Brown Butter Cauliflower with Pears, Sage, and Hazelnuts

The second dish I made pre-Thanksgiving, brown butter cauliflower with pears, sage, and hazenuts was a real winner! The distinct combination of flavors in this dish kept everyone coming back for more. Needless to say, we had very few leftovers, and they disappeared quickly.

This dish complemented the wild rice, farro, and citrus salad nicely.

Ingredients:
3 oz/6 T unsalted butter, I used 4 T and it still tasted great
1 M head a cauliflower, sliced across with center removed, to make florets. These should be 3/4'' slices.
1/2 c hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
8 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
2 T chopped fresh parsley
2 large ripe pears, skinned with seeds removed, and thinly sliced
salt and pepper, to taste

First, prep the ingredients. If using store-bought roasted hazelnuts, measure out 1/2 c and coarsely chop. If using raw--like I did--crack out of the shell and measure 1/2 c. Preheat the oven to 350 F and place the hazelnuts in the oven on a sheet pan. Toast about 10-15 minutes, giving them a shake every 5. Be careful not to overcook, as it is very easy to burn them! (I'm speaking from experience here.) If you would like to remove the skins, place the hot nuts in a towel and rub. When cool, chop and set aside.

When ready, heat a large skillet over M. Add the butter and melt until the color has darkened and it is bubbling. Add the cauliflower, sage, and hazelnuts and cook ~2 minutes, stirring often. Add salt and pepper, and cook until the cauliflower is browned and can be easily stabbed with a fork, ~6 minutes more.

Remove the pan from heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes. Add the pear and parsley and toss to combine. Add more salt and pepper, if desired, and serve. This can be served warm or at room temperature, it tastes just as good either way.

Wild Rice, Farro, and Tangerine Salad

In the buzz surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself bombarded with delicious-looking fall recipes. I decided to start cooking right away, instead of waiting for Thanksgiving.

The first dish I wanted to try was a wild rice, farro, and tangerine salad from Bon Appetit. This recipe is quite simple, just make sure you set aside about an hour to cook the grains. The grains can also be made a day ahead of time.

Cooking the farro

Ingredients:
4 sprigs thyme
6 cups water or vegetable stock
1 c wild rice
1 c farro
4 tangerines or 2 oranges
1/4 c vegetable oil, I used olive
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Rinse the wild rice and farro (separately) and place each in a pot with 3 c liquid, either vegetable stock, water or both. Add 2 sprigs thyme to each pot, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 30-40 minutes. Taste each grain to see if is done, and discard any remaining water. The rice should cook ~5-10 minutes faster than the farro.

Wild rice, after cooking

While the grains are cooking, prep the citrus fruit. Peel and remove all of the skin and outer white layer. Here, you can either use a knife to cut the inner segments out of the skin, which is very tedious, or leave the skin on. If using oranges, slice each segment into 3-4 smaller pieces. Make sure you reserve the juice while cutting the citrus.

When the grains are done, remove the thyme, drain off any excess liquid and combine. Let cool to room temperature, if serving right away, or place in the refrigerator and chill overnight.

Whisk together the oil and orange juice, and pour over the grains. Mix thoroughly. Sprinkle in the tangerine slices, scallions, and salt and pepper. Toss and serve.

When I made this I forgot to buy scallions, so the dish was a bit more bland than I would have liked. That being said, it was still tasty and enjoyed by all.

Grains, cooling

Tangerines + juice and oil

Shakshuka

I recently took a trip to Israel and discovered Shakshuka. Shakshuka is originally from North Africa, but easily found in the middle east. Traditionally, it is a spicy egg and tomato stew served with bread. Although traditionally served for breakfast, this dish is also served as the main course or one of several smaller dinner courses.

I found this recipe online on the blog of David Lebovitz, who also first ate Shakshuka in Israel. Here is his original recipe.

This makes about 4-5 servings, and will take about an hour to prep and cook.

Ingredients:
2 T olive oil
1 M onion or 2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1 chili pepper, diced with seeds removed--adjust for desired spice level
1 t salt
1 t black pepper
1 t paprika
1 t caraway seeds, crushed
1 t cumin seeds, crushed, or 3/4 t ground
1/2 t turmeric
2 lb (1 kg) fresh tomatoes, diced (canned is okay)
2 T tomato paste
2 t honey
1 t red wine vinegar
1 c loosely packed greens (~ 1-2 leaves) I used kale, but swiss chard, spinach, radish greens, and watercress will work
4 oz (~1 c feta cheese)
4-6 eggs
Fresh bread or couscous for serving

A note on ingredients: This list includes a few adjustments I made while cooking or after tasting the final product. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 t salt, but I found this to be too salty. It is always better to use less salt when cooking and add more later. For the greens, I used more--probably closer to 2 cups--and it still came out fine. Because the dish was so salty, I used much less feta cheese, than the 4oz called for in the recipe.

First, prep all the veggies. Measure and mix the spices and crush the caraway and cumin seeds. Heat the olive oil in a pan on M/H, add the onion and garlic and cook ~5 minutes until soft. Add the chili pepper and spices. Stir constantly for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, honey and vinegar.

Reduce heat to M/L and cook for 12-15 minutes, until the sauce has thickened, but is still somewhat thin. Stir in the greens. If you are not ready to eat, turn off the pan and set aside.

When you are ready to serve the shakshuka, place the pan over L heat and sprinkle in the cheese. Use a large spoon to make 4-6 indentations in the stew. Crack one egg into each spot, and gently drag the whites out into the rest of the stew. Do not disturb the yolks. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes, until the eggs are cooked as you like.

Serve immediately in a bowl with fresh bread or over couscous.

In addition to the changes noted above, I found this to be a bit too thick compared to the shakshuka I had in Israel. I underestimated how long it would take the eggs to cook, and much of the liquid was lost in this stage. Next time I will cook it for 10 minutes prior to adding the eggs, and maybe even add more fresh tomatoes to balance out the other ingredients.

Overall, this was still very tasty--and spicy too--and I look forward to sharing it with friends.

Cooking the celery and garlic

Added the spices

Plus everything else

After cooking ~15 minutes

Cooking the eggs