Sunday Nite Dinner » cauliflower

Colorful Cardamom Roasted Cauliflower

Chuck — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 06:31:15 +0000

Actually, it's cardamom, cumin, coriander, chili pepper, peppercorn and red onion roasted cauliflower. It's easy to make and has wonderful flavors from the Indian spices. The past few months, we've seen purple and orange cauliflower at the grocery store and finally tried them in this roasted cauliflower recipe. Wouldn't you want colorful cauliflower too?

Purple cauliflower looks nice and pretty raw, but turns dark when cooked, like most other purple fruits and vegetables. We couldn't taste any differences between the white, purple and orange cauliflower, but the spices and caramelized red onions are the predominant flavors in this dish.

According to this All About Cauliflower article, purple cauliflower...

"cooks faster than white cauliflower and has a little milder taste. When cooked, its color changes from purple to green. Purple cauliflower can be substituted for white in most recipes."

The purple color is caused by anthocyanins (like those found in red cabbage and red wine), which is an antioxidant. And orange cauliflower...

"is very similar to regular white cauliflower in taste and appearance except it is bright orange in color. Because of its high content of beta-carotene, orange cauliflower's vitamin A content is approximately 25 times higher than white cauliflower. Its color and nutritional value are two characteristics that will make this a popular vegetable choice."

We're glad our purple cauliflower didn't turn green, but then again, green is better than turning black.

We usually serve the cardamom roasted cauliflower with jasmine or basmati rice. The caramelized red onions are a great compliment to the cauliflower. The onions are crispy, a little oily and are delicious mixed in with the rice.

We'll pass on cooking with purple cauliflower in the future, but we'll definitely use the orange one again. I think the orange color would be interesting in our curry cauliflower soup.

Cardamom Roasted Cauliflower Recipe

SND Note: We've added the salt before and after roasting. While it's easier to salt the vegetables before roasting, the salt draws out the moisture in the vegetables, which makes them harder to brown and caramelize. Salting the vegetables after roasting is the recommended approach.

Ingredients

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus extra for greasing sheet pan
3 green cardamom pods
1-2 dried red chilies or 1 fresh Thai chili (optional)
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
1 head cauliflower (2 1/2 to 3 pounds) cored and broken into medium florets
1 large red onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a sheet pan or jellyroll pan with olive oil and set aside.
Grind the cardamom pods, chilies, coriander, cumin and whole peppercorns in a coffee grinder or mini food processor until fine. Mix the spices with oil in a large bowl. Add the cauliflower florets and onions and toss to coat. Add additional oil if necessary.
Transfer the vegetables to a baking pan, spread evenly. Roast until they're tender and the onions are caramelized, about 30-35 minutes, stirring halfway through. Transfer to large bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss, adjust salt to taste and serve.

Makes 4 servings as a side dish

[Adapted from American Masala by Suvir Saran]

Tags: caramelized, cardamom, cauliflower, coriander, cumin, easy, indian, peppercorn, red onions, roasted, spicy

Cauliflower and Mushroom Sticky Rice Risotto

Chuck — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:20:33 +0000

We don't make risotto very often, but when we do, Hungry Bear makes a cauliflower and mushroom risotto using sticky rice (glutinous/sweet rice). I love all things made with sticky rice, and this risotto is one of my favorite sweet rice dishes. The best part is that minimal stirring is required to make it.

The recipe is adapted from the Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration cookbook. For the most part, we like to reduce the butter and fat in a recipe whenever possible. But we also know when not to mess with a good thing, e.g. potato salad, nicely marbled meats and dessert. The main changes Hungry Bear made to the recipe were — removing the butter, swapping out milk for chicken stock, and increasing the quantity of mushrooms and cauliflower. Before anyone boos the removal of the butter (ahem, Jane!), Hungry Bear added extra coconut cream.

In case you are wondering why our recipes always serve 6 or more, we are either cooking for a large group, making mass quantities for leftovers (Hungry Bear's favorite part) or increasing proportions to avoid the partial use of an ingredient, e.g. cauliflower and cabbage. There have been many times when we used half a head of cauliflower and the other half spoiled in the fridge before we could use it again.

Back to the risotto, the only stirring required is to mix in the mushrooms, cauliflower and chicken stock to the steamed rice. It has a great combination of flavors and textures from the earthy shiitakes, sweet cauliflower and creamy rice. Still, the rice retains a slight firmness and the coconut cream keeps the grains separated. Hungry Bear likes her sticky rice risotto without cheese, but I like the extra flavor the Parmesan adds. It's a unique twist to traditional risotto and goes wonderfully with seared scallops!

Cauliflower and Mushroom Sticky Rice Risotto Recipe

SND Note: Coconut milk separates into two layers when stored undisturbed in a can. The bottom layer is a thin milk and the top is the thicker coconut cream.

Ingredients:
2 cups sweet sticky (glutinous) rice
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut cream
12 ounces chanterelle, oyster, or shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
6 cups (1 head) cauliflower florets (1/2 inch pieces)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups baby arugula or watercress leaves, washed and dried
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, soak the rice in enough water to cover for 2 to 4 hours. Drain well.

2) Prepare a steamer by placing a layer of cheesecloth in the bottom of a rack. Spread the rice in an even layer over the cheesecloth. Fill the bottom of the steamer with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Place the rack on top, cover, and steam for 5 minutes; the rice will still be very firm.

3) Transfer the rice to a bowl and add the coconut cream. Mix well to separate the grains of rice. The rice can be prepared to this point up to 3 days in advance. Store in a tightly closed container, refrigerated.

4) Bring the chicken stock to a boil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the cauliflower, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower is soft. Remove from heat.

5) Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large nonstick saucepan over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes to coat them with oil and heat them through; they should be barely cooked. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with a salt and pepper.

6) Add 1 tablespoon oil to saucepan. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the rice and cauliflower, along with half of the chicken stock, and cook until heated through. Add additional chicken stock to obtain desired consistency. Stir in the mushrooms. Mix in the Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with the arugula or watercress and serve.

Makes 6 servings

[Adapted from Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine]

Tags: cauliflower, coconut cream, fusion, glutinous rice, mushroom, rice, risotto, scallops, shiitake, sticky rice

Curry Cauliflower Soup with Honey

Chuck — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 07:42:31 +0000

This past week, Hungry Bear and I hosted Sunday night dinner. I love pulled pork, but I don't like most BBQ sauces. They are usually too sweet and tangy for my palate. Instead, I decided to make pulled pork with all of my favorite Vietnamese flavors. The entire menu was...

Curry Cauliflower Soup with Honey
Vietnamese Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Fumi Salad (Asian Cole Slaw)
Pumpkin Loaf

The Vietnamese pulled pork was fantastic with great flavors from the caramel sauce, lemongrass and chili peppers. Although I was very pleased with the results, I want to make it one more time and tweak the recipe a little bit before I share it with you.

However, I will share our curry cauliflower soup recipe. We first had this soup last year at Chapeau!, which is our favorite neighborhood French restaurant. It was served as an amuse-bouche. We loved it so much that we had to try to replicate the recipe.

The soup is easy to make with only a few ingredients. It's a simple puree of roasted cauliflower and onions with a touch of curry powder and cayenne pepper. Our version of the soup is a golden brown color due to the slightly caramelized onions. We'd rather have the extra flavor from the browned onions than to try to keep it a creamy cauliflower color.

The key ingredients in this soup are the honey and cayenne. After drizzling the honey on the soup, don't stir it in before you eat it. The honey is not there to sweeten the soup, but rather to contrast the spiciness. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne, but I recommend adding as much cayenne as you can tolerate enjoyably. The soup needs to have heat to get the full effect of the soothing, sweet honey.

At dinner, the soup was a big hit and a great starter course. It will definitely warm you up on a cold day!

SNDsters: Garry, Karen, Mark, Jane, Hungry Bear, Chuck

Curry Cauliflower Soup with Honey Recipe

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (6 cups)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 onions, sliced thick
2 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
2 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
honey

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread cauliflower florets on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast until florets are browned, about 25 - 30 minutes.

2) In a medium stockpot, heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until they turn brown. Stir in curry powder and cook until fragrant, 1 - 2 minutes. Add chicken stock, water and cauliflower. Cover and bring to boil and then simmer until cauliflower is soft, about 5 minutes.

3) Puree the soup with a stand or immersion blender until smooth. Return to pot if using a stand blender, reheat if necessary. Add cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowl with a drizzle of honey.

Serves 4

Tags: cauliflower, cayenne, curry, easy, honey, puree, roasted, simple, soup, spicy