bake in a 425F oven until golden brown and bubbly, around 25 minutes.

To print the recipe, click here

Comments: The recipe calls for 1 cup of heavy cream, which makes me a little nervous. I’ve made it in the original way, but also substituted half heavy cream/ half milk. Even though I didn’t taste them side by side, (shame on me, what kind of a scientist am I?) the version with less cream tastes rich enough for us. Feel free to experiment.

I love the fact that the cauliflower stems are a major part of the “creamy” component. I’ve made other recipes with similar approaches, for instance the “Duet of Cauliflower” published in Food and Wine years ago, but I ultimately prefer Keller’s take on it.

This basic dish may be tweaked to suit your taste (or other dishes that you are serving with it); cauliflower goes well with many spices, nutmet, paprika, curry, dill. You can add pancetta or bacon to the creamy component if you like. Other cheeses may be used alone or combined, including gorgonzola and other blue cheeses, that match cauliflower quite well.

Leftovers are great, and easily survive a couple minutes of microwave torture, if you desire to go that route.

P.S. He loved this dish, conundrum solved! 😉

para receita em portugues, siga o link….

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15Sep2009

GOLDEN ZUCCHINI: A TASTE OF YELLOW

Posted in Side dishes, Veggies by sallybr

It is almost impossible to find a person whose life has not been touched by cancer. Whether friends, family members or co-workers, we all know someone who either battled this disease and hopefully beat it, or sadly, someone whose life was cut short by it.

A Taste of Yellow is a food blogging event that started through the initiative of Barbara from “Winos and Foodies”, who is herself a cancer survivor. You can read her touching tribute here. She launched this event in support of The Lance Armstrong Foundation, an organization with the goal of increasing cancer awareness in society.

Food bloggers participate by sharing their stories and a recipe with a yellow ingredient; Barbara assembles all the links and publishes them in her website. This year the event was postponed until October 2nd, to fall on the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s cancer diagnosis (LiveStrong Day). As everyone knows, he not only won that medical battle, but went on to win the Tour de France seven times! And after taking some time off from competing he went back at it this year and finished in third place. Of course, he did run a few marathons while away from the “Tour”… Talk about an inspirational story!

This is my first time in “A Taste of Yellow”. I chose yellow zucchini to convey the “LiveStrong” message.

Even though yellow is often associated with lemons, a nice golden zucchini also says yellow in all its glory… This past week our farmer’s market had such beautiful golden zucchini for sale that I had to bring some home with me!

I went with a mix and match of recipes, joining the method from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and my favorite yogurt sauce from Mediterranean Fresh. I tweaked the yogurt sauce ever so slightly. Both cookbooks are amazing, by the way…

ZUCCHINI DUO WITH YOGURT SAUCE

(receita em portugues na proxima pagina)

for the veggies:
2 golden zucchini
1 green zucchini
1 T olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

for the sauce:
1/2 cup Greek style yogurt
1 T olive oil
1 T fresh lemon juice
1 T fresh mint leaves, minced
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt to taste

Remove both ends of the zucchini; slice them in half crosswise, then lengthwise in 1/3 inch-thick slices. Cut each slice again, into sticks, also 1/3 inch thick, as shown in photo. Sprinkle the slices with salt and place them in a colander for 20-30 minutes. Rinse well and drain, pat dry.

Prepare the sauce by mixing all the ingredients. If using regular yogurt, then drain it for a couple of hours, because you need thick yogurt for this recipe.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan, and add the zucchini sticks when its very hot. Cook them undisturbed for a couple of minutes to get the pieces lightly browned, then move them around, cooking for a total of 5 minutes.

Transfer the zucchini to a bowl and spoon some of the sauce over it when serving. Garnish with fresh mint, if you like.

ENJOY!

To print the recipe, click here.

jump for comments, photos and receita em portugues…

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13Aug2009

Beautiful Cabbage

Posted in Salads, Veggies by sallybr

Don’t tell me you are a cabbage-hater!

I would not hold it against you, because cabbage has a bad reputation: poor thing, it’s totally unjustified. A plump, red cabbage is a thing of beauty! I admit that members of the Cruciferae family tend to emit a nasty smell as they cook, but this recipe will not offend your senses. I’m talking about raw cabbage, in a sweet and sour concoction that will amaze your taste buds. I promise. Give this recipe a try, cabbage-hater, and don’t be ashamed of changing teams 😉

SWEET CABBAGE SLAW
(adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2008)

3 T sugar
3 T rice vinegar
1 small serrano pepper, thinly sliced
3 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced (see my comments)
2 cups Napa cabbage, thinly sliced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 T orange zest
chopped cilantro leaves, to taste
salt and pepper to taste
fresh lemon juice (optional)

Stir sugar and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves, no need to boil it. Remove it from the heat, add ginger and serrano pepper and mix.

Place both types of cabbage in a large bowl, add the orange zest and cilantro, mix to combine, add the reserved dressing and toss to coat the cabbage. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If it seems too sweet, add some fresh lemon juice.

Let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature, tossing it a few times to distribute the dressing. You can also put it in the fridge for several hours, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!

(jump for additional comments…)

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5Jul2009

Tomato Confit with Arugula and Zucchini

Posted in Salads, Veggies by sallybr

The recipe comes from “Simple to Spectacular”, a great cookbook by Vongerichten and Bittman. The book picks one basic ingredient and shows 3 or 4 recipes of increasing complexity. I was looking for a nice dinner salad and came across their “tomato confit” series.

The tomato confit is essentially a slow-roasted tomato, but if you say you made “tomato confit”, your friends will be a lot more impressed. 😉

The preparation of the confit might seem too long, because you need a couple of hours to make it. But it’s 120 minutes of just waiting for the oven to perform its magic…no work. Plus, it is a low oven (275F) that won’t overheat your kitchen. Trust me, the results are worth every minute of the time. If you are not yet convinced to try this recipe, then make sure to read my additional comments.

tomatobefore

Choose ripe (but not overly ripe) tomatoes, make a small cross-cut on their skin, drop in boiling water for 20 seconds, then shock them in cold water to peel them easily. In the oven, together with garlic, thyme, and olive oil, they will be transformed into delicious bits of sweet and juicy red jewels that will amaze your taste buds and shine in many different kinds of recipes. Yes, I am in love…

click here for the full recipe and additional comments

23Jun2009

FROM BACKYARD TO KITCHEN

Posted in Veggies by sallybr

zucchini2

Two of our three zucchini plants got so sick I had to cut them, but the other one seemed to shape up, maybe afraid of following the neighbors’ fate. Yesterday, as I stared at the pantry considering my options for a quick dinner, it occurred to me to go check our veggie garden. I knew the cherry tomatoes had to be ripe by now, but the two cute zucchinis were a nice added bonus. Let’s hope this is just the beginning of a great harvest! 😉

Veggies fresh from the garden (as well as from farmer’s markets) are so much better than those tired beings at the grocery store, that I like to keep their preparation very simple. One of my favorite quick dishes for zucchini comes from a great blog, Smitten Kitchen. I make it quite often, actually, changing it slightly according to my mood.

Here is yesterday’s version, served as a side dish for barbecued brisket that will definitely show up on Bewitching Kitchen sometime

QUICK ZUCCHINI SAUTE WITH ROASTED PEANUTS
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen, original recipe from Red Cat, New York)

2 small zucchini (preferably from your own garden!)
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
squirt of lemon juice
lemon zest to taste
1/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts

Julienne the zucchini, not too thin (zucchini tends to turn into mush fairly easily). Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan until you can detect a little smoke forming. Add the zucchini, salt and pepper. Saute until it starts to get light brown in some spots. Lower the heat, add a squirt of fresh lemon juice, some lemon zest, and incorporate the roasted peanuts. Taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary.

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