Roasted Cauliflower

I love roasted cauliflower. My family thought they hated it, until they tried it. Now they love it too.

This time I used a green cauliflower, possibly romanesco - it was vaguely fractal, but not as strikingly so as some I've seen.

















Roasted Cauliflower
1 head cauliflower
olive oil
minced garlic
grated parmesan
chopped parsley
salt & pepper

Cut cauliflower into florets. Cut bigger florets into halves, thirds or even quarters. You want all of your pieces to be about the same size.

Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. At this point the parts in contact with the pan should be lightly browned. Turn the florets over, and roast for another 10 minutes or so.

Mix in the minced garlic, return the dish to the oven, and turn the heat off. Let sit for about 5 minutes in the oven to soften the garlic's bite. Remove, add chopped parsley and grated parmesan, and mix. Serve.

Spinach and Rice Soup

The next cookbook in line on my shelf is More Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. I don't know why it was so difficult to choose a dish to cook from this book. Ms. Hazan is, after all, one of the foremost authorities of Italian cuisine.

So I narrowed it down to the following:
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Frittata con le Patatine Fritte (Open-Faced Omelet with Pan-Fried Potatoes)
Carciofini Gratinati (Gratin of Artichokes)
Crocchette di Patate all Romagnola (Potato and Ham Fritters)
Spinaci e Riso in Brodo (Spinach and Rice Soup)

The ingredients for all of the above were readily available, so that wasn't a factor. I've already made a frittata, so I nixed that one. We just recently had steamed artichokes for dinner, so the gratin was out. I'm not sure I trust the freshness of my eggs, so no carbonara this time. And my last attempt at anything fritter-like was a disaster. So I went with the soup. Can't screw that up, right?

You start by sautéing spinach with a pinch of salt, and just the water left on the leaves from washing, until barely wilted. Drain, reserving the liquid, pressing as much of it out of the spinach as possible. Then you sauté some chopped onion in butter, add the spinach and raise the heat, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in broth and the reserved spinach liquid, and bring to a boil. Add arborio rice, cover and simmer vigorously until the rice is al dente. Adjust salt and pepper, and serve with parmesan.

Verdict? Meh. I wasn't expecting anything earth-shattering. It's just spinach and rice soup, after all. The arborio gave a subtle velvety-ness to the broth, but I wish I had chopped the spinach instead of leaving it whole - it's rather difficult to get one cooked spinach leaf on a spoon without getting a big massive clump.

So, not a disaster, but nothing to get all excited about either. Therefore, this book gets a 2nd chance, and can stay on the shelf until the next cycle through.

Cooking & Reading

I have this theory that people read the way they cook.

I love to do both, every day. Some of what I cook is great. There are also disasters. Sometimes it's just mindless filler, and other times it's complicated and arduous, and leaves me with a feeling of accomplishment. All of those sentences could also describe the various books on my shelves and websites that I frequent.

Hubby cooks only occasionally, and reads a book only occasionally. When he cooks, it's momentous, like his chicken enchiladas, or Southern barbecue for 30 guests. And when he reads, it's likewise momentous, e.g. One Hundred Years of Solitude, or The Master and Margarita.

I know a guy who calls himself "Mr. Barbecue", and reads nothing but Popular Mechanics.

A lady I work with cooks American (pork chops, burgers, the occasional foray into stuffed bell peppers), and reads American (Clancy, Ludlum, Grisham).

And I know a few people who consider pouring milk on cereal to be "cooking", who haven't picked up a book in 10 years.

So, after all that (if you're still here)....do you think there's a correlation between the way people cook and what they read?

Tabouleh

I finally made tabouleh!
















I cooked up the bulgar before I had any idea what I wanted to do with it.

Ransacking the fridge, I found 1 tomato, 2 green onions, a cucumber, a little red onion, a serrano, and most of a bunch of parsley.

Sounds like tabouleh to me!

Tabouleh
bulgar (I used medium, or #2)
water or stock
parsley
tomato
cucumber
onion
hot chile, if you like
lemon juice
olive oil
salt & pepper

Use a 1.5:1 ratio of liquid to wheat. I used a cup of bulgar (which ended up being too much for the veggies I had) and 1.5 cups of water/stock. Dump the bulgar into a heat-safe bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Bring water/stock to a boil. Pour over bulgar, cover tightly, and let sit until the water is absorbed, 10-20 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

Chop everything else up. I included some of the stems of the parsley because I like them. Mix up the veggies, and add bulgar until it looks right. Remember, this is a parsley salad, not a bulgar salad. Dress with lemon juice and olive oil, s&p. Add a little sumac powder if you're feeling dangerous.

To serve: I was too lazy to drive 1 mile to the grocery store, but not too lazy to attempt to make my own naan. Should've burned the fuel. I guess I knew better when I read the recipe, which said to let the dough rest until doubled in size, yet there was no yeast involved...

Anyhoo, leftover tabouleh will make a good salad for lunch at work tomorrow, especially after I add some Italian oil-packed tuna. Mmm...

Puff Pastry is Not My Friend

Puff pastry from the freezer, asparagus, parmesan and Jarlsberg from the fridge. Sounds good, no?















1. Roll out the pastry to about 16x10". Mine was a little dried out at the folds, a little sticky in other places, and didn't want to roll out nicely. It also didn't want to unglue itself from the cutting board.

2. Place pastry on a baking tray. Score the edges so they'll puff up, and you'll end up with a baskety thing. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400. I stopped at 10 minutes because it was getting too brown. And the scored edges = baskety thing? Maybe in some kitchens, but not mine.

3. Sprinkle the pastry with grated cheese, lay the asparagus on top, drizzle with olive oil, s&p. Bake for 20-25 minutes. I suggest covering your non-baskety thing edges with foil after about 10 minutes, otherwise they'll overbrown and get all burnt-tasting. I didn't realize this until about 18 minutes had passed.

4. Sprinkle with a little more parmesan. Cut into squares and eat. But if yours turned out like mine, cut off those dumb edges and toss 'em to the dogs.

No Food, Just Pets & a Camera

I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't walked in on it.

I walk into my bedroom and see my 12-lb orange tabby, affectionately known as Bad Kitty...














...on the bed, with my 4-lb chihuahua...















...grooming her. Cat licking dog. In a nice, friendly way.

WTF?

And thanks to the government's "stimulus package", I finally have a camera! I splurged and bought a Canon XS100IS. See the picture of Bad Kitty? Taken with old camera. The picture of Chula? New camera. I like.

Awesome Product Alert - Nut Thins

I saw a display of Blue Diamond Nut Thins on my most recent shopping trip, on sale for $2 a box, and figured, why not? And it turns out that I'm glad I picked them up!

First taste is vaguely styrofoamy, which makes sense because they're basically a nut-flavored rice cracker. But immediately after that is a wonderful nuttiness. I want to put some goat cheese and a piece of apple on top.

I picked up the plain almond ones, but they also have the almond thins in Country Ranch, Cheddar Cheese and Smokehouse flavors, and there are hazelnut and pecan varieties too. I can't vouch for any of them other than the one I bought, but if the other flavors are as good as the almond, you'd be doing yourself a favor by picking these up.

(The above is completely unpaid, unsolicited and uncompensated.)