Tag: cauliflower

Cauliflower pasta

It’s the season for cauliflower and I am a big fan, so it always makes me happy to prepare some.

Until recently I would either eat it raw, steam it to melty-crunchy, or make a puree or a soup for some classic recipes. Or use Indian inspiration and cook it with spices.

Yet this year I started to make a sauce for pasta with it, like you would with broccoli. My first attempt was good but needed a bit more elaboration. My attempt today reached the perfection I was expecting. So here is my recipe. Simple but so delicious.

Cauliflower pasta (for 2 servings)

  • 120g of dry short pasta (I used farfalle, but penne, macaroni etc… would work very well)
  • 1/2 cauliflower
  • 2tbs of olive oil
  • Salt, pepper, turmeric, paprika

Boil the pasta. Steam the cauliflower until very mushy.

In a pan, puree the cauliflower and add the olive oil and the salt, pepper, turmeric and paprika, a pinch of each. Stir well. Add the cooked and drained pasta, stir to obtain a well mixed mix. Serve.

You can add grated parmesan on top if you like it.

Indian cooking

A while ago, one of my former student from India offered me a set of Indian spices… It took me a while to know what to do, and finally, upon recommendation of a Canadian friend who cooked for me an amazing Indian curry some years ago, I asked for Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey: The Warmth and Ease of Indian Cooking as a xmas present. I browsed it several times, looking for inspiration, and was overwhelmed by the abundance of recipes I wanted to test, not knowing where to start. But when I saw beautiful cauliflowers at the farmers market on Saturday, I remembered that cauliflower recipe I saw and rush for one. We are lucky that in Chiba they also grow tomatoes that in winter are perfect for tomato sauce: large, very ripe and sweet.

So back home in front of the pantry full of bins with so many spices I don’t know about yet… I started to cook following the recipe, more or less… oups I don’t have coriander seeds… nor fresh ginger…

So here is my version of Vij’s cauliflower steak, that I served with Japanese rice, like a vegetable curry-rice. It was super delicious, so I imagine that with the two missing ingredients it is probably even better… but now who cares!

Spicy cauliflower (for 2)

– 1/2 cauliflower

– 1 large ripe tomato

– 1/2tsp of salt

– 1/2tsp of ground tumeric

– 1/2tsp of ground chilly pepper

– 1tsp of ground cumin

– 4 cloves

– 1 stick of cinnamon

– a bit of oil (I used olive oil and rice oil)

In a bit of oil I first reduce the tomato to tomato sauce. Then add all the other ingredients but the cauliflower and stir well. When it’s all creamy, I add the cauliflower cut in 4 pieces. Cook at low heat under cover until tender but not mushy.

Serve and eat immediately!!!

Hand making

I’ve always loved making things with my hands… whether it’s been cooking, or small crafts, or drawing, but with a grand mother professional knitter, a mother and elder sister that know sewing, as the smallest one I didn’t really get a chance to learn any on these. Knitting I would probably be able to catch up, I did a little knitting when I was a child, but sewing… except for making squared pillow cases and the like, I really know nothing, and cutting is even worse, ask A. about my attempt of making a cylindrical pillow case… so when my old neighbor asked me if I wanted to learn how to make a traditional Japanese quilted jacket, I knew it would please her to spend some time with me chitchatting, I just couldn’t say no! I love learning new things to do with my hands. She told me what to buy and I prepared everything to be ready when the making day would come. She told me: “you’ll see it’s very easy” I understood “it will take one afternoon or one evening and you’ll have a new overcoat”… it was underestimating the skills needed and my total lack of them!!! It took me one evening just to cut and prepare the basic shape and she was guiding me all along, one other evening to add the filling and do the preparation sewing, and one evening to finally finish the hand sewing! But I did it!!! I am very proud of my first real piece of clothing! Hand sewing is yes time consuming but the cutting and mounting part were really interesting to learn!!! Learning how to make the best of the piece of fabric you have, how to avoid useless cutting and sewing, and how to optimize ease of mounting the whole thing together was really eye opening on knowhow and craftsmanship. I will definitely try again. The thing I found the best of all was that rather than watching an online tutorials I found that having someone experienced to show me was crucial in succeeding and in making the whole experience engaging and fun. Because not only did I learned how to make the jacket but also how to make small consistent knots, to use a supporter to make straight and regular stitches… and one million other things about Japan 70 years ago!!!

That said, you can understand that I had fewer time for cooking, so it was always simple. And with the chilly evenings, a warm soup was always welcome. I made a sweet potato and cauliflower soup. It’s so easy and requires so little work that it was perfect for me.

Sweet potato and cauliflower soup (2 large servings)

– 1 small cauliflower

– 2 small Japanese sweet potatoes (or 1/2 if it’s only big ones you can find)

– 200ml of milk

– salt and pepper

Boil the vegetables after washing/peeling and cutting them. When tender, move the vegetables in a blender, add the milk salt and pepper and mix. If too thick add a bit of the cooking water. Serve immediately and eat hot!

Vegetables quiche

Every season has its delicious vegetables and every season has therefore a possibility of cooking quiches that is infinite. For this autumn or early winter version I used all the vegetables I love for their déclinaison of white to green: cauliflower, leek and spinach. Coupled with a rich pie crust made of soya bean flours, whole flour and wheat bran it gave the perfect balance of flavor and texture, and of colors.

Tell me about what you like on IG!

Before leaving

In a few hours I will be in Beijing for work, giving talks, meeting with new students and new research partners, attending a conference and presenting proposals. Well a very tight schedule for less than 72h. Usually eating is not central to these trips, even less cooking, if I ever find time to grab something I’ll be happy! Even more in China, as I am not a big fan of Chinese cuisine: too spicy, too weird, and too sticky-sweety-juicy… I’d love once to find a great Chinese restaurant that does vegetarian or vegan cuisine and not dimsum (i love dimsum). So before going I wanted to prepare food I like and that is very satisfying for the palate.

With my sister visiting last week, I was happy she had thought of bringing something not easy to find here: some fresh cantal cheese. A cheese I particularly love, that is always delicious both straight or in preparations, just like Parmigiano is. So I didn’t eat the whole piece in cubes and slices, rather I kept it to put in a simple recipe made of leftovers pork filet mignon, and a whole blanched cauliflower. I cut the cauliflower in fleurettes and heated the filet in a pan with a bit of oil. Added the cauliflower, salt and pepper, a few drops of olive oil and topped with grated cantal cheese… melting on the hot cauliflower… so delicious and a so perfect combination.

See you on Saturday when I an back Beijing!!! Have a good week!!

Cauliflower milkshake

It’s funny how what was supposed to be a simple warming and comforting cauliflower soup turned into something much more than average. That’s what I live with cooking and that’s why I started this blog… to keep track of the magic and make it happen again!!! And it is not necessarily complicated, all is required is good products and a bit of inspiration… This milkshake started with a chilly evening, the craving for something light and warm, a beautiful cauliflower and a bottle of milk. Just after came the salt and pepper and that’s it!

After eating a lot of cauliflower-curry-crouton during the winter, I was looking for some different to do with my cauliflower (strangely they had plenty at the farmers market in the past week, they are big and firm, great for raw and cooked recipes). So I first started by steaming it. Then in the blender I crush it, they puréed it while still warm, and in the end I added some milk and a pinch of salt and blended at mid then high speed. I obtained a kind of mousse that was really like a milkshake, I decided to serve it like that without further delay to avoid the mousse to vanish, it was at the perfect temperature (the hot cauliflower with the cold milk) and I topped with freshly grounded black pepper.

Whaou!

Quite a week, and it’s only Thursday!!!  So let’s get back to when I left you last Saturday… Sunday evening we had 4 guests (mix of French and Japanese) for dinner at home in Tokyo so I cooked some of my half new recipes: creamy cauliflower soup with curried croutons (recipe below), pork cutlet with roasted roots: lotus, taro, sweet potatoes, turnips, deglazed in soya sauce, and for dessert hasaku with spices syrup (ginger, cinnamon and cardamom) served with sesame and kinako biscuits. A. picked many Japanese and French wines to accompany my food. Oh… and I also made some plain and olive fougasse, with the olives from the garden in Aix that my mother prepared! But that was Sunday and it seems ages already!!!

And then Monday it had snowed, quite a lot actually, so I came back home earlier than usual to avoid being stucked with train problems. And I was happy to work from home eating left over sesame-kinako cookies with a hot chaï late. And having nothing to prepare or so for dinner since I hade made too many roasted vegetables! I like to recycle leftovers and do new things with them. So I added fukinoto and topped with sprouts for a perfectly balanced dinner. It was a great flavor experience! Fukinoto bring so much!! They are also the taste of coming spring with plum blossoms! And then there was this workshop I co-organized at the French Embassy. Everything went great, I met amazing people, now I can think about what’s next (and there’s plenty) and go back to the work routine for a short while!!

How is your week doing? 

Cauliflower soup with curried croutons (6 servings as starter)

– 1 cauliflower

– 1 potato

– 150ml of cream

– 4 slices of bread (I used half rye bread I made) 

– 2tsp of curry

– oil for the frying the croutons

– salt, pepper  

In a large pan I boil the cauliflower washed and chopped and the potato, peeled and chopped too. When they are very soft I blend everything. Add water if it’s too thick. Then add the cream.

In a fry pan add oil and the curry, cut the bread in cubes and fry them while turning them regularly. When golden take them out and keep them on cooking paper. When serving heat the soup, add salt and pepper if you lile, serve and top with the croutons. I added a sprinkle of tumeric for adding a bit of color.

Where is the Japanese autumn?

One thing that is really beautiful in Japan is the autumn sunny days called akibare-秋晴れ. They are usually warm and the blue of the sky contrasts vividly with the changing colors of the nature. This period usually streches until mid-November even December sometimes. This year, after the rainy summer we had, I was longing for this period, enjoying gardening and walks in the nature. But after just a very few days, we’ve entered a series of rainy days that seem simply endless. And any time I watch the weather forecast it seems it is stuck with the rain mark… but not only does it rain, it is also chilly. So nothing better to warm up than a little soup and some brown rice. For the soup I chose a cauliflower. Simply blanched it until just tender, not over cooked otherwise the taste changes. They blended it with the water and added some soya milk. Finished with salt, pepper and curcuma. The cauliflower just cooked as above, and well blended is creamy enough and doesn’t need further addition of cream or whatsoever ingredient. The brown rice, I took the time to cook it in the rice cooker, on the brown rice menu. It takes about 2h30 but it is worth doing so because it becomes very soft. Then I made rice balls, topped them with a small table spoon of miso just to cover them thinely and grilled them in a fry pan miso face down. You can also grill them in a grill or an oven. That’s it!!

Have a beautiful week! And don’t forget your umbrella if you’re in Tokyo!! 

Risotto “fond de frigo”

Sometimes there are a few things remaining in the bottom of your vegetables drawer in your fridge, and you don’t know what to do with them… typically a leek, a little piece of kabocha, a tomato, a little piece of cauliflower… well it makes a very nice base for a vegan risotto. 

First, a bit of olive oil in a large frypan, add the leek cut just the way you like, and stir at low-medium heat until it is all soft and melty. Add the riso: arborio or carnaroli and raise the heat. Stir. Once the rice is translucent add water to cover the rice and salt and pepper, some herbs if you like: thyme or rosemary. Cook at low heat. When the water is half gone add the kabocha cut in small bites and the tomato, diced. When there is almost no water add the cauliflower (I personally like it crisp rather than too soft), and finish the cooking under cover. Serve and season with pink pepper, you can additionally add grated cheese. Have a nice weekend!!!

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