Pan Fried Curry Potatoes with Cauliflower

Potato Curry With Cauliflower

We interrupt your regular Jeopardy updates with a recipe. (Keep kicking butt, Morgan)

My mother almost never uses salt. She doesn’t think it’s necessary in a well prepared dish and practically swears against it, no matter the quantity. We often cook together when I visit and whenever we do you can guarantee that she’ll cut the salt from whatever recipe we’re working from (I must admit, often she’s right). I couldn’t help but think that she’d approve of this dish as I whipped it together, being very minimalist on not only salt, but spices in general. I did add salt while eating it, though. 😉

Yukon Gold Potatoes Sliced Onions

The weather has been amazing here lately and on top of climbing, grilling and just wearing less (bow chica bow wow), I’ve been thinking a lot about the upcoming bumper crop of vegetables and fruit. It’s going to rock! The roots are still kicking though, and after seeing cauliflower on sale at my local grocery store I decided it would be paired well with some yukon golds. Not a bad recipe, but I’d cut the potatoes smaller than shown in these photos.

Potatoes And Cauliflower

Pan Fried Curry Potatoes with Cauliflower

4 tablespoons olive oil
6 yukon gold potatoes; peeled and chopped (about half the size in photos!)
2 tablespoon butter
2 onions; cut into quarter slices
1 jalepeno; minced
3 cloves garlic; minced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
1/2 head cauliflower; cut into bite size florets (a wee bit smaller than in photos)
1 1/2-2 teaspoons curry; quantity and type of your choosing
1/2 cup water

Cook the potatoes with four tablespoons of oil in a large non-stick pan on medium-high heat (pan fry) for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Drain the potatoes on some paper towels and set aside. Reduce to medium heat, melt the butter and add the onions, cooking for 5 minutes until soft and lightly browned.

Add the pepper, garlic and ginger, cooking for another few minutes until the garlic is fragrant. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, curry and simmer covered (you may need to raise the heat briefly) until the the cauliflower is tender and the potatoes are easily pierced; approximately 15-20 minutes. Serve with salt and enjoy.

Sometimes I consider quitting my my job in IT and working at Whole Foods. Why? Because of their tasty hot bar. Ok, I really wouldn’t quit my job, I like my job (usually), but I would like to acquire their recipes. I’ve had some good new experiences there. I had my first exposure to tempeh at Whole Foods and was quite a fan (you can look forward to something with that in the near future). So yes, this is another try-to-copy-whole-foods recipe.

Cauliflower and Spices

Whole Foods has this dish called Cracklin’ Cauliflower which I enjoy. Alliteration aside, I’m not sure why they call it that. It doesn’t strike me as cracklin’ at all, really. But then, what is cracklin’? How do you make something crack? Wait, what were we talking about?

Cauliflower and Peas with Spices

So yes, cracklin’ cauliflower is a subtly spicy dish that I like to get when perusing the hot bar selection. The spices say ‘Indian’ to me. with turmeric, fennel, and perhaps some curry. Another reason I like it is because, unlike many “true” Indian dishes, its ingredient list seems relatively smaller. Like last time, this dish isn’t what you find at your local Whole Foods, but delicious nonetheless.

Cracklin' Cauliflower - Sort Of

Cracklin’ Cauliflower

3 tablespoons oil
1 head of cauliflower; cut into equal size floret (larger pieces, cut in half)
1 yellow onion; diced
1 clove garlic; minced
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon curry (I used half hot, half sweet)
5 tablespoons stock or water
1/2 teaspoon salt

Steam your cauliflower for approximately 7 minutes so that it still retains firmness. After a few minutes, saute your onion on medium high heat in a large frying pan or wok for 5 minutes.

Add all your ingredients; your cauliflower, peas, garlic, spices, stock and salt. Reduce to medium heat. The stock will help drop the temperature as well as make it easy to mix the spices evenly (otherwise it clumps up). Stir-fry until evenly mixed and the stock has boiled away; approximate 5 minutes. The cauliflower should still be firm. Serve and enjoy.

Thai Red Curry Soup with Vegetables

Have you ever set out to prepare something only to find out you’re missing a crucial ingredient? I hate when that happens, and happen it did this Sunday morning. I was all set to make a delicious German oven pancake when I realized I was out of milk. It doesn’t get much more crucial than milk and embarking on a grocery store adventure was not conducive to my lazy Sunday plans. A substitution of coconut milk came to my rescue which unfortunately left me with quite a bit leftover to tend with.

Eggplants with Curry

I hate to waste food. It’s just so…. wasteful (I look forward to my excellence in writing award later this year). Enter today’s recipe. As you probably already know I’m quite fond of soups and on top of that, this recipe uses a few vegetables that don’t fall under my “staple” category. The original recipe was a chicken dish so I vegetarian-ified it, throwing in some lentils for protein. I’m not much of a thai cook, but I was satisfied with the results.

Thai Curry Soup

Thai Curry Soup with Vegetables
adapted from Epicurious

2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 red bell pepper; diced
2 chinese eggplant; chopped
4 oz green beans; chopped into 1 inch pieces
8 ounces cauliflower; cut into small pieces
2 cups red lentils; rinsed
3 cups coconut milk
4 cups stock
1 tablespoon fish sauce

Steam the cauliflower for 8 minutes and immediately dunk in cold water to stop the cooking.

In a large pot, cook the oil, curry paste and red bell pepper under medium heat for two minutes. Add the eggplant and green beans and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring to ensure everything is coated with curry. Add the milk, stock, fish sauce, cauliflower and lentils, bringing everything to a boil. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Enjoy.

Corn and Cauliflower Chowder – Quick and Healthy

Good lord, so much food was consumed on Saturday. I still feel a little full. Ethiopian kids are probably hungrier because of us. I am proud to state that while I lost to Heather in the sit-up contest I was victorious in “who can last the longest before turning down food” contest. Huzzah!

Corn

I won’t bore you with the details. Heather covered it pretty well yesterday and really, you’re here for the food, right? The day after I really didn’t feel like eating much; there just wasn’t room. I was also fairly tired after driving back home and taking care of errands. Honestly, at that point food almost seemed like a hassle.

Cauliflower

I needed to eat something and I needed soup for lunch during the week, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and try to get to bed early (note: this did not happen). I was browsing through my long list of “want to try” recipes and came across one for potato and corn chowder from a class I assisted at L’Academie de Cuisine. I wanted to make it easier and healthier so I replaced the roux and potatoes with my new best friend the cauliflower. I was very happy with the result. The cauliflower does a decent job of giving you a similar chowder-like texture and I had to use very little milk. Next time I may throw a chopped potato in there for good measure. You know how much I love my veggies.

Corn and Cauliflower Chowder

Corn and Cauliflower Chowder

2 tablespoons oil
1 yellow onion; chopped
1 red bell pepper; chopped
1 celery stalk; chopped
1 carrot; chopped
1 clove garlic; minced
3 cups stock or water
1/4 cup milk
1 head cauliflower; cut into half-florets
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper, or more to taste
1 can corn; rinsed and drained

Saute the onion, bell pepper, celery and carrot with the oil in a large pot under medium heat until soft and onions are translucent; approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic for another minute. Add the stock/water, milk, cauliflower and spices and simmer until the cauliflower is soft; approximately 20 minutes.

Add corn, salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes so the corn heats up. Then blend with an immersion blender to the desired consistency. Enjoy.

I bought more cauliflower this past week. It couldn’t be helped. I tried not too, but with my recent good experiences using cauliflower, its siren call was too compelling to resist. Alas, such is life.

Spreading The Sauce

I’d never made a pizza before; well, if you don’t count those english muffins you make as a kid (good times). I’ve also never had a pizza with cauliflower, so I really have no idea where the inspiration for this one came from. But come it did and here are the results. Not a bad first try if I do say so myself.

Before Baking

In hindsight, I’d recommend a thin crust for this pizza. I tried half with hazelnuts and half with pine nuts, but can’t recommend one over the other. I prefer the hazel nut, but it’s all about taste.

Garlic Goat Cheese Pizza with Asparagus and Garlic

Garlic Goat Cheese Pizza with Asparagus and Cauliflower

1 lb pizza dough (trader joes garlic herb)
1 roasted head of garlic
1 punch of asparagus; peeled and cut into thirds
1 head cauliflower; cut into florets; florets cut small (thirds, halves depending on size)
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces mozzarella; cut into thing slices
4 ouces goat cheese crumbles
1 handful of your choice of nuts (hazel nut or pine nut)
2 handfuls of fresh basil; roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 450.

Steam the cauliflower for 4 minutes then set aside. Steam the asparagus for 2 minutes then set aside. In a food processor, process the garlic, all the asparagus but the heads, 1 handful of basil, salt and one table spoon of oil until in a smooth paste. Depending on the size of you’re food processor you may need to push the sides down a few times.

Roll out your dough onto a pizza stone and spread your garlic asparagus paste onto your dough, leaving an inch on the outside bare. Spread your mozzarella slices onto your pizza spread about and bake for 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread about your asparagus heads and cauliflower. Sprinkle the goat cheese, your choice of nuts and the other handful of basil. Bake for an additional 10 minutes until the choose is melted and the crust is golden. Enjoy.

Are you getting tired of cauliflower yet? No? Good, because strap in for some more of its nutritious deliciousness.

I was feeling very ambitious last week while at the local asian supermarket. I was buying ingredients for a drunken noodle recipe I was preparing for someone as a New Years meal before the festivities and decided to purchase a few vegetables that I can’t get at my regular grocer: chinese eggplant. I’m really not a huge fan of eggplant in general, actually. However, about a year ago I took a cooking class and learned to make an amazing sezchuan stir-fry with chinese eggplant so I felt bold. The results were…. disappointing.

The Mighty Chickpea

It can be very frustrating to put a lot of time and effort into something only to end up with failure. But, as the saying goes, you learn more from failure than success. Fortunately Heather came to my rescue a few days later with this recipe from the New York Times. My indian food repertoire is quite limited so I was excited to try this and it didn’t hurt that I’ve been having good luck with cauliflower lately.

The Makings of a Stir-Fry

I’m not a fan of spicy food. In fact, I’m quite the wuss in that area so I dialed down the heat and added a bit of my own variation to the spices. On top of that I felt it needed some protein so I included chickpeas. Overall, I was quite satisfied with this recipe and may bring back a bit more of the spice when I do it again.

Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas

Indian Cauliflower Stir-Fry with Chickpeas
adapted from New York Times

2 tablespoons peanut or canola oil
1 large head of cauliflower; broken into florets
1 cup dried chickpeas; cooked and drained (or one can of cooked chickpeas)
1 red bell pepper, sliced into strips
1 can diced tomatoes
1 serrano chile; seeded and minced
1 1/2 teaspoon ginger; minced
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic; minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ancho chili
1/2 teaspoon hot curry
1/2 cup cilantro; chopped
lime

Steam the cauliflower for 10 minutes until just tender. Remove from heat and immediately rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Then cut the florets into equal sizes; probably quartering the larger florets and halving the medium sized ones. Set aside.

Combine the minced ginger and garlic with a pinch of salt and mash it together by scraping your knife against it several times into you have something similar to a very chunky paste. Don’t try to overdue it. Just scrap it a few times. Set aside.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large pan or wok over medium heat. Add the additional table spoon of oil with the cumin, coriander and curry for about 20 seconds then follow with your ginger-garlic paste, chile and bell pepper; sauteing for approximately one minute. Add your chickpeas and stir-fry for one minute. Follow with the rest of the rest of the spices, cauliflower and tomatoes; stir-fry for five minutes until fragrant and some of the juices have reduced down. Add the cilantro, toss and cook for 30 seconds and then serve.

Add a spritz of lime before eating.

Ahhh, the holidays are over. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years: the trifecta of bad (but delicious) eating. It’s no mystery why so many people list “lose weight” or “get back into shape” as one of their New Years resolutions. All things considered, life is pretty good for most of us. We don’t have to hunt or forage for food, worrying whether or not we’ll have enough to last the winter. The amount of physical labor required by us on a regular basis is almost non-existent, maxing out at carrying groceries up some flight of stairs for some. In comparison, life is good, but life is also sedentary and this does lend itself to its own set of problems.

Asparagus

So, the punch line to this little diatribe of mine (since I’m sure you’ll nodding away right now) is to eat well and inject some exercise in your regular routine. We try to keep it pretty healthy here at DinnerCakes (when it’s not baking, as Heather shudders reading this) so I strongly recommend you try some of our recipes if you haven’t already. We’ll keep pumping them out and welcome any feedback you may have, whether it be on issues with a meal, requests for a particular type of recipe or simply to let us know how things are working out.

Asparagus and Cauliflower - Ready To Bake

Anyway, back to the recipe! Since my first experiment with cauliflower was so successful, I decided to try another. This is a simple roasted dish that would work well as a side. While cauliflower is in season right now, the asparagus is not. That aside, this is a great dish.

Roasted Cauliflower and Asparagus with Lemon and Garlic

Roasted Asparagus with Cauliflower with Lemon and Garlic
Cauliflower cooks a bit slower than asparagus, so be sure to cut into small florets (smaller than the pictures here).
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bunch of asparagus; chopped into threes
1 head of cauliflower; chopped
3 garlic cloves; minced
Juice of one lemon


Preheat the oven to 450
°.

Chop the vegetables and toss all the ingredients into a bowl until coated. Transfer to a glass baking pan and roast for 15-20 minutes; until the vegetables are soft. The cauliflower will still be crisp to the bite.

I really enjoyed last week’s experiment with a lentil loaf, but having been so successful forced me to ask what an appropriate accompaniment to it should be. Mashed potatoes were the obvious choice, but was there anything I could do differently? That’s how we roll here at DinnerCakes.

Cauliflower

Now, there’s nothing wrong with white potatoes. As I’ve mentioned before, they are fat free, cholesterol free, low in sodium and high in vitamin C. However, they also have a somewhat high glycemic index and, well, they aren’t exactly low on the calorie scale either (a fact that is always on my mind this time of year). Enter the cauliflower. This sucker is the ultimate competitor for the white potato. It too is fat free, cholesterol free, low in sodium and has even more vitamin C than the white potato, providing you 100% of your daily vitamin C need with just 100 grams. And to top it all off, less than half the calories of the white potato. K.O.

Cauliflower "Mashed Potatoes"

Cauliflower mashed potatoes is a pretty well known substitute and is incredibly easy to make. It’s so easy that I’m almost ashamed to write about it (almost). With a food processor and some common kitchen ingredients, you’re good to go. Without a doubt, I will be doing these again.

Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

1 head of cauliflower
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 milk/cream/water (optional)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons parsley

Cut the cauliflower into florets and steam for until tender; approximately 10 minutes. Don’t worry about overcooking. Once ready, transfer to a food processor along with the butter, thyme and parsley. Chop until smooth. If you like a creamier consistency, considering adding milk, cream or even water a bit at a time, continuing to process.