I was reading an article on cauliflower on a French magazine, and I thought I would like to try roasting it whole. What a wonderful idea to slowly cook a whole cauliflower in the oven, rubbed with herbs and spices. For those who love vegetables and who watch their calories intake, this is a perfect meal.

You can serve this cauliflower with various side dishes who will enhance the whole meal. I love mixing cauliflower and bell peppers, probably a childhood combination that my mom used to do.

The cauliflower remains firm yet soft, I like firm vegetables. If you like them more cooked, then you have to leave the cauliflower in the oven longer, or boil it for 5-10 min prior to baking it. In addition to the pepper salsa, I served it with some yogurt sauce, that’s optional. I love yogurt sauce in general with spicy dishes.

I loved it so much that I ate a whole cauliflower by myself. Talking about moderation…I know, that is a bit exaggerated but as we say in French “quand on aime, on ne compte pas“, when we love, we don’t count. Se here we go…

Ingredients

For the cauliflower

•  1 whole cauliflower
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin

For the bell pepper salsa

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 tbs olive oil
• juice of one meyer lemon
• 1 tsp chives, chopped
• salt and pepper

For the yogurt sauce

• 5 tbs plain Greek yogurt
• 1.5 tsp mixed herbs (parsley, cilantro, tarragon, etc…)
•  1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Preparation

First roast the peppers in the oven. Place under broiler and cook until the skin gets burnt. Turn around peppers until the whole peppers are roasted. Remove from the oven and let them cool. Remove skin and seeds. Cut peppers in small cubes. Mix all ingredients together and set aside.
Wash cauliflower and dry well with a towel. Mix together all other ingredients in a bowl and rub cauliflower with it. Let it sit for about an hour.

Preheat oven at 375F and bake cauliflower for about one hour. Check after 45 min with a knife to see if it’s cooked or still hard and add more cooking time according to how you’d like to eat the cauliflower.

For the yogurt sauce, mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

Cut cauliflower in portions, like you would cut a cake. Serve with side dishes.

San Francisco has been under the rain today, and it might be a sign that fall is very much around, warning you that more rainy days are on their way.

Even though, it’s not Thanksgiving yet, I am already thinking about the Thanksgiving dinner menu…I think this year, there will be many appetizers like this one. I am simply in love with simple and flavorful bites that “mettent en appétit” (open your appetite) and can be enjoyed with a fresh glass of Champagne. I noticed many of my friends don’t like cauliflower, I am not sure if its the texture or the taste, so sometimes I just play with cauliflower and try to serve it in various forms and textures.

Of course, you can substitute cauliflower with other ingredients, such as avocado, carrots, etc…I served this a few times with an avocado purée and it was simply delightful.

If you don’t want to serve this in a spoon, you can serve it in a small plate, add one extra tbs of cauliflower mash, and add four shrimps. That would be sufficient as an appetizer and you really don’t have to spend hours cooking. This is a fairly simple dish to prepare and no one needs to know that it takes only a few minutes for the whole dish to be ready.

The only little trick about using small spoons, is that you need to pay attention to small details, and make sure your presentation is clean and tidy. All the ingredients being cut in tiny pieces, they need to be well put together in a regular order.

Ingredients for 10 spoons

• 1 medium cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 tbs olive oil
• hot spicy habanero sauce or tabasco sauce
• salt and pepper
• 10 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 1/4 tbs paprika
• 1/2 tsp mild curry powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• dill for decoration

Preparation

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add cauliflower and cook until soft. Drain, place in a mixing container and mash with a potato masher, leaving small pieces. Add habanero sauce, olive oil , salt and pepper. Mix well all ingredients and keep warm.

In a container, combine shrimps, curry and paprika powder, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute shrimps.

Place 1 tbs of cauliflower in each spoon. Top it with one shrimp and a little sprig of dill.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/11/light-sunday-treat-spicy-shrimps-on-a-bed-cauliflower-mash/feed/ 10 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/09/my-little-volcano-egg-nests-in-a-green-crater-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=my-little-volcano-egg-nests-in-a-green-crater-2 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2010/09/my-little-volcano-egg-nests-in-a-green-crater-2/#comments Wed, 15 Sep 2010 05:00:14 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=12328 Mon petit volcan – Nids d’oeufs en cratère vert

I got inspired  by a very popular Turkish dish called “Mthlama” made out of Swiss chards, onions, mint and eggs. I used kale in this dish, simply because I love the texture of a thicker green leaf.

Turkish cuisine has combined flavors of Mediterranean and Arabic cuisine, of course Ottoman Empire was so powerful and rich in culture and arts, that left a huge trace in a large part of the Asian continent. Turkish cuisine is high in colors and flavors, it has evolved during centuries into a very refined cuisine. Due to their geographical location, the seven Turkish regions have various specialties all sharing a common point of having powerful flavors. I would like to visit Turkey some day, not only for their gastronomy but for their designers as well.

When you’re in the mood for some greens, this is a very fragrant and light recipe that will satisfy you without leaving you hungry. I would not call this a very elegant nor sophisticated dish, it’s definitely a rustic dish that sits in your plate with an imperfect shape. But when the yolks starts dripping on the minty greens, and you dip your “mouillette” (toasted bread sticks for dipping) in it, it is pure pleasure…you know, one of those simple pleasure, such as smelling a rose, or biting on a crunchy and fresh piece of baguette (that’s the French in me).

So if you have a bunch of greens but have no idea on how to prepare them, this is perfect. It does not need advanced culinary skills, just a few eggs, mint, et voilà c’est prêt!

Ingredients for 4

• 2 bunches kale
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 3 tbs mint
• 4 eggs
• 4 slices country bread sticks, toasted
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Blanch kale for 5 minutes in salted boiling water. Drain and chop in small strips, removing the stem which tends to be hard.

Heat olive oil in a pan, add onions and brown then them. Add Kale and broth, cover and let the kale cook and soften. Adjust with salt and pepper. Add paprika and mint and stir for another 5 minutes until the water and juices evaporates.

In a baking and deep dish, form little nests and break an egg in the middle. Add salt and pepper on top of the egg and drizzle with olive oil.

Cook in a pre-heated oven at 375F for 10 minutes, ensuring the egg is not over-cooked. Serve with toasted bread.