Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Nancy's Chopped Salad



Photo and recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen

Michael and I fell in love with Nancy's Chopped Salad at Pizzeria Mozza so many years ago. It is still one of my favorites all these years later and I love to make it at home. I recently made it as a side dish for a dinner party and then a few days later for the main course for lunch when we hosted friends for the day. It's always a hit, and very easy to hold items and toss in later if you have a vegetarian or dairy free friend. 



Friday, August 9, 2019

Turmeric Roasted Cauliflower with Quinoa & Pickled Golden Raisins





This is a delicious recipe from my cooking class at The Gourmandise School. The original recipe was for cauliflower steaks but I think it's easier to just roast it. 

PICKLED RAISINS
½ cup white vinegar
Pinch of sea salt
1 t sugar (maybe more)
¼ t coriander seeds
½ cup golden raisins

Warm the vinegar, salt, sugar and coriander seed. Taste and adjust as necessary. Pour over the raisins and let sit for at least one hour.

The recipe calls for honey but a friend told me not to heat honey because it becomes toxic so I swapped for sugar. 

QUINOA
1 cup quinoa
1 cup chicken stock *
1 cup water
Large pinch Kosher salt
1 T salted butter *

Rinse the quinoa in a fine sieve. Place the quinoa, stock, water and salt in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a simmer, then turn the heat down and cook, covered, for about 15 minutes. Check to see if all the liquid was absorbed and add butter when it's ready to go. 

* swap veggie stock for chicken stock and skip the butter if you want it to be vegan.

CAULIFLOWER
½  yellow onion, diced
2 T olive oil
2 t ground turmeric (or more)
1/2 t cumin
1 t Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper
1 head of cauliflower, chopped into small florets
4 whole garlic cloves

Heat oven to 425 or 450. Cut up the cauliflower and throw in a big bowl. Toss with garlic cloves, olive oil, turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper. Put cauliflower on a cookie sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes. While that cooks, dice the onion and toss in the same bowl with a little more olive oil, turmeric, salt and pepper. After the 8-10 minutes, take out and toss in the onions. Put back in the oven and cook for another 8-12 minutes until cauliflower is starting to brown.

To serve, spoon the quinoa onto plates. Top with onions and cauliflower and garnish with pickled raisins.