A few years ago I posed a question on Facebook, something along the lines of, “What common kitchen task do you hate doing?” One of the responses was something I had never thought of but, once someone said it out loud, it forever bugged me, too! This fellow cook talked about how they hate chopping cauliflower because there are always a ton of tiny cauliflower pieces that get everywhere and are hard to wipe up. That person was right – those little pieces are annoying. So for years I’ve bemoaned the cauliflower mess, never quite figuring out a way to tackle it. UNTIL TODAY.

While prepping cauliflower to be roasted, I washed the head of cauliflower and cut out the core, used my hands to break it into large pieces, then put those pieces on the rimmed baking sheet to await being shopped smaller. As I reached for a cutting board, I ended up grabbing my smallest cutting board and putting it in the center of the pan. That’s where I chopped the pieces smaller, on the cutting board on the pan! It was awesome, my knife wasn’t damaged and all the cauliflower bits stayed right in the pan.

I know it’s crazy I’m doing a whole blog post about this but that is how excited I am to make this discovery. Bring on the cauliflower! 

Note: This tip will work well even if you aren’t planning to roast the cauliflower. Cutting the vegetable on a cutting board in a rimmed pan does a great job of minimizing mess. I’ll probably use this technique when chopping other foods, too!

Doesn’t this food look good?  It is. And I’ll get to it in a moment…but first, a little about what I’m up to this week!

On Friday, I’m heading up to the BlogHer Food conference, and that night I’m also co-hosting La Petite Soirée, a party for food bloggers. I will be co-hosting this little shindig with some amazing fellow bloggers: Helene Dujardin from Tartelette, Kristen Doyle from Dine & Dish, and Stefania Pomponi Butler from City Mama and Clever Girls Collective. It’s been a dream team, no question.

Did I mention, our party is going to be awesome? For food, we’re going to have a bunch of San Francisco food carts serving their delicious eats, and Chef Elizabeth Faulkner of pastry and Top Chef fame will be making cupquettes for the party (thanks to Scharffen Berger!), served alongside wine and drinks. The party is going to be held at a photography studio, which is the perfect venue for a bunch of camera-toting food bloggers! Speaking of those bloggers…we have an amazing guest list, with really talented and wonderful food bloggers and cookbook writers included. I’m giddy with excitement!

I always end up killing myself stuffing bags for all the parties I throw…La Petite Soirée is no exception! In fact, swag for the bags has completely taken over my patio and garage. And my back hurts a little. But it’s worth it! Here’s a little sneak peak.

One of the best parts of getting into blogging is the truly amazing people I’ve befriended along the way. Gudrun Enger from Kitchen Gadget Girl definitely falls into that category. I met Gudrun at BlogHer in Chicago last year and, lucky for me, she only lives 2 miles away! She took pity on me today and came over to help organize and stuff swag. Not only did she help me tremendously with party preparations, she brought me lunch! She kept saying, “It’s just leftovers.” But, uh, yeah, her leftovers ROCK and way kick my usual peanut butter and honey’s sandwich patootie.

Which brings us to the food from the beginning of this post. Gudrun brought Cauliflower Curry, a Delicata Squash and Pumpkin dish, brown rice and naan bread. Mmmmmm. Gudrun is one of my cool friends who is part of a CSA and does a great job using up all the fresh grown food she receives each week. I’ll get there…one day!

Click more to see the recipes from my delicious lunch!

Cauliflower Curry

 

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From Chef Jonathan Miller, via Gudrun Enger (complete with Gudrun’s notes below)

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 1 cauliflower, cut into florets, stems pieces roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 quarter-size slices ginger, peeled (Gudrun used 2 tsps of ground ginger.)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 Serrano peppers (Gudrun had a green jalapeno, so that’s what she used. It was a spicy pepper, but the dish was not super spicy)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• ½ cup yogurt
• 1 cup water
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon garam masala
• ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric
• small handful of cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in large sauce pan until almost smoking, and saute the cauliflower florets until lightly browned. Remove to a bowl.
2. In a food processor, process the cauliflower stems, onion, ginger, garlic, and Serrano until finely chopped, almost a puree. Transfer to a bowl. Do the same with the tomatoes, transfer to separate bowl. Whisk yogurt, water and nutmeg together until smooth.
3. In the same pan you used to brown the cauliflower florets, cook the cauliflower stem/onion mixture until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir regularly. Add in tomatoes puree and cook until most of the juice has evaporated, up to 10 minutes more. Add in coriander, cumin, garam masala, turmeric and salt and pepper, and bring to a simmer. Add in yogurt-water-nutmeg liquid with ½ the cilantro and bring back to a simmer, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low, add the cauliflower florets, cover and simmer until the cauliflower is cooked to your liking (I kept it a little on the al dente side).
4. Finish the dish with remaining cilantro and another sprinkle of garam masala. Great over rice!

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Delicata Squash & Pumpkin with Cider Glaze

 

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From Epicurious

Author: Jane Maynard

Ingredients

• 2 medium delicata squash (about 2 pounds) or other firm winter squash (Gudrun did half delicata squash and half pumpkin)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¼ cup very coarsely chopped fresh sage
• 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1½ cups fresh unfiltered apple cider or juice
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. If using delicata squash, peel it with a vegetable peeler, cut it lengthwise in half, and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut each piece lengthwise in half again, then crosswise into ½-inch -thick slices. Other types of squash should be peeled with a chef’s knife, seeded, cut into 1-inch wedges, then sliced ½-inch thick.
2. Melt the butter in a large (12-inch) skillet over low heat. Add the sage and rosemary and cook, stirring, until the butter just begins to turn golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not brown the herbs. Cooking the herbs in butter mellows their flavor and improves their texture.
3. Add the squash to the skillet, then the apple cider, water, vinegar, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat at an even boil until the cider has boiled down to a glaze and the squash is tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and season with pepper, and additional salt if needed.

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Today I just have a healthy and easy recipe for you. It’s so easy, in fact, I hesitate to even call it a ‘recipe.’ This roasted cauliflower is to die for. Trust me. I’ve been popping these florettes like candy for the last two days. Yum!

Simple Side Dishes: Roasted Cauliflower

 

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Author: Jane Maynard

Cuisine: Side Dish

Ingredients

• Cauliflower, broken up into small-medium sized pieces
• Olive Oil
• Salt & Pepper
• Handful of fresh, grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Place cauliflower on a baking sheet or in a 9X13 baking pan. Drizzle olive oil over cauliflower, then salt and pepper. Toss cauliflower to lightly cover all pieces with oil and seasoning.
2. Roast in a 400-degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Stir once or twice during cooking. Check for doneness with a sharp knife, to the point where you can pierce the cauliflower fairly easily but not to the point of mushiness. Remove from oven and toss with grated parmesan cheese.
3. Sit, eat and enjoy the simplicity and buttery goodness that is cauliflower!

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