Come around to cauliflower

Fall is the season for brassicas, and during interviews on “Travel & Dining with Pierre Wolfe” and “The Happy Cook” recently I had to confess that cauliflower is one of those foods that my inner picky eater hadn’t come around to accepting – until about two weeks ago. I was thinking to myself, I still don’t like cauliflower, and then I realized that I was planning to buy some at the farmer’s market.

Well, fine, it’s one thing to enjoy it smothered in cheese sauce (a la SIS Broccoli Gratin, which also works with cauliflower) -- ya gotta start somewhere.

But Red Lentil Coconut Curry is also one of my favorite SIS recipes, and with it there's no sign of cheese, sausage, or bacon -- which is where I like to go for the "overpower" approach to preparing distasteful vegetables. (BTW, in that NPR link about beets it sounds like she's talking about Secret Chocolate Cake, although SIS suggests pureeing the beets rather than grating them.)

And then there are two new cauliflower recipes in the SIS Extended Version: the recipe for Autumn Tagine is online, plus Nutty Cauliflower Skillet below is a new favorite. It’s so quick and easy, and the spiced peanut butter (groundnut) flavors work beautifully with cauliflower.

The cauliflower gets coated with spices and sauce, so it doesn’t matter what kind you use, but I like to buy a pretty variety of white, orange, and purple – or even the incredible Romanesco, pictured right, which is almost too amazing to eat.

Nutty Cauliflower Skillet

1 tablespoon ginger root (peeled and minced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)

In large soup pot sauté in 2-3 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat for 30 seconds.

1 head cauliflower (cut into 3/4-inch / 2.75-cm florets)
1 teaspoon each ground coriander and ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon each ground turmeric, paprika and salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Add and mix to coat.

1/2 cup / 125 ml tomatoes (chopped) or 1/3 cup / 75 ml tomato juice
1 cup / 250 ml peas or green soybeans (edamame)

Add tomatoes, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until cauliflower is crisp-tender, 8-10 minutes. If using green soybeans, add with tomatoes; peas will take just 1-2 minutes to cook.

2 tablespoons peanut butter
Stir in. Serve over brown rice topped with peanuts and chopped fresh cilantro (optional). Serves 4-5.

Here’s what folks are saying about SIS recipes:

Broccoli Gratin: "I rustled this up a couple of nights ago – a recipe I found on the net, which is very simple to make, and tasted fantastic. It turned out to be very light and delicious and the kids wanted more."

Red Lentil Coconut Curry: "I received this cookbook in December 05. It is now Spring 07 and I have cooked my way through it. I love it. This book has given me so much more confidence in my cooking abilities. I don't fret when friends come over for dinner because I know I have my SIS Cookbook in hand. … The Maple Parsnip Soup and Red Lentil Coconut Curry are two of our favorites!"

Secret Chocolate Cake: "It is very good and moist! I know it makes me a non-purist to use my [CSA] veggies to make cake, but ... I was really struggling with how to make the beets and decided to try this first..... If you don't have the book, you should! It is the best in season type of cookbook I've looked at. I checked many of them out of the library but this is the one I bought."