roasted | familystyle food

roasted cauliflower, chickpeas and harissa

Jan182013

I was browsing through Vegetable Love , a huge and wonderful cookbook by legendary food writer Barbara Kafka. The recipes are not strictly vegetarian or vegan, but it contains a bounty of ideas, methods and nutritional info for just about any vegetable you can think of. I especially like the A – Z glossary at the back of the book.

Which is what I was reading when I came across the section on cooking methods for Cauliflower, where Barbara lists the many ways it can be prepared; steamed, stir-fried, boiled, fried, and last but not least…microwaved. And then she writes: “cauliflower...is not good roasted”.

Are you freaking kidding me?! I couldn’t disagree more. Cauliflower is delicious roasted. In fact, it might be my favorite way to eat it. But to give Ms. Kafka the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure she’s expressing her fine-tuned personal taste.

My personal taste includes a pretty intense addiction to the spicy Tunisian chili paste harissa. I could – and do – put harissa on everything at any time of day, from eggs to leftovers I eat for lunch. It’s my global ketchup.

You can find harissa in many well-stocked supermarkets. But if you really want to find harissa nirvana, I recommend the one made by Moulin Mahjoub. I don’t know what it is, but to my palate it has just the right amount of smoky, sweet-heat and savory deliciousness.

You can get it at Amazon if you’re not near a specialty food store, which is where I often buy it. I’ve even seen it at Williams-Sonoma a while back.

If you love cauliflower or better yet, if you find yourself on the vegetable fence, try spicing it up and roasting as I do in this slightly Moroccan-inspired recipe.

roasted cauliflower, chickpeas and harissa

Serving Size: serves 4 - 6

The cauliflower makes a simple salad meal served warm over wilted spinach.

Ingredients

1 head cauliflower, separated into bite-sized florets

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained

1 small sweet onion, like Maui or red onion; finely sliced

2 – 3 tablespoons harissa

½ bunch each Italian parsley and cilantro

½ a lemon

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spread the cauliflower out on a large rimmed baking sheet. Add 3 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt and the cumin seeds. Roast 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and golden. Add the chickpeas and roast an additional 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon oil in an 8 – 10-inch sauté pan. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cover the pan and cook over medium-low heat until the onions are very soft. Stir in the harissa along with 1 tablespoon water.
Pick the leaves off the parsely and cilantro and tear into rough pieces; throw them over the chickpeas. Squeeze the lemon over and toss together with the onion mixture.
Transfer to a serving bowl and top with the feta.

http://familystylefood.com/2013/01/roasted-cauliflower-chickpeas-and-harissa/

22 Comments · Filed Under: pasta, grains & beans, The Recipes:, vegetables · Tagged With: cauliflower, chickpeas, feta cheese, harissa, mediterranean, roasted, vegetables

Roasted Vegetables and Parmesan Polenta

Sep132012

I’m always amazed that my appetites change right along with the seasons. It’s clockwork; the last days of summer are turning to fall and I feel it from my first step outside in the morning, when there’s a chill in the air that wasn’t the day before.

Dinner starts to require something more than just a salad + something off the grill, and I’ll be thinking about what to cook at 4 o’clock rather than the relaxed summer schedule that sometimes doesn’t start until after 6…or whenever.

Polenta is often what I make when that fall feeling hits. I’m generous with butter and Parmesan cheese because they are made for each other (face it, polenta would be bland without it), tempered by a happy amount of roasted vegetables. It’s all good.

Roasted Vegetables and Parmesan Polenta

Ingredients

1 each red, yellow and orange bell peppers, seeded and diced

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

½ red onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper

3 small or 2 medium-sized zucchini, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

1 cup polenta or coarse cornmeal

1 – 2 teaspoons salt

½ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

3 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Combine the peppers, tomatoes, onion, olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt and pepper on a large rimmed baking sheet. Roast until beginning to soften and turn brown, 15-20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, add the zucchini, garlic, thyme and balsamic vinegar. Return the pan to the oven and continue roasting 10 more minutes, or until the zucchini is bright green and slightly tender (not mushy).
Meanwhile, bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Gradually pour the polenta into the water while whisking at the same time. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Lower the heat to a slow simmer and continue to cook the polenta about 20 minutes or until it thickens and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the cheese and butter and add additional salt to taste if needed.
Serve the polenta in bowls with the roasted vegetables and their juices over the top; sprinkle with additional cheese if you like.

http://familystylefood.com/2012/09/roasted-vegetables-and-parmesan-polenta/

17 Comments · Filed Under: italian, The Recipes:, vegetables · Tagged With: bell peppers, fall, Italian comfort food, polenta, recipe, roasted, tomatoes, vegetables, zucchini

Roasted Strawberry Refrigerator Jam

Apr142011

I bought 8 pounds of beautiful, ripe, organic strawberries the other day at Costco. Because I have some serious fruit lovers in my house the berries disappeared pretty quick, almost before I could set aside what I needed to make this jam.

My plan was to make a simple standby recipe from Cooking Light for refrigerator jam – no canning or sterilizing required – but I had some other things to do and didn’t want to stand watch for the better part of an hour over a pot of simmering strawberries.

So I let the oven do the work, a technique I employ a lot in my cooking. Hands free is a great thing in the kitchen.

I usually make this jam with red wine or balsamic vinegar instead of brandy, but this time I used the last drops from a bottle of framboise (clear raspberry liqueur). Strawberry-flavored vodka would be fun to try, too.

There’s an inspiring feature in the April 2011 O Magazine on women food entrepreneurs, Seven Women Who Turned Their Passion for Food into a Career. I found a few of the food products mentioned in the story during my many shopping travels.

I spread Belle Chevre Honey Breakfast Cheese on Effie’s Homemade Oatcakes, then topped with some jam. Delicious!

Roasted Strawberry Refrigerator Jam

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

4 cups strawberries, hulled and quartered

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons clear fruit brandy (raspberry, strawberry, cherry) or strawberry-flavored vodka

1 vanilla bean pod, split, plus scraped seeds

Instructions

Toss the strawberries in a bowl with the sugar, brandy, vanilla pod and scraped seeds. Let stand 10 minutes. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet or small roasting pan.
Roast in a 250 degree oven for about 2 hours, until the berries are very soft and shriveled. Mix around once or twice as they cook.
Let the syrupy berries cool. Remove the vanilla pod. Pulse in a food processor or mash by hand with a potato masher to a chunky consistency.
Store in a covered jar in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.

http://familystylefood.com/2011/04/roasted-strawberry-refrigerator-jam/