Sunburst Carrot Salad Recipe

Generally speaking, I don't buy the huge woody-textured carrots you find in many produce departments. I seek out bunches of seasonal carrots this time of year from various farmers, farmers markets, etc.

2 bunches carrots, preferably spring carrots
extra virgin olive oil
fine grain sea salt
1 green chile (serrano), deveined and minced
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 cup green pumpkin seeds (pepitas), toasted

Start by washing the carrots. Use a vegetable peeler to shave each carrot into wide ribbons. If your carrots have beat up, dirty skins, peel them first before making ribbons.

Heat a big splash of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the carrot ribbons. Saute for just 20 seconds or so - barely long enough to take the raw edge and a bit of crunch off the carrots. Quickly stir in the chiles and lemon zest. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro, about one tablespoon of lemon juice, and then most of the pepitas. Taste. Add more salt and/or lemon juice if needed. Garnish with remaining pepitas.

Serves 4 to 6.

Look for pomegranate molasses in ethnic foods aisle or with the sweeteners in natural foods stores. If you can't find it, substitute an equal amount of pomegranate juice (though, it is really not the same). Also, selecting the right tofu is essential here. Look for the extra-firm variety swimming in minimal liquid. As a time-saver, I¹ve used jarred roasted red peppers (water-packed) with good results. If you don't have a grill, the kabobs can be cooked on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven for 30-40 minutes.
Muhammara Slather:
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
flakes or 1 small red chile
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1/4 cup whole-grain bread crumbs
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 to 3 roasted red peppers
1/2 to 1 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
Kabobs
2 red onions, each cut into 6 wedges
3 lemons, each cut into 4 lengthwise wedges
12 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into 12 equal-sized cubes
12 mushrooms
extra-virgin olive oil, for brushing
fine-grain sea salt
Special equipment: 6 wooden skewers
Prepare a medium-hot grill; if the temperature is right, you should be able to hold your hand a few inches above the grate for 4 or 5 seconds.
In the meantime, make the muhammara. Using a hand blender (preferably) or a conventional blender, puree the chile flakes, cumin, walnuts, bread crumbs, olive oil, pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, and red peppers to a smooth, even consistency. Mix in the warm water in increments to achieve an easily spreadable consistency similar to a thick yogurt. If you¹re going to use it for dipping, you might want to leave it a bit thicker. Stir in the salt and adjust the seasonings if needed.
When constructing kabobs, I don¹t bother soaking wood skewers in water. I just load them up with food from tip to tip, which seems to solve any problems with the wood igniting. Onto 6 medium-length skewers, thread an onion wedge, a lemon wedge, a cube of tofu, and a mushroom, then repeat. Brush each kabob generously with olive oil and season with salt. Put the kabobs on the grill and cover. Cook, rotating regularly and brushing with olive oil every few minutes, until the onions are tender, about 12 minutes altogether.
To eat, slather with the muhammara, slide off the skewers. and squeeze the juice from the roasted lemons over everything.
Makes 6 kabobs.

White Bean Salad

A couple purple lettuce leaves snuck into my baby spinach bag at the market, I like the color they add to this salad so I left them in. I call for a citrus olive oil in this recipe (I used the ruby grapefruit olive oil from O Olive Oils. Orange or Lemon would likely be nice as well (and more readily available). In a pinch, an alternative would be to use a good quality extra-virgin olive oil along with some citrus zest.
2 big handfuls baby spinach, washed and dried
2 cans white cannellini beans (or freshly cooked equivalent)
2 handfuls walnuts, toasted
a couple glugs of citrus-flavored olive oil
a small splash of champagne vinegar
a few pinches fine-grained sea salt
a bit of crumbled cheese (manouri, goat cheese work nicely)
Rinse and drain the beans. If you like your bean salad on the warm side, my shortcut for heating them up is to run them under hot water (saves having to wash a pot).
In a large bowl combine the spinach, beans and walnuts. Add the olive oil, a splash of champagne vinegar, and salt. Toss gently but make sure you get everything nicely coated. Sprinkle a bit of cheese on top and enjoy.
Serves 4.

Moroccan Baby Carrot SaladTo be totally honest, I'm nearly always too lazy to peel carrots. I look for fresh bunches of spring carrots, or the smallest, babiest of spring carrots topped with lively, healthy-looking greens. In addition, peeling these guys strips away much of their barely rustic personality - another reason not to bother. I give them a good, hearty scrub, and they are ready to go. I cut back quite a bit on the ground cumin (feel free to use more!) and loaded up on the add-ins here, more than the original recipe calls for - also threw in some crumbled manouri cheese (totally optional) - feta or goat cheese would also do nicely, each in its own way.
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound baby carrots (or spring carrots), washed and cut into halves and/or quarters lengthwise
sea salt to taste
1 tablespoon honey
lemon juice from one lemon
1/2 cup black olives (Moroccan, Kalamata, etc), each torn in half
1/2 cup orange syrup (1 cup orange juice reduced by half over medium heat)
1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon mint, chopped
Put cumin seeds in a heavy pan over medium heat and toast until fragrant, approximately five minutes. Grind cumin seeds in a spice grinder and set aside. Alternatively, if you don't have a grinder, use pre-ground cumin.
Pour olive oil in a skillet over high heat and add carrots. Cook 2 - 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium and cook another few minutes until the carrots become just barely tender, and loose much of their crunch and raw flavor. Salt to taste.
Drain carrots in a colander to get rid of excess oil.
Transfer carrots to a mixing bowl and add honey, lemon juice, olives, orange syrup and about half of the cumin. Toss gently. Taste, add more cumin if you like.
Just before serving toss in the cilantro, mint and pine nuts. Add a bit more salt to taste if needed. Serve next to your favorite tiny pasta, grain, or rice. Sardinian fregula is shown in the photo at the begining of the post.
Serves 4 to 6.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Egg Salad Sandwich (the only one I'll eat)

I've realized that 90% of the challenge here is properly boiling the egg. You need to boil it so the center sets yet stays moist. You also need to avoid the green/grey ring thing that surrounds the yolk in many hard boiled eggs. I use the same technique here that I learned camping with a hardcore egg enthusiast. It has worked for me flawlessly ever since. The key is to avoid over cooking, and to dunk the eggs in a bowl of icy water to stop the cooking after you remove them from the hot water. I always use good quality eggs - but something to keep in mind, the fresher they are, the harder they are to peel after boiling.

6 large eggs
1-2 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
A tiny squeeze of lemon juice
2 stalks celery, washed and chopped
1/2 bunch chives, chopped
2 small handfuls of lettuce
8 slices of whole grain bread, toasted

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by a 1/2-inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil. Now turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for exactly seven minutes. Have a big bowl of ice water ready and when the eggs are done cooking place them in the ice bath for three minutes or so - long enough to stop the cooking. Crack and peel each egg, place in a medium mixing bowl. Add the mayonnaise, a couple generous pinches of salt and pepper, now mash with a fork. Don't overdo it, you want the egg mixture to have some texture. If you need to add a bit more mayo to moisten up the mixture a bit, go for it a bit at a time.

Stir in the celery and chives. Taste, and adjust the seasoning - adding more salt and pepper if needed.

To assemble each egg salad sandwich: place a bit of lettuce on a piece of toast, top with the egg salad mixture, and finish by creating a sandwich with a second piece of toast.

Make 4 sandwiches.


Egg Salad Sandwich (the only one I'll eat)


It has long been my personal belief that the egg salad sandwich is a sandwich too ugly to look at, let alone eat. I'm talking about those structure-less mayo bombs served on soggy white bread. An egg salad sandwich fitting this description shows up at my house roughly once a week wrapped in tight-fitting plastic - pretty much whenever Wayne hits up the neighborhood sandwich shop. I always look at him incredulously and ask...really? You really want to eat that? I just don't get it. Generally speaking he doesn't even like eggs very much. Whoever cast the egg salad sandwich spell on him did a fine job.

It wasn't until last week when we went to the Vivienne Westwood exhibit at the de Young museum that I was forced to rethink my position. At the café my friend Quyen submitted her sandwich order (one egg salad please)....I looked at her and shook my head. You too? This in turn opened up a lengthy lunchtime conversation on the merit of egg salad. Egg Salad Sandwich Lovers:2, Haters: 1.

My case wasn't helped by what was about to come out of the café kitchen. When her sandwich appeared before us the clouds parted, angels sang, and a golden beam of sunlight was cast onto her plate. It was an egg salad sandwich of a totally different breed. You could see vibrant yellow yolks, flecks of herbs, and capers. Mayo? Little if any. And the best part? Not a soggy piece of bread in sight.

And this is how inspiration strikes. I saw Quyen's tasty looking egg salad sandwich and it showed me that a sandwich made of hard-boiled eggs can be appetizing to both the eye and the taste buds. I thought about it for a few days and came up with a game plan for my own that went something like this. For the bread - whole grain bread toasted and sliced on the thin side. Toasting will help deter the sog-factor. Some crunchy add-ins were going to be critical to counter the mush factor of the eggs. My choice? Chopped celery. Eggs pair beautifully with herbs - at the market I was on the lookout for fresh dill, but came across chives instead. Perfect. I knew I was after a drier egg salad mixture and would use a minimal amount of mayo - just enough to bind the egg mixture together. Achieving bright yellow yolks would be of the utmost importance. A friend of my sister's recommended chopped bacon as an addition. I countered with fried shallots, but didn't end up using them at the last minute - the flavor was overpowering the eggs and chives. If you wanted to go that route, a remix of this sandwich where you broil some thinly sliced gruyere cheese onto your toast, top with the egg salad mixture, sprinkle with the fried shallots, and serve open-faced would likely be delicious.

It also dawned on me that this is prime egg salad sandwich season! Put all those leftover hard-boiled eggs from Easter to good use (I should note that we always had leftover hardboiled eggs that we didn't use in the hunt).

Before I sign off, I'd like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to the Unwilling Cook's letter earlier this week. 180+ fantastic, thoughtful responses - and they are STILL coming in! It makes me very proud to have such an amazing community of readers, and I promise to keep you posted on his progress.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Mashed Potatoes with Kale and Olive Oil

For this recipe, be sure to wash the kale well (or spinach, or chard) - dirt and grit hides in the leaves. I don't like floppy leafiness in my potatoes, so I chop the kale quite finely. If you stir the kale in too much it can lend a slight green cast to your potatoes, so i just barely stir it in right before serving. Also, on the potato front - feel free to use unpeeled potatoes if you like something a bit more rustic (and nutritious). I picked up some yellow-fleshed German Butterball potatoes at the market last week and they added the visual illusion that the mashed potatoes were packed with butter. Didn't miss the real thing a bit.

3 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
sea salt
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, large stems stripped and discarded, leaves chopped
1/2+ cup warm milk or cream
freshly ground black pepper
5 scallions, white and tender green parts, chopped
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, for garnish (opt)
fried shallots, for garnish (optional)

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Add a pinch of salt. Bring the water to a boil and continue boiling for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, chopped kale, a big pinch of salt, and saute just until tender - about a minute. Set aside.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher or fork. Slowly stir in the milk a few big splashes at a time. You are after a thick, creamy texture, so if your potatoes are on the dry side keep adding milk until the texture is right. Season with salt and pepper.

Dump the kale on top of the potatoes and give a quick stir. Transfer to a serving bowl, make a well in the center of the potatoes and pour the remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with the scallions, Parmesan cheese, and shallots.

Serves 6.

Black Pepper and Lime Oven Fries1 1/2 pounds small potatoes, cut into wedges
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
1 lime
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 375, oven racks in the middle.
In a medium bowl toss the potato wedges with the olive oil, a few big pinches of sea salt and five or six cranks of the pepper grinder. Arrange the potatoes cut side down on a baking sheet. Place in the oven for 30-35 minutes, tossing the potatoes with a metal spatula half way through.
While the potatoes are baking, zest the lime and cut it into a few wedges.
When the potatoes are cooked through, remove them from the oven, taste, and adjust the seasoning. Add more salt and pepper to taste (don't skimp on the pepper!). Serve in a big shallow bowl, or on a platter, drizzled with lime juice and dusted with the lime zest and Parmesan.
Serves 4 - 6.



Between marathon-length international flights and media-free evenings in a camper van I've had ample time to think about resolutions in the days leading up to the new year.
The funny thing is, my resolutions don't seem to change drastically from year to year. A couple years back I wrote, "I look forward to 2005 being a year where; I see more of the world I live in through travel and photography, I spend more time with my sister, I make an effort to collaborate on projects with interesting, innovative individuals."
Thinking about this year, all of those resolutions still resonate. I'd like to focus my travel on experiencing more of the great cities of the world. On the photography front, I'd like to start work on a new long-term photo series (likely outside of the food space). And of course, spend more time with family.
I guess part of the lure of travel for me is being able to see places through fresh eyes, my brain switches into a different mode, my daily routine gets knocked off balance and I end up find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places. One afternoon early in this recent trip to New Zealand I popped into an small produce shop in Auckland. Nothing much to get excited about, it was well stocked with Kiwi standards like kumara (New Zealand's sweet potato), peppers, asparagus, tomatoes, asparagus, avocado, etc. It wasn't until I got to the back of the shop that I found an elderly Chinese woman diligently peeling and then cutting broccoli stalks into thin, biased, coin-shaped slices. She had a huge metallic mixing bowl filled to the brim - at least five or six pounds of slices. I asked what she planned on doing with the them (she was visibly amused by my curiosity) and in broken English said she would use them in her stir-fries. Somehow, this idea had never dawned on me and now I can't wait to add them to some of my favorite wok-creations.
On the road back to the hotel from the produce shop I looked up to see a billboard marketing a brand of New Zealand potato chips. The seasoning for the chips was black pepper and lime. I made a note to do a batch of oven fries when I got back to San Francisco trying out the lime and black pepper combination - New Zealander's have all sorts of interesting herb and spice uses. They use sea vegetables and native ferns in an array of rubs, dips, and infusions. I brought a bunch home to play with (future post!)...
Happy New Year everyone. Here's to health and happiness all around. Thank you for your continued support for this site. While in theory the site started as a way for me to explore ideas and influences, your feed back and continued curiosity brings a component to the site I could have never imagined.

Baked Doughnuts
Don't over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit - they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender - not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts - too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking.
1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour (alternately, white whole wheat might work - haven't tried it yet)
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don't have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.
Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.
Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.
Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen medium doughnuts.


Mention the concept of a baked doughnut to any self-professed doughnut connoisseur, chances are you'll take some heat. The idea that a baked doughnut can match up to its deep-fried brethren is laughable in some circles. I'll concede they aren't the same, but baked doughnuts can be just as delicious - delicious yet different. They get bonus points for being healthier and for not making the house smell like a greasy fry station.
I spent the better part of Sunday trying to get the dough for these yeasted baked doughnuts right. Broadly speaking, if you can make pizza dough, you can make these. The process is very similar. I looked at a broad cross-section of recipes as inspiration and tried to settle on a ratio of sugar to egg to flour to yeast and salt that would yield a tender, slightly sweet, delicious, pillowy doughnut when baked.
Many recipes call for water as the base liquid, I opted for milk (I like the softness of the milk-based rolls I've made in the past) and I baked batches at 375, 400, and 425. On the higher end of the spectrum the bottoms browned too fast. I settled on 375 and a slightly longer time in the oven.
You can glaze these the way you would any other doughnut, but because I knew these were going to be at their pinnacle of taste minutes after coming out of the oven, I opted for a simple, classic, sugar dusting.
The doughnuts helped fuel the design update of 101 Cookbooks that went up this past weekend. Hopefully you'll find it easier to read, explore, and navigate the site. Let's just say, I'm very lucky I have a web developer around the house to help bring some of the features and functionality you see on the site to life.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/

Curried Noodle Patties

January 24, 2007 | by Heidi

One of the things I've noticed looking back through the archives of this site is that I have a tendency to skip over many of the everyday-type recipes in my life. The ones that come together without a special trip to the store. The ones that incorporate leftovers and very little time in the kitchen. The ones that aren't particularly sexy, exciting, or rooted in any sort of authentic cuisine or seminal cookbook.

I suppose some don't make the cut because they are outright embarrassing, others because they are photogenically-challenged. Sometimes it's because we eat it all before I have a chance to pop off a photo. I've been thinking about some of the recipes that were the most popular with you over the past year, and a good number of them meet this "easy, tasty, healthy, on-the-fly" criteria. I included a bunch of these types of recipes in my book, and they are the ones I end up turning to when I don't really feel like spending an entire evening preparing a meal. So! I'm going to make an effort to include more of these on the site this year - starting today.

What do you do with a big bowl of leftover pasta noodles? In this case I had angel hair pasta. I decided I was going to make some sort of savory noodle cakes from them. My game plan was pretty straight forward - I actually woke up this morning thinking about this. Toss the noodles with enough egg to hold the patties together, then throw in whatever else I could find in the refrigerator (in this case, tofu, green onions, and cilantro). I had a delicious lunch on my hands in under ten minutes. They look like they'll travel well for those of you packing lunches these days.

Think of this as more of an idea than an actual recipe. You could remix it 100 different ways. Try buckwheat soba noodles and a soy dipping sauce for a Japanese interpretation. Opt for corn, chopped oven-roasted tomatoes, feta and cilantro in the summer time. You get my drift, this recipe is endlessly adaptable. Please throw out some ideas in the comments, I have a feeling this technique is going to be in high-rotation around here, and I always love hearing what you would add to the recipe.

Curried Noodle PattiesIf you aren't used to preparing food with curry paste err on the side of caution, some pastes are hotter than others. I used red curry paste - but expect that yellow or green would be delicious as well. I used a whole-grain angel hair pasta, but any spaghetti-type noodle will work. If you are boiling the pasta (and not using leftovers) run the noodles under cold water after draining to cool them off. This is so the eggs don't cook on contact with the hot noodles.

1-2 teaspoons (red) Thai curry paste
4 eggs
6 ounces tofu, diced (roughly 2/3 cup)
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
6 green onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups noodles, cold
2 tablespoons sesame or olive oil
peanuts, green onions and cilantro for garnish

Smash and spread the curry paste around the bottom of a medium bowl. Add one of the eggs and stir until the curry paste is well incorporated. Whisk in the rest of the eggs. Stir in the tofu, cilantro, green onions, and salt. Add the noodles. I've found it is easiest to work the egg evenly through the noodles if you use your hands and you don't get any noodle breakage.
Heat a well-seasoned skillet over medium heat. Place 1/3 cup of the noodle mixture into egg rings or handle-less, metal biscuit cutters and cook in batches for 3-5 minutes on each side, until golden. If the little bits of tofu and onions are escaping the noodles in the mixing bowl, just toss them into the egg ring on top of the noodles, those will end up on the bottom of the patty - nice and golden. To serve, season with salt and garnish with a sprinkling of green onion, cilantro, and peanuts.
Makes 8 -12.

Hummus

In this recipe, I give the option of using sesame seeds instead of "tahini" - a sesame seed paste which is sometimes hard to find, even in specialty shops. The blend of spices below is my favorite for plain hummus. However, traditional hummus is usually simply made of garbanzo beans, water, garlic, olive oil, salt, and tahini (sesame seed paste). In this recipe, the cayenne, cumin, paprika, and lemon juice can be adjusted to taste or eliminated entirely.


Food you'll need
1 cup dried garbanzo beans (also called "chick peas")
3 cups water, distilled preferred, for soaking beans
5 cloves (the buds or separations within a bulb) of garlic
1/4 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 & 1/8 cups additional water, distilled preferred
1 tablespoon cooking oil, extra virgin olive oil preferred, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup whole sesame seeds or tahini (sesame seed paste)
3/4 teaspoon cumin
3/4 teaspoon paprika
2 cups water, distilled preferred


Preparation (1 hour, plus 3-4 hours for beans to soak prior to cooking)
Rinse garbanzo beans; pour into large jar or bowl with lid. Add 3 cups water, cover, and soak 3-4 hours or overnight (yields over 2 cups after soaking). Drain water when ready to use. Steam or boil both garbanzo beans and garlic until tender.

Combine water, sesame seeds, salt, and spices in electric blender; puree for 2 minutes to break up sesame seeds. (If using tahini, only blend for a few seconds to mix.) Add lemon juice, oil (if used), and half of the cooked beans/garlic; blend until smooth. Add remaining beans/garlic and blend; remove from blender and mash any remaining whole beans or garlic cloves with a fork.

Top with an extra dash of oil, lemon juice, and paprika, if desired. Use as a spread or dip for bread, sandwiches, crackers, and vegetables. Keep refrigerated.

http://www.veggiecooking.com/recipe10.html

Garlic Mushrooms (serves 2)
Serve Garlic Mushrooms as an appetizer or in the cavity of a roasted acorn squash.

Food you'll need
1/2 cup cooking oil, extra virgin olive oil preferred
1 bulb of garlic, peeled, with each clove chopped into 2-3 pieces
1 lb. fresh whole white mushrooms (common grocery store variety)
1 cup white or red wine (I use chardonnay or cabernet)



Preparation (30-40 minutes)
On medium low heat in frying pan, sauté garlic pieces in oil for 10-15 minutes, or until tender. Rinse mushrooms; add mushrooms then wine (I prefer cabernet) to garlic/oil mix. Cook for another 5-10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender. Enjoy as an appetizer or side dish. Serve warm.

http://www.veggiecooking.com/recipe11.html

Roasted Cauliflower Popcorn
4-inch segment of a thin day-old baguette
1 medium head of cauliflower, washed
extra-virgin olive oil
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh red chile pepper, minced

Roasted Cauliflower Popcorn
November 29, 2006 | by Heidi

Between the spicy cauliflower side dish I had earlier in the week at Pizzeria Delfina, and the Pan Roasted Cauliflower recipe that caught my attention in Molly and Fran's latest book, I've been thinking about cauliflower a bit...

Let me start by telling you about the cauliflower at Pizzeria Delfina. It is browned and tender, punctuated with a healthy dose of capers, garlic, and Calabrian chiles. Is it roasted? Baked (possibly in the pizza oven)? Not sure, definitely not grilled. Anyhow, it is very good and as I was enjoying a small plate of it I was thinking that the little florets were very popcorn-like in shape. Fun.

Apparently (to my surprise) I'm not the only one who has had this revelation. My hopes of doing an original post featuring some sort of remix of cauliflower as popcorn were trashed with a single Google search. Was I the only one who has never heard of this?

So, here is my take on cauliflower 'popcorn'...I'm a little less excited about it now that I know its not exactly a fresh concept. That being said, it still tastes really good, takes under five minutes of active cooking time, and with everyone getting sick this time of year it is a delicious way to load up on a super healthy cruciferous vegetable.

Roasted Cauliflower Popcorn
4-inch segment of a thin day-old baguette
1 medium head of cauliflower, washed
extra-virgin olive oil
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 fresh red chile pepper, minced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and place racks in the middle.
Give the baguette a spin in a food processor until you have textured, not-too-fine bread crumbs.
Trim the cauliflower. Get rid of the big stalks and stems and strive for uniform, bite-sized little florets. Little trees.
In a big bowl toss the cauliflower with a few generous tablespoons of olive oil and the salt. Toss until the cauliflower is well coated and then place it in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. You are going to bake for about 25-30 minutes total.
There will be some residual olive oil in the big bowl you used to toss the cauliflower. If not, add another tablespoon or two. Add the bread crumbs, garlic, and chiles. Mix.
After the cauliflower has been baking for about 15-20 minutes anything in contact with the pan should be nicely browned. Pull the pan out of the oven, rotate each piece of cauliflower so that another side will get some color, and then sprinkle the entire pan with the breadcrumb mixture. Return the pan to the oven and finish with another ten minutes or so. The cauliflower should be tender throughout and the breadcrumbs nicely toasted. Serve immediately, it really isn't half as delicious after it has been sitting on the counter getting cold.
If you want to work the popcorn angle, serve in little cups. Or I've even seen little, mini, paper popcorn containers at party stores. Kids seem more wiling try try good for you vegetables when you make them taste and smell really good and have some fun with the context.

Serves 4.
Variations:
- Sprinkle with dukkah as the cauliflower comes out of the oven instead of the garlic and chiles.
- Puree the roasted cauliflower (and crumbs)

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