vegetarian

Cauliflower cake

2015-03-08 19.50.13I bought the Plenty More cookbook, by genius chef Yotam Ottolenghi, on the basis of his recipe for cauliflower cake.  One look at the photo that accompanied the recipe, and I knew I had to make that cake.  It’s a bit weird, because not that long ago, I wouldn’t eat cauliflower in any form…something about it just, yuk.  And then, overnight, when I was in my fifties, my fifties, I fell in love with it.  I have no idea what happened. Maybe my taste buds finally grew up—my antipathy towards okra went away around then, too.

I’ve now made this cake several times, and while I like the original version, which is delicate and sublime, I need something a bit wilder, crunchier, more aggressive.  This is what’s so much fun about cooking—playing around, making mistakes, making something your own, having the confidence to trust your own palate, sometimes failing, sometimes improving.

What follows is the original recipe, with my changes (so far) in italics.  I’m not done with this recipe yet.

Ingredients

1 small cauliflower, outer leaves removed, broken into 1 1/4-inch/3-cm florets
1 medium red onion, peeled
5 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped rosemary
7 eggs
1/2 cup basic leaves chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted (or not–I don’t have a sifter)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon ground turmeric (or more, up to 1 tablespoon)
5 ounces coarsely grated Parmesan or another mature cheese
Salt and black pepper
Melted unsalted butter, for brushing
1 tablespoon white sesame seeds (make that 4 tablespoons, lightly toasted)
1 teaspoon nigella seeds  (4 tablespoons, lightly toasted)

1 very generous pinch peperoncino

 

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 400°F

Place the cauliflower florets in a saucepan and add 1 teaspoon salt. Cover with water and simmer for 15 minutes, until the florets are quite soft. They should break when pressed with a spoon. Drain and set aside in a colander to dry.  Or, roast the cauliflower florets at 350°F until they are beginning to brown around the edges.  They will have softened somewhat but will still retain a bit of crunch.

Cut 4 round slices off one end of the onion (each 1/4 inch thick) and set aside. Coarsely chop the rest of the onion and place in a small pan with the oil and rosemary. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring from time to time, until soft. (I like to reserve some of the onion and add them in at the last minute, so the onion mixture retains some texture.) Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Transfer the onion to a large bowl, add the eggs and basil, whisk well, and then add the flour, baking powder, turmeric, Parmesan, 1 teaspoon salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Add the peperoncino.  Whisk until smooth before adding the cauliflower and stirring gently, trying not to break up the florets.

Line the base and sides of a 9 1/2-inch/24-cm spring-form cake pan with parchment paper. (I’m not very good at parchment paper, so I just line the bottom.) Brush the sides with melted butter, then mix together the sesame and nigella seeds and toss half of them around the inside of the pan so that they stick to the sides. Pour the cauliflower mixture into the pan, spreading it evenly, and arrange the reserved onion rings on top. Sprinkle the rest of the sesame and nigella seeds over everything.

Place in the center of the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown and set; a knife inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Remove from the oven and leave for at least 20 minutes before serving. It needs to be served just warm, rather than hot, or at room temperature.  (Or cold from the fridge, for breakfast the next morning, held in your hand while you run out the door.)

Thoughts

This recipe seems infinitely adaptable.  My next go at it will involve experimenting with egg whites instead of whole eggs, adding even more crunch and spice, and trying to take it out of the somewhat “brunchy” place it holds in my head to something substantial enough to serve for dinner–in other words, I guess, making it less “ladylike” and more edgy.  Maybe a peppery red sauce?  Maybe some leeks along with those onions?  No matter what, though, it will always be beautiful to look at, just like the photo that grabbed me in the first place.

2015-04-06 20.58.23

Grilled vegetables and couscous for a crowd

Chip at the grill 2This week, ChickDudeFood went to visit friends on Cape Cod–friends who have 5 kids.  We weren’t the only houseguests–there was another parent there with his 3–and they’re vegetarians.  Well, in exchange for a beautiful place to stay on Herring Pond in Eastham, with our choice of kayaks and paddleboards and sailboats, what could we say?  “We’ll cook dinner tomorrow.”  Or, to be more accurate, I said that, and, to his great credit, Chip didn’t flinch.

Not everybody goes to the supermarket on the prettiest day of the summer, but there we were in the early afternoon, checking out the produce section.  Our original plan was to make a white miso marinade for the veggies–a really delicious and reliable recipe–but there was no miso of any kind in the resort market.  So here’s what we left with:

  • A bag of lemons–about 12 lemons
  • A bottle of good olive oil–about 4 cups
  • Fresh thyme
  • Fresh oregano
  • Crumbled goat cheese
  • Crumbled blue cheese
  • Grated romano cheese
  • Israeli large-grain couscous–enough to make a dozen portions
  • Vegetable stock–about 8 cups
  • 3 multigrain baguettes

And vegetables. Lots of them:

  • Onions
  • Eggplant
  • Zucchini
  • Asparagus
  • Yellow bell peppers
  • Red bell peppers
  • Poblano peppers
  • Portobello mushrooms

When we got back to the house, the music went on, and I started slicing while Chip got the marinade started.  (Note to selves:  from now on, when the ChickDudeFood show goes on the road, take good knives–and/or maybe the mandoline, if there’s going to be a crowd.  This was a bit of a slicing nightmare–it took a couple of hours to get everything ready.)

I cut the veggies lengthwise, except for the asparagus, mushrooms, and poblano peppers, which were left whole for easier handling on the grill.

There wasn’t a recipe for the marinade–and it ran out about ¾ of the way through the grilling.  Chip used the same ingredients and made it again…and it was different, of course, but just as good the second time.  Here’s a rough approximation of what he came up with:

Ingredients:

  • Lemon juice
  • Oil
  • Cayenne pepper (which was already on the shelves)
  • Brown sugar (ditto)
  • Garlic (ditto)
  • Fresh thyme
  • Fresh oregano
  • Freshly ground black pepper (we’re thankful that vacation houses are now often stocked with salt and pepper grinders.  It’s better when it’s fresh.)

Generally, a marinade will be 3 parts acid to 1 part oil, where a vinaigrette goes the other way–3 parts oil to 1 part acid.  This one was more on the vinaigrette side of things–but that’s ok, vinaigrettes make fine marinades, especially for vegetables.

Start with some oil, then squeeze a bunch of lemons to make lemon juice.  Add the lemon juice to taste, along with a couple of cloves of chopped or smashed garlic, pepper, thyme, oregano, cayenne (which adds a nice bit of heat) and a little bit of brown sugar (which takes the edge off the acidity.)  Keep tasting until you have something you (and your co-cook, if you have one) want to have more of.

We were short on time, and wanted a “make your own” presentation, so we didn’t really marinate the vegetables–instead, we took each vegetable and shook it up with the marinade and put it on the grill immediately.  As food came off the grill, it went onto its own platter and everything cooled to room temperature.

I made the couscous in advance (cooking it in the vegetable broth to add flavor) and kept it warm in the oven, along with the baguettes.

Presentation was simple:  everything on the table, followed by a free-or-all while everyone chose their favorite vegetables.  The poblanos turned out to be hotter than expected, and the cheese selection added variety.  Some people skipped the couscous and made veggie sandwiches with cheese.  Everybody had seconds.  It was gratifying to see so many vegetables welcomed by so many kids (8!) and nobody complained that there wasn’t any animal protein.

We also put out a green salad with summer tomatoes and cucumbers, with bottled dressing from the cupboard, but that was overkill. The grilled vegetables with couscous and cheese and baguettes–more than enough to go around–served eight kids, five adults, one au pair (who was very relieved she got the night off cooking)–and everyone was full and happy.  Chip and Michelle and I then went out to listen to NRBQ band members in their new incarnation, but that’s a post (with snarky remarks about how some drunken white people dance, or fail to dance) for another day.

Grilled veggies 1

Veggie Chili with Chocolate

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Not everybody builds a meal around a few pieces of chocolate, but here, it’s the secret ingredient in a chili that’s delicious, sustaining, and tastes good-for-you-but-not-in-a-preachy-kind-of-way.  Chip, the dude, is the master of this recipe that’s infinitely adapatable.  It feeds a lot of people for a lot of days, and gets more and more flavorful over time.

Ingredients:

1 onion

3 medium cloves

3 medium carrots

3 celery stalks

1 medium fennel bulb

2 medium zucchini

2 medium yellow squash(es)

8 oz shiitake mushrooms

8 oz portobello mushrooms

1 ear of fresh sweet corn

1 12oz can of black beans

1 12oz can of kidney beans

2 jalapeño peppers

2-3 serrano peppers

1 poblano pepper

1 fresno chili

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

3 tbs chili powder (multiple kinds)

1 tbs cumin

kosher salt

Fresh cracked black pepper

2-3 oz. dark dhocolate  (70% cacao or higher)

1 16oz can peeled San Marzano tomatoes

1 12oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped spinach

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

4 cups low sodium chicken stock

 

Prep: Cut the hot peppers and garlic into a fine dice. The onions and celery into a medium dice. The fennel, squash, bell pepper and mushrooms into bite size pieces.

In an 8 quart dutch oven, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium heat and add the diced onion and diced hot peppers. (Don’t add the bell peppers yet.) Let them cook for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the garlic and cook 2 more minutes.

Now add the cumin and chili powder and stir. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add the carrots, celery, fennel, squash, bell pepper and mushrooms. Season with a couple of pinches of salt and pepper. Cook until they begin to soften, usually around 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices and bring to a bubble. We use “no salt added” tomatoes so we can control the salt level. Crush the whole tomatoes with your hands as you add them. (It’s always fun to cook with your hands.)

When the tomatoes bubble add the chicken stock and bring to a bubble then reduce to a simmer. Add the beans and corn and cook for 6 minutes. Then stir in the chocolate and spinach. When the spinach is wilted cut the heat and stir in the cilantro. Add salt and pepper if needed and serve.

There are many ingredients in this dish that need to be chopped into bite size pieces or cut to a fine dice. It’s a great dish to show off, or help develop, your knife skills. You can use a mandoline if you have one. Watch your fingers!  We speak from direct, recent experience when we say this…

This recipe is very flavorful and spicy. You can adjust the number of serrano and jalapeño peppers but don’t leave them out. The multiple pepper combination gives the chili a broad range of flavors. The sugar in the carrots and the corn balance out the acid of the tomatoes. The chocolate smooths the sharp edges of the peppers.

The rule for chocolate in cooking is like the rule for cooking with wine–use something that you like.  In our house, that means the darker the better.  And resist the temptation to add just a little more. If you want more chocolate, have it afterwards.

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This is what we have in the pantry right now. It won’t last long.