Not to knock Lemon Verbena-san off the top of the blog, but I wanted to throw a question out there.
What do you do with cauliflower?
We picked up a real purty-looking specimen at the farmers' market last Saturday, but then I realized the only thing I know how to do with cauliflower is steam it. Which is what I did last night, and it was okay, but a little boring. Some of you must have more interesting things to do with cauliflower. So, enlighten me.
Put it in curry! But seriously, we pretty much have two cauliflower recipes and they're both vaguely Indian, so it's probably a good way to go.
ReplyDeleteI thought Taryn was going to be the one to suggest curry! The problem is, I never make curries from scratch. The closest I come is opening a jar of korma sauce. But I imagine it would be good in that, too.
ReplyDeleteYou could totally cheat by using a prepared sauce, I'm sure. You could also try roasting the cauliflower--I don't have an exact recipe or anything, but basically high heat for 20 minutes or so, until it starts getting tanned. This gives it a nice, nutty flavor and you can dip it in whatever kind of sauce or hummus you have around.
ReplyDeleteI am actually NOT going to suggest curry :) I suggest "Aloo gobi" which is a nice potatoes and cauliflower kind of stir-fry. You can get a comprehensive recipes of any reliable Indian food website. This one looks good to me and has a video apparently!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/04/07/aloo-gobi/
Aloo gobi should be really flavorful and served with a nice roti (Indian flat bread) but I wouldn't recommend naan. Go whole wheat on this one. Me, of course, I eat the whole thing with excessing amounts of mixed pickle :)
Now ask me about okra, I dare you :)
ReplyDeleteI never thought of roasting it. And dipping it in hummus - that sounds really good. We like the hummus.
ReplyDeleteTaryn I smell an okra post coming on. :) From you, hopefully, not me. We can only get it frozen here, but we use it on occasion.
ReplyDeleteTaryn, now that you describe this I think you might have actually made this for us when you visited us in Boston. And I probably filed it away mentally under "curries" - my bad!
ReplyDeleteSounds good, though. I'm not sure I'm up to something quite so complicated - I'm sure Indian cooking is easy once you get the hang of it, but I'm still at the level where I look at the individual spices, and I think of the finished product, and I go, there's no way I can get from here to there, recipe or no...
Somebody else'll have to ask you about okra. I've tried and tried, and just can't learn to like it.
Bad thing about roasting in summer is turning the oven on, but you don't have to stay in the kitchen with it. I love a good hummus, but it's one of the few things that squicks Eric out. I used to have a recipe somewhere for a lemon tahini sauce to eat with roasted cauliflower, which frankly wasn't far off from hummus, so I think the combination would be good.
ReplyDeleteSo do you make your own hummus, then? We always just get Joseph's or Near East or whatever (you can tell already that my enthusiasm for food far outstrips my gumption to learn how to make it right)... I bet homemade would be awesome, though.
ReplyDeleteI've made homemade, but haven't settled on a combination I really love. It's pretty easy to experiment with it, though. You basically throw some chickpeas and spices in the food processor and add some olive oil. Ideally, you're supposed to add tahini, too, but it's a little bitter for me so I generally go really light or skip it altogether.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite store-bought is Athenos, preferably the spicy three pepper kind.
Lorien used to make really good hummus about a decade ago :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Brother Momonjii, that if you don't know what you're doing, Aloo Gobi is a little complicated. I did actually make it when I was in Boston but I didn't do a fantastic job. Sorry, dude :( I also lament that you can't like okra but it's ok. I can't like a lot of things I wish I did!
And, Lemon Verbena, I will indeed make an okra post soon! I love okra. Love love love!
But, Brother Momonji, I do have some really good, simple simple simple Indian recipes that I will post in the future that are completely do-able by an uninitiated Indian cook :)
I've floated a few of our cauliflower recipes to the top of our recipes page.
ReplyDeletethis recipe sounds weird, but even mike liked it. and he hates cauliflower. it's supposed to be a side-dish which could sit in for mashed potatoes. low carbs.
ReplyDeleteCauliflower Puree:
2 10-oz packages frozen cauliflower, thawed (but i think fresh would work better)
1/2 c. chicken broth
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 tsp salt
combine cauliflower and broth in a food processor and pulse until smooth. transfer the mixture to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until heated through. add a few tbs of water if needed. stir in the butter and salt. voila.