Spice-Infused Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Cheese or Lemon Tahini Sauce

Spice-Infused Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Cheese or Lemon Tahini Sauce

Serves: 6

 

Spice-Infused Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Cheese or Tahini

Whipped cheese....or you can make the Lemon Tahini Sauce for lower cal option (also below)

I quickly tore this recipe out of Bon Appetit, without even glancing at the ingredients or method of cooking, based on the picture alone. It originates from a fabulous New Orleans restaurant, Domenica, of the famed Besh restaurant group. The picture looked that great. Then, like too often in this hectic life, it was filed away under “someday”. Today was that day. Good thing for me cauliflower is pretty much available year round. Now I have done it….twice actually and soon to be three or four more times.

 

Cauliflower as art!

I have been a huge fan of roasted cauliflower ever since I first tried it. There is just something about roasted cauliflower…roasting it takes something that is pretty boring and transforms it into something that is extraordinary. Even in its simplest form as posted July 23, 2012 – Oven Roasted Cauliflower – it is ridiculously addictive. (http://cookingwithlarue.blogspot.com/2012/07/oven-roasted-cauliflower.html) I could easily chow down on a bowl of it rather than popcorn while watching a movie. Really. So it comes to the only real question, why stop with olive oil, salt and pepper when you could add any number of flavors or seasonings? The basic idea is to precook in a seasoned flavor-packed poaching liquid, which infuses it with flavor, roast it and then serve it alone or a myriad of sauces. On this culinary trip, I made a whipped cheese sauce.

2½ C dry white wine

½ C olive oil, divided

¼ C kosher salt

3 Tb fresh lemon juice

2 Tb unsalted butter

1 Tb crushed red pepper flakes

1 Tb sugar

1 bay leaf

8 C water

1 large head cauliflower, leaves removed

2 oz. fresh goat cheese

1½ oz. cream cheese

1½ oz. feta cheese

¼ C heavy cream

Coarse sea salt for serving

Preheat oven to 475 degree F. Bring wine, 1/3 C olive oil, kosher salt, lemon juice, butter, red pepper flakes, sugar, bay leaf and 8 C water to a boil in a large pot. Add cauliflower, reduce heat, and simmer, turning occasionally, until knife easily inserts into center, 15-20 minutes.

 

Cauliflower after boiling

Using two slotted spoons, transfer cauliflower to a rimmed baking sheet or pan, draining well. Roast the cauliflower, rotating sheet halfway through, until brown all over, 30-40 minutes.

 

Cheeses for the cauliflower...soon to be whipped

While cauliflower is roasting, blend goat cheese, cream cheese, feta, heavy cream and 2 Tb olive oil in a food processor until smooth; season with sea salt. Transfer whipped cheese to a serving bowl. Whipped cheese can be made 1 day ahead. Cover. Chill. Serve at room temperature.  Drizzle with olive oil just before serving.

Lemon Tahini Sauce

Transfer cauliflower to a plate. Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with whipped cheese and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

The cauliflower is wonderful alone. But if looking for alternatives, try a sprinkling of zatar with yogurt, or cheddar cheese sauce, or mixture of yogurt and feta. Wouldn’t this be great with a Thai peanut sauce!?!

I am particularly found of tahini – and I committed in earlier blogs to bring more uses for tahini to you. Try this with roasted cauliflower.  Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Sauté 2 tsp garlic in the oil 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant. Stir in 3 Tb tahini, 3Tb fresh lemon juice, or more to taste, 6 Tb water and salt (to taste). Simmer over low heat 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, put thru a blender if you need to smooth it out, sprinkle with chopped parsley and toasted sesame seeds and serve alongside cauliflower. Look for another tahini recipe: Roasted eggplant with Goat cheese, tahini & pine nuts (http://cookingwithlarue.blogspot.com/2013/07/roasted-eggplant-with-goat-cheese.html).

However you serve the whole roasted cauliflower, it will delight you and your guests.

Bon Appetit!

Larue

Umami-rich Tomato Soup

Umami-rich Tomato Soup

Serves 6 (makes about 8 cups)

Umami-rich Tomato Soup 

This is not your typical tomato soup. It has magic ingredients to boost flavor. What, you say? This is one amazingly terrific tomato soup, which is rich in umami. After sweet and salty, sour and bitter, there is umami – the fifth taste. (Pronounced “oo-MA-mee) Discovered at the beginning of the last century by Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese scientist who coined the name using the Japanese term for “deliciousness” – an understatement if ever there was one. Rich, deep and intensely savory, umami exists in a number of foods such as Parmesan, soy sauce, tomato products (juice, paste or ketchup), fish-based sauces (like Worcestershire and Thai fish sauce), many kinds of seafood, mushrooms, and meat, especially veal and stocks made from bones. For years, Western chefs and food scientists (sounds like a great career!) debated whether umami was a true taste.  That changed in 1998 when scientists discovered a glutamate receptor on the tongue recognizes the presence of this 5^th taste (Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1998 30;855:398-406).

For home cooks, umami can open up a whole new pantry of ingredients. Just as a few shakes of salt can improve a dish, a correctly applied dash of cheese, wine or even ketchup can pump up the umami, without overwhelming the dish with the flavor of the added ingredient. With this boost, cooks can reduce fat and salt content of foods without sacrificing flavor. Roasting tomatoes increases their umami taste. This recipe, which I have adapted, comes from the famed SF chef Gary Danko. The addition of tomato paste, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce (based partially on umami-rich anchovies), soy sauce and grated Parmesan pumps up the rich, savory, umami taste.

Star of the show...tomatoes from my garden!!

I make this soup year round – and in the summer use tomatoes from my garden, in the winter I use canned whole tomatoes from Italy. I have regularly canned the soup, which has become a frequent hostess gift or holiday gift. Just scale up the amount so you have plenty to freeze, can and give away! (Canning instructions to follow on a future blog, see: Long-simmered Fresh Tomato Sauce - the base)

• 2 lbs. fresh plum Roma tomatoes or 3 lbs. fresh mixed tomatoes from your garden or 3 (28 oz.) cans Italian whole tomatoes
• 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 3 small yellow onions (1lb) cut into ½” dice
• 3 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp dried thyme
• 4 Tb extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small fennel bulb or 1 large celery, cut into ¼” dice
• ¼ C tomato paste
• 3 Tb tomato ketchup
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• ¼ tsp Tabasco sauce
• 2-3 C chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 4-6 large fresh basil leaves, chopped
• ¼ C finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F. If using fresh tomatoes, wash, dry and core them. If using canned tomatoes, drain tomatoes, reserving puree or juice. Halve the tomatoes lengthwise.

Divide tomatoes between two shallow baking pans, arranging them cut-side down in a single layer without crowding. Sprinkle them with garlic, onions, fennel or celery, salt and thyme and drizzle with oil.

 

Ripe tomatoes from the garden

Roast until tomatoes are slightly browned and tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly.

 

Roasted tomatoes

Mix the roasted tomato mixture with tomato paste, ketchup, Worcestershire, Tabasco and soy sauce. My preferred approach is to put all thru a food mill to get out skin and seeds (although this can be a little arduous…good job for the kids or my husband!).  Alternatively, one could put the celery or fennel, tomato paste, ketchup, Worcestershire, Tabasco and soy sauce in a blender. Add some of the roasted tomato mixture and stock and blend until smooth.  

Food mill....a great workout!

Skins & seeds left behind in the food mill.

If blended, strain mixture through a medium strainer into a pot, pressing the solids with the bottom of a ladle or a rubber spatula to remove the seeds and small skin particles. Working in small batches, continue to put thru mill or blender and strainer. Add the final reserved puree or juices from the can and the remaining stock into the pot, using 2 C liquid total.

Bring soup to a slow simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to combine, about 10 minutes. Thin mixture with additional stock if necessary. Add salt as needed.

Serve in bowls with a sprinkle of basil; perhaps some shredded mint, cheese, or croutons. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil just before serving. For the croutons, I love the method I shared in “Pickled Vegetable Salad with Anchovy Dressing” posted July 22, 2013 (http://cookingwithlarue.blogspot.com/2013/07/pickled-vegetable-salad-with-anchovy.html).  For the Parmesan crisp – see Roasted Red Pepper & Eggplant Soup posted April 8, 2013 (http://cookingwithlarue.blogspot.com/2013/04/roasted-red-pepper-eggplant-soup.html).

Ready to eat!

Serve the soup with a grilled cheese sandwich, some dry rose Champagne would be nice or Chianti, Gewürztraminer or Sauvignon Blanc!

Bon Appetit

Larue

Grilled Shrimp, Watermelon, Corn & Burrata Salad

Grilled Shrimp, Watermelon, Corn & Burrata Salad

Serves: 4

Grilled Shrimp, Watermelon, Corn & Burrata Salad

This is a light entrée salad for dinner or lunch….the perfect summertime meal. It is a dish for a sunny day. The corn is sweet and tender enough to serve raw. Cubes of watermelon provide additional sweetness as well as crisp texture. Burrata cheese, oozing with cream at its center, provides a rich counterpoint for the crisp corn-and-watermelon salad with grilled shrimp. You could substitute a great cantaloupe or honeydew for the watermelon.  Feel free to improvise based on your mood and whatever is freshest and ripest at the time.

Burrata is a fresh Italian cheese, made when leftover curds of mozzarella are enveloped in piece of already stretched out mozzarella and filled with cream, then secured. It is not buffalo mozzarella, although it’s made from buffalo milk. Burrata is its own thing entirely, and you’ll know this the second you taste it. It can be found in the gourmet cheese section of many grocers.

Most shrimp is farm-raised and frozen, guaranteeing good quality and an abundant supply. It is sold by size: small, medium, large and jumbo, or by number of pieces per pound. I always buy the best quality FROZEN shrimp I can find. It is always frozen – even the “fresh” shrimp at the seafood counter of your grocer. It comes to them frozen; they thaw it, and sell it to you – perhaps hours but maybe days after thawing. I recommend buying shrimp raw and frozen. Frozen shrimp with the shell on tend to be of the best quality and flavor. Plus then you get the shells to make stock for another recipe. (Hint, freeze the shells until ready) It takes but a few minutes under running cool water in a strainer in your sink to thaw shrimp. Easy peasy.

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4Tb olive oil, divided, plus extra for drizzling
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 4Tb finely sliced fresh basil, divided
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Kernels from 4 ears of corn
• 2Tb white balsamic vinegar
• 3C cubed watermelon
• 1-2 balls burrata at room temperature
• Wooden sticks for grilling shrimp - optional

Make sure shrimp is thoroughly cleaned and deveined. Dry with paper towels and place in a one-gallon plastic bag.  Add 2 Tb olive oil, garlic and 1 Tb basil to bag. Gently mix within the bag so all shrimp are covered with olive oil marinade. Allow marinade for 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours in frig. Meanwhile soak wooden sticks in water for at least 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, toss corn with white balsamic vinegar, remaining 2 Tb olive oil and 3 Tb of basil. Add watermelon and season with salt.

 

Fresh corn--does not even need to be cooked

Remove shrimp from bag.  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. If using wooden sticks, skewer each shrimp with two sticks in parallel. This keeps the shrimp from curling and makes a prettier final presentation.  However one could easily simply grill the shrimp turning them over one by one. Grill shrimp over medium heat until pink, 1-2 minutes per side.  Do not overcook, as it will become rubbery.

Shrimp on two skewers to keep them from curling up

To serve, I like to arrange all on a platter. Place watermelon-corn salad on the platter, leaving a space in the center for the burrata. Arrange grilled shrimp on top. Drizzle some olive oil over all, especially the burrata.  Sprinkle a bit of finishing salt on the burrata and serve to accolades. Alternatively, one could halve two balls of burrata.  Divide it, shrimp and corn-watermelon salad among 4 salad plates.  Season burrata with salt, drizzle with oil and serve…again to accolades!

This is best served with a white wine of your choosing – or champagne, of course!

Buon appetito!

Larue