Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Romesco
By now, most cooks I know are over the whole cauliflower craze and that includes the one where you roast the cauliflower whole. I am not over it. I fucking love cauliflower in any shape or form, but by far the best shape and form is beautiful, perfectly bronzed, tender, majestic and roasted whole. This delicious vegetable may be gilded further by placing it in a generous pool of Romesco, another trendy sauce that I have not tired of yet. Both are super easy, particularly if you have a good blender or food processor to make the Romesco. I am also going to take this opportunity to pitch one of my favorite knives to you. It is perfect for getting the core out of the cauliflower, plus a million other tasks in the kitchen. It is cheap and easy to get (here on Amazon), and I know you will fall in love with it too: the bird’s beak paring knife!
There are a million recipes for both of these dishes and I am still going to share mine with you. What I will tell you is that the last time I made this combo, I used a jar of piquillo peppers that I had hanging around and it elevated the Romesco to new heights. I loved this brand and it was perfect-not too spicy, deep pepper flavor and the most beauteous dark red color. I highly recommend subbing them in for regular roasted red peppers. If you get your cauliflower in the oven and make the sauce while it is cooking, this is a pretty hands-free situation. It is also gluten free, vegan and absolutely impressive to serve your friends and family. Cauliflower is perfection at this very moment, so run to the farmer’s market, get some and make this today!
Roasted Whole Cauliflower with Romesco
Serves a few hungry people as a side dish or two as a main course
Ingredients
1 large, perfect, beautiful cauliflower
Some decent cooking EVOO
Salt and pepper
2 cloves of garlic
3/4 cup of almonds, toasted
A large handful of parsley
1 14 ounce jar of Piquillo peppers, drained (I like this one)
1/4 cup tomato paste
3 tablespoons of GOOD sherry vinegar (I like this one)
2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
1/2 cup good EVOO
*cayenne-if you like spicy, add a 1/2 teaspoon, otherwise not necessary
Salt and pepper
Another handful of flat parsley leaves, casually torn
Method
Heat your oven to 400°. Carefully cut the core of your cauliflower out from the bottom (using your fabulous new bird’s beak knife) trying not to separate any florets from the stalk. Don’t overly worry if you do-you will get the hang of it in time. Place your cauliflower on a baking tray and drizzle olive oil over it-maybe 1/4-1/2 of a cup, depending on the size. Rub it all over so it is thoroughly greased up. Cover with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes or so and then remove the foil, turn the heat down to 375 and continue to bake for about another hour or hour and a half. You are looking for burnished brown and tender throughout (use a cake tester, skewer, or toothpick to check).
While your beauty is in the oven, get out your blender, processor, or super sharp knife and bowl if you have neither (I am actually more of a processor fan for this task). Toss the first three ingredients into the machine and blitz till pasty. Add the peppers, tomato paste, vinegar, and paprika and blitz again till puréed. Slowly pour in the EVOO with the machine running and taste. Add salt, pepper, and (maybe) cayenne to your liking. If doing by hand, basically chop the hell out of everything and mix in the EVOO at the end. Or use a mortar and pestle and mash everything similarly. It will all taste delicious any way you do it.
When your cauliflower is finished, cut it into big meaty slices, and place it on a platter, which you have previously smeared great quantities of your gorgeous Romesco. Toss a great handful of the torn parsley leaves on top and proudly serve to your loved ones.
A Leek and Mustard Tart
Even though it is late August, I still occasionally feel the urge to turn on the oven and make my life just a little more sticky and uncomfortable. Tarts are one of my favorite baking mediums, particularly the savory variety. Once a tart is baked, it is great to have around, paired with a simple green salad as a classy lunch, served in a thin wedge with a glass of crisp white wine as an appetizer, or eaten cold out of hand as an on-the-go breakfast.
This recipe originally came from one of Deborah Madison’s early cookbooks. As a vegetarian during much of my youth, I was used to more hippie-type cooking (think Moosewood), and so when I read The Greens Cookbook in 1987, I was blown away. Hers were the first elevated and truly gourmet meatless recipes that I had ever seen. If you are a vegetable lover and haven’t read any of her work, please check her out. Her stuff is seriously inspirational. I have made this tart a million times and gradually adapted it as my own over the years.
I know that not everyone is comfortable with pastry, and tart pans can seem intimidating if you’ve never used one before. This pastry comes together quickly and is pretty forgiving. You don’t even need to roll it out or use those annoying little pie weights (which I will admit I’ve never owned in my life)! Sadly, the length of the recipe also makes it look difficult, but that is only because I am making it super specific for beginners. If you are an old hand at pastry, just make it however you like best.
The filling is quick and straightforward and the results will make you feel like you are sitting in a countryside bistro in the south of France. In fact, go get the bottle of rosé first, and chill it while you are making the tart. When it has cooled down enough to cut, grab your loveliest wine glass, a small plate, a blanket and find yourself the grassiest and most bucolic place to enjoy your beautiful creation.
Leek and Mustard Tart
(Adapted from Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown’s The Greens Cookbook)
Ingredients
Tart Crust
10 oz Gluten Free or all purpose flour (about 2 cups)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
7 oz cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks (approximately 1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup of cold water with a few ice cubes
Filling
4 cups of thinly sliced leeks, white parts only, washed thoroughly to remove any dirt
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of EVOO
1/2 teaspoon of salt
A few grinds of pepper
1/2 cup of white wine
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream (see next ingredient note)
1/2 cup of creme fraiche or sour cream (you can also omit the previous heavy cream in the list and go for a full cup of creme fraiche or sour cream)
1/2 cup grated cheese (emmanthaler or gruyere please, but you can do goat, cheddar, or whatever you like, really)
2 tablespoons coarse Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon smooth Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of minced chives, or parsley
1 teaspoon of minced tarragon
Equipment: 9 inch tart pan or pie plate
Method
Make the crust first.
Heat the oven to 375°. With food processor, pulse flour and salt with butter until the mixture is like very coarse cornmeal with some small pea-sized chunks. Pour in a few spoonfuls of the ice water and pulse again. Keep carefully adding small amounts of water until the dough just comes together. (If using a fork or pastry blender, work fast and blend the fat into the flour until it is the same consistancy as stated above. Stir the water in with a fork until the dough comes together). Quickly press the crust into the pan, keeping the dough to an even 1/8 inch thickness. Stick the whole thing into the freezer quickly and leave for about 15 minutes or so. Get a piece of tin foil the size of the pan and push it into the dough, leaving a little overhang. With a fork, pierce the bottom of the tart dough, about 5 times. Stick in the oven for around 20 minutes, until when you peek under the foil, the dough is dry looking and very light brown. Take out of the oven and cool for a few while you make the filling. Keep the oven on if you are going to bake the tart now!
Heat a large non-stick frying pan at a medium heat and add the butter and oil, when melted, add the leeks, salt and pepper. Stir for 10 minutes or so and then add the wine. Keep stirring for another 5-10 minutes, until the wine is evaporated and then add the vinegar and cook for a minute or two more. Find a medium sized bowl and break two eggs in and beat them for a couple of minutes with a fork or whisk. Add the cream combo, grated cheese, mustards and leek mixture and stir to combine. Pour into your crust and sprinkle the top with the herb(s). I usually stick any pie or tart onto a sheet pan that has been lined with foil, to avoid disastrous oven scenarios, so go ahead if you like. Stick in the oven and bake for around 20-30 minutes, until it is light brown on the top and stops jiggling when you give the pan a shake. Cool on a rack for as long as you can stand it and then get yourself to that bucolic location and pour the wine!
Keeping it cool and cucumbery
It’s been a challenge to turn the stove on this week. I feel so lucky to live on an island in the middle of the ocean, where there is almost always a breeze and it’s usually 10-20° cooler than the mainland. The past few days have thrown that notion out the window however, with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s with heavy duty humidity...Okay, no more complaining about the weather. How about the topic of cold soups?
I keep hoping to see field tomatoes at Bartlett’s and they are still not in! Moors End has some that are a little funky and misshapen. Just not a great year for the tomatoes, I guess. But cucumbers on the other hand....They are spectacular! I love the English variety from Moors End-advertised as “burpless”, they have few seeds and are super crispy and refreshing. Just the thing for making a quick batch of cold cucumber soup!
I fed two ladies for lunch and this recipe made exactly enough. I have also made it for a crowd and the measurements may be easily doubled or tripled.
Cold Cucumber Soup
ingredients
1 large English cucumber (just about a pound), peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup of plain yogurt (literally any kind you like, even dairy free)
1/2 cup of buttermilk (or water if going dairy free)
1 tablespoon of minced shallot
1 clove minced garlic
2 T sherry vinegar
A handful each of minced parsley, chives, and dill
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to thin the soup
Method
Literally dump all the ingredients, except the salt, pepper and water into a blender and blast at the highest speed until puréed. Add the last three ingredients to suit your preferences for flavor and consistency. Serve super cold with some more herbs on top, or croutons, or an herb oil...