It’s Not Your Mama’s Cauliflower

It’s Thanksgiving week - you know what that means - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and all the trimmings and the induced food coma after. In all seriousness I love spending time with family and friends - it’s not about the food it’s about the relationships. 

This will be the first Thanksgiving that I don’t spend with my dad I have to say I miss him.Things will be different but time marches on. We’ll spend the holiday with Dan’s family - the food will be delicious, the conversation lively and I’ll get to see many of nieces and nephews it will be a day filled with fun and laughter. 

I have this week off so I took the opportunity to make a batch of herbed cashew cheese, a loaf of banana bread and have lunch with my friend Elaine (from Elaine in the kitchen). We spent 2+ hours catching up, talking about our food adventures and other important life things - she keeps me grounded and she has the best sense of humor. 

Aside from the cheese and bread I’ve been trying some new recipes. My new favorite is Gobi Musallam aka Whole Roasted Cauliflower in Creamy Makhani Gravy - but no matter what you call it - it’s delicious. A bit tedious, but delicious. 

If you want all of the beautiful pictures you can find them here otherwise read on for my condensed version. 

Ingredients:

1 head of Cauliflower head  – leaves, tough stem removed and washed

Water to blanch

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (optional)

Sauce

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium red onion chopped

1 inch ginger chopped

5-6 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 to 1 tsp chili flakes

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cumin powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

3/4 cup coconut milk(from can)

1/3 cup soaked cashews

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon agave

Cooking Instructions

Fill a large pot with enough water to immerse the cauliflower in and bring it to a boil. Add salt, turmeric and chili and blanch/cook the whole cauliflower. 

Cover and cook for 4 minutes on each side(top and bottom. Flip after 4 minutes)

Sauce:

Soak the cashews in water for at least 30 minutes (the longer the better). 

In a sauce pan add olive oil and onion and saute until golden approximately 6 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, chili flakes and saute for another 2 minutes. Add remaining spices and mix until fragrant.

Add tomatoes, salt, and agave mix and cook covered until tender. Mash the larger chunks of tomato during cooking - cook approximately 8-10 minutes.

Cool sauce mixture, add to a high speed blender, and blend with coconut milk and cashews into a smooth thick puree.Taste and adjust salt, spices as desired. 

Oil the baking dish and place the blanched cauliflower in the dish. Slowly drop the sauce on top of the cauliflower letting cover the entire head of cauliflower. Some sauce will fall on the side and into the pan - that’s ok. 

Place the blanched cauliflower in a baking dish.

Bake uncovered in a 400 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the sauce covering the cauliflower is dry to touch. Turn the dish around after 30 minutes.

Serve hot with Naan and basmati rice.

Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving filled with good food, great friends and family and lively conversation!

A Curry Affair

Winter, or pre-winter as I like to call it before the snow sets in, has arrived. We were at Dan's favorite big box home store a couple days after Halloween and bought 2 small pie pumpkins. My original plan was to make a pumpkin pie but I hadn't gotten around to that project yet. I’m still picking kale and collard greens and the pantry is full - so I decided it was time for an experiment. 

Since Dan was doing a work thing that evening I decided to use up some of the kale (it's not his favorite thing but he'll eat it if I cook it or add a little bit to a salad). It was a cold night so a curry sounded like just the ticket to warm me up. I tossed this together adding things that looked and sounded good as I went along. My original dish was going to be a simple red lentil curry until I realized I only had brown lentils - but I think of them as interchangeable - I know I know many of you don't. 

I started by microwaving one of the small pumpkins so that I could cut the top off and clean out the insides. After about 3 minutes I was able to cut off the top, scoop out the seeds and then put it in the oven to bake. 

While the pumpkin was baking I prepped the rest of the ingredients:

I cup dry lentils - cooked according to package directions (for those of you who give me a hard time about using canned beans - take note!) 

2 cups of chopped cooked pumpkin

1 medium onion chopped

A handful of kale - rolled and shredded

1 can of coconut milk

2 cans diced tomatoes with juice - I used fire roasted

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp garam masala

garlic - 3 - 4 cloves minced

ground ginger 

salt and pepper 

Saute the onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft, add all spices and cook 1 minute until fragrant. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, cooked lentils, cooked pumpkin and shredded kale. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes. 

Enjoy!