Cauliflower Soup

The other night we were watching America's Test Kitchen and they made this amazing cauliflower soup with pretty much just cauliflower.  It looked amazing.  And it is.  

ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
7 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut into 7 pieces)
1 leek, white and light green parts, halved and sliced thinly
1 small onion, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
4 ¹⁄₂ cups water
¹⁄₂ teaspoon sherry vinegar 
chives

Clean the cauliflower, pull off the leaves and cut out the core.  Trim and slice thinly.  Cut 1 ¹⁄₂ cups florets and reserve for later.  Trim the rest of the cauliflower into 1/2 length cross cuts and divide this portion in half.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter into a 5 quart pan.  Over medium low heat, sauté the onion and leek with 1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons of salt until softened, but not yet browned.  About 7-10 minutes.

Add 4 ¹⁄₂ cups of water and increase heat to high.  Add half of the cauliflower and the core, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Let simmer gently for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, add the rest of the sliced cauliflower and cook an additional 15-20 minutes.

While the soup is simmering for the final 15 minutes, melt the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan and add the florets.  Sauté over medium heat until the florets and the butter are both browned, about 15 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer the florets to a small bowl and toss with vinegar and coarse sea salt, set aside.  Pour browned butter into a small bowl.

Ladle soup into blender and pulse until smooth.  Wipe out your soup pot and return the soup to the pot over a low simmer.  To achieve your desired consistency, you may have to add up to a ¹⁄₂ cup more of water.  To serve, garnish with florets, chives and drizzle with browned butter.

Fattoush

The other day we found fattoush.  R and I went to Cicchetti to celebrate my birthday and the waitress suggested the fattoush salad.  It was delicious - very light and refreshing.  When we got home we looked for some recipes and found about a hundred different variations.  Basically, raw vegetables make the base for the salad with bits of toasted or fried pita served on top.  I started with Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's version from, Jerusalem, and then changed it up slightly to try to make it closer to the one we had at dinner. The dressing for this salad is amazing, it's so fresh and clean -  I don't even miss the cheese!  And the best part - the kids like it.  They get a pita taco, basically a quarter of a pita folded over the salad.  They even eat the lettuce!

for the Greek yogurt sauce:

ingredients:

1 cup Greek yogurt

³⁄₄ cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk

Whisk the yogurt and milk in a bowl and leave in the fridge until bubbles form on the surface.  Let it sit for at least 3 hours or up to a day. 

for the dressing:

ingredients:

1 tablespoon dried mint 

2 cloves garlic, crushed 

3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 

¹⁄₄ cup olive oil

2 tablespoon cider or white wine vinegar 

¹⁄₂ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste 

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, plus more to taste 

1 tablespoon sumac

Combine all the ingredients in a medium sized mason jar.  Shake until well combined.  

*Note: any extra dressing will keep in the refrigerator for several days

for the salad:

ingredients:

3-4 pita breads 

3 large tomatoes, diced 

4-5 radishes, thinly sliced
¹⁄₂-1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped

¹⁄₂ red (or orange) bell pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced 

1 tablespoon fresh mint, coarsely chopped

1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped 

¹⁄₂ head of romaine
sumac to garnish

Cook the pita breads.  When cool enough to handle cut them into bite sized pieces and set aside. Assemble the salad and add the dressing to taste.

Divide the pita pieces among 6 plates.  Drizzle the yogurt sauce on top of the bread.  Place the salad on top of the pita and garnish with sumac.  Enjoy!

Serves 6

Recipe adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's, Jerusalem

Caesar Salad with Croutons

This is our Saturday pizza night salad.  It's clean, refreshing and goes great with pizza.  My husband makes the dressing with olive oil, vinegar, and garlic.  The croutons are optional and we don't make them all the time, but they are delicious!

for the croutons:

Good quality bread, about 2 cups cubed
olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and mix to lightly coat the bread cubes.  Add garlic, salt and pepper and mix again.  Spread the bread in a single layer on the sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and crunchy.

for the dressing:

ingredients:
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
¹⁄₂ Tablespoon worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

for the salad:
¹⁄₂ head of romaine, chopped
cherry tomatoes, halved or quarted
parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper

Mix the salad ingredients together in a salad bowl.  Add the croutons and toss with the dressing. Serve immediately.

Serves 2 large servings or 4 small

Artichokes and Garlic Olive Oil

Artichokes are one of those winter vegetables that we love.  The kids gobble them up so fast that we have to watch them to make sure they aren't eating the whole leaf!  We steam them until the leaves are tender (or for a real treat we partially steam them, cut them in half and finish them off on the BBQ!) and then we dip them in garlic olive oil! 

Artichokes:

Steam until tender (about 40 minutes)

Garlic Olive Oil:

Good olive oil
sea salt
several cloves of garlic (more or less depending on how much garlic you like)

Fill a ramekin with some olive oil (about 1/4 of a cup).  Minch several garlic cloves and add them to the oil.  Add a pinch (or 2) of salt, to taste.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I LOVE brussel sprouts.  We eat them several times a week when they are in season.  They make for a very tasty and easy vegetable.

ingredients:

1 lb brussel sprouts
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Trim the ends off the brussel sprouts. Either quarter them or thinly slice them from the top to the bottom (see picture).  Generously coat them with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Cook for 30-35 minutes.  The brussel sprouts should be soft and starting to brown.  Serve before you eat them all yourself!

Serves 4

Curried Carrot Soup

Between our own garden and the CSA we belong to we have ended up with a lot of carrots! I am not a huge raw carrot fan, but I found this recipe and it is really quite good.  My 16 month old drinks glasses of it and my 3 old uses it as a dip for her grilled cheese sandwiches.  It makes a great tomato soup alternative and is super easy to make.

I put a dollop of yogurt on the kid's soup to cut the heat of the curry

ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter 

1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 quart vegetable stock
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

whole milk, plain yogurt
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Heat butter in a Dutch oven or large (4- to 5-quart) saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, carrots, and 21⁄2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.

With an immersion blender (if you don't have one just use a regular blender - just be careful not to put too much hot liquid in at once) puree soup until smooth. Add butter and more water to thin to desired consistency. Check the seasonings. If you used homemade vegetable stock you may need quite a bit more salt. Reheat, if necessary. Stir in lemon juice. Serve garnished with yogurt and cilantro, if desired.

Serves 4

Adapted from Martha Stewart Recipes

Indian Vegetable Curry

Ingredients:

1 can light coconut milk
12 oz. cauliflower florets, cut into bite-size pieces (about 3 cups)
2 large carrot, sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal
1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 Tbs. minced fresh ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. curry powder
Kosher salt
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
3 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro

In a 12-inch skillet set over medium-low heat, stir together the coconut milk, ginger, garlic, curry powder and 1 tsp. salt.  Add the cauliflower, carrot and onion, . Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring often, until the cauliflower is tender when pierced with a knife, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the chickpeas, and tomatoes and continue to cook until the chickpeas are heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro, season to taste with salt, and serve over rice or with flatbread.

Adapted from Fine Cooking 122 , pp. 14
February 21, 2013