Food, Photography and Bons Mots
Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldies But Goodies recipe is for an Carrot-Orange Olive Oil Cake Here is the link: Carrot-Orange Olive Oil Cake. Want to dive…
“We all are Citizens of the World. What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger… you will find who you are.”— Chef José Andrés Need a hero? How about considering Jose…
I have three cauliflower heads in my refrigerator right now–a beautiful orange one, a pristine white one and a spectacularly purple-hued one. The bins at my farmers market have been full of beautiful multi-colored cauliflowers in recent weeks. Although I live alone, the temptation to buy one of each was just too strong last week. So here I am with a delicious overstock of cauliflowers and a wealth of delicious options.
I’m a summer soup kind of girl, so one of the cauliflowers is destined for a creamy Cauliflower Soup. I’ve featured Cauliflower Soup on Blue Cayenne before. In fact, there are a number of good cauliflower dishes here (just type cauliflower into the search box to the right!). Here is a link to the recipe I plan to make with the white cauliflower: Cauliflower, Potato and Cheese Soup. It’s delicious and it’s pretty, too.
But…back to the intensely-colored purple Cauliflower. What to do with that one?
I decided to give it a main-dish “steak” treatment and let the just-tender texture of the cauliflower shine through. Then, I came across this easy romesco sauce recipe and voila! I had a wonderful dinner entree that maximized flavor and showcased the cauliflower’s purple beauty.
About the romesco sauce…
It has quite a long history. Spanish cooks have been making this sauce since the 15th century. Food historians believe the sauce originated around the Catalonian port town of Tarragona and was originally served as a sauce for fish. The original dish featured tomatoes but modern cooks have developed variations including this one that uses roasted sweet red peppers.
The spicy romesco sauce is wonderful (and beautiful!) served as a base for the pretty cauliflower cutlet but keep in mind that it would be great served with other dishes as well. Ottolenghi has featured beautiful stalks of green asparagus perched a top a schmear of intense red romesco. (Gotta try that one soon!)
This recipe is from the cookbook Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach. The book can be ordered through your local bookstore and on Amazon here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Who doesn’t need a little ice cream right now? This Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream is pretty special. Creamy with a real coffee kick! Living here in Southern California, I’m near Little Saigon in Westminster, California–the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. That gives me entree…
