Roasted and Toasted

I was strolling through the produce section and spied big, gorgeous heads of cauliflower.  According to the World’s Healthiest Food website, cauliflower and the other veggies in the Brassica family (cabbage, broccoli, collards, kale, rutabagas, turnips, arugula, radishes, and more) should be eaten 4-5 times a week due to their fabulous cancer fighting, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardiac health, and detox abilities (not to mention that one cup of cauliflower also has almost a day’s worth of Vitamin C).

Yes, roasted cauliflower soup would be perfect for dinner as a side for my delicious cheese bread.  (I know the bread is supposed to be the side, but my family is so enamored with this new style of bread I’ve been making, they more often than not put it in the center of the table and the main course over at the edge).

Below is a recipe for the rich and thick, nutritious and delicious soup I made…and a few pictures! (I’ve been hearing my blog needs more pictures…so here they are.  While you are cooking, please excuse me while I go clean the flour off my camera…)

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Roast Cauliflower Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets

2T extra virgin olive oil

6 whole cloves garlic

1t salt

1t fresh ground black pepper

1/4t fresh grated nutmeg (love my Microplane grater!) 

Instructions:

-Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss to coat cauliflower.

 

-Roast in single layer on parchment-lined cookie sheet in 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes until cauliflower is soft and browned.

Soup Ingredients:

1 medium onion, finely diced

1T olive oil

1T butter

3T flour

2c chicken stock (homemade!)

1c milk (or half-n-half for a richer soup - I used milk)

3T sherry

Instructions:

-Add olive oil and butter to large sauce pan over med heat until bubbly.
-Reduce heat to med-low and saute onion until soft and golden (about 10 minutes). 

-Sprinkle flour over onions and stir for 1-2 minutes until completely combined and bubbly. 

-Add stock and milk all at once and whisk constantly over medium heat just until thickened. 

-Remove from heat. 

-Add cauliflower and puree with hand mixer until smooth (taking care not to splash hot soup on your neck like I did last night).

-Adjust salt and pepper as necessary.

-Stir in sherry (more or less to taste).

-Eat and enjoy! (Makes four servings)

 

I served our soup with homemade Artisan Bread in Five Minutes cheese bread (made with Tillamook cheddar) topped with grated Tillamook Garlic White Cheddar and toasted under the broiler until bubbly and golden!

Just a Quickie

I had one pound of Artisan Bread’s challah dough that needed used by today, leftover ham from Easter (still), and tons of fresh dill (Aerogarden must be on steroids).  So…this is what I made.

Photo by Susan Wenzel

I don’t know what to call them, so I’m open to suggestions.  "Ham rolls" is not sufficient for something this decadent.  For the time being, I will call them delicious!  They were intended for breakfast, but we had to sample a couple - just to make sure they were edible.

How I did it:

-Roll out 1lb of dough into 12x18” rectangle

-Brush with 1T melted butter

-Top entire surface with 1c finely diced ham (I used the food processor), then 1/2c shredded cheddar-jack (it’s what I had in the fridge, but I suppose most any cheese will do), and finally 2T fresh chopped dill.

-Starting on a long edge, roll dough into a log. 

-Cut into nine even segments with dental floss (not mint!) and arrange in well greased 9x9” ovensafe dish.

-Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. 

-Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown

-Brush with an additional 1T of melted butter (if desired, but who doesn’t desire butter – in moderation, of course)

-Eat and enjoy!

Spicy Show and Tell

I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!  My Spice House package just came!  I’ve been ordering from them for a few years now and remain nothing but impressed.  Not only is the product always incredibly fresh, but it is also perfectly packaged every single time.  The result is pristine looking herbs and spices that look as if I picked them myself (I wish).

I usually place my order based on the things I consider necessities and then add in a few new items I’d like to try.  Here’s what I received today:

WANT TO TRY

Greektown “Billygoat” Seasoning.  I make my own gyros and tzatziki sauce and adore roast lamb, so purchasing this new-to-me Greek salt blend was a no-brainer.  (Ingredients: coarse flake salt, granulated garlic powder, Tellicherry black pepper, onion powder, Greek fancy oregano and powdered lemon peel)

SHOULD HAVE

I’ve been considering buying this Italian blend for some time and, now that I frequently make my own spaghetti sauce, I decided it was time.  I grow my own oregano, basil and rosemary and just bought thyme, but this mouth-watering mix contains marjoram too - all in a perfectly proportioned package.

The garlic and poppy seeds are destined to adorn my ArtisanBread in Five Minutes a Day everything bagels!  Oh, and the caraway seeds are for my Artisan Bread rye bread dough already prepped and ready in the fridge.  (Mmmmm…Reubens!)  

     

MUST HAVE

I rarely make a dish that doesn’t use one of these decadent duos: coriander and cumin or thyme and sage.  The chili powder too is an absolute necessity (shhh…it’s a secret ingredient in my award winning chili.)

 

NEED TO HAVE

I would never have learned about my two new obsessions if it weren’t for The Spice House.  One is the delicious in a Bloody Mary, hot to trot Vulcan's Fire Salt – a House exclusive (As we speak, I’m enjoying a bowl of vegetable soup with a little sprinkle of His Habañero Highness).  The other - Korean Black garlic – I would never had tried if it weren’t for their tasty description.  I am a garlic lover but was surprised by the rich, nutty flavor of this aged and fermented version.  It’s delicious in chicken soup but even better added to Japanese ramen broth (I prefer the fresh noodle version, bar none). 

Now that my spice drawer (yes, I have an entire drawer dedicated to the savory stuff – less the saffron which lives in a vacuum packed pouch in the freezer) is happy, so am I.  My only trouble is deciding which one to use first!

A Good Cooker Will Rise Again

This bad baker has a brand new book. It was recommended to me by my cousin. I listened to her talk time after time about how easy it was to bake bread using the simple directions and drooled as she detailed delicious meals featuring loaf after loaf. I had to have a copy. I just had to!

I ordered my copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking (Francois, Hertzberg) and waited. I had my bread flour and yeast and was ready to go the minute it arrived.

The dogs alerted me to the UPS man and tried to break through the windows to tear out his throat while I was outside picking up my precious. Hands shaking, I opened the box and lifted out what I hoped to be the end of my bad bread baking.

I started reading, excited to get baking…then stopped. Unbleached flour. Not bread flour? Rats! I was determined to make the bread TODAY, so I ran to the store and bought a single five pound bag. Back home, I started over again. I added the right kind of flour, salt, water, and yeast to my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook attached, gave it a whirl, and put the whole unkneaded mess into my largest container to wait the requisite 2 hours. Yes, it really had only taken five minutes to make the dough. Simple enough!

The timer beeped, and I went out to the kitchen only to discover my largest container was not large enough. The yeast beast had popped its top and was making its way over to my AeroGarden. Since I was learning The Master Recipe and not the herb bread (in a later chapter), I scooped him back into the bowl and carried my creation to the fridge.

The next day, I formed a one-pound boule (French for ball) and got ready for baking. The book insists a pizza peel is best to transfer the dough to the hot pizza stone in the oven, but I had none and wasn’t making another emergency trip to the store. Resourceful Cooker that I am, I decided my lipless wooden cutting board would do the trick – and it did. My perfectly formed loaf slid off my makeshift peel and into the blistering hot 450 degree oven.

Then, I waited and worried and prayed. Alas, my fears were pointless. Much to my surprise, my first loaf looked exactly like the one on the cover of the book.

Three different recipes later, I am still as enamored and amazed with my five minute bread as I was on day one. The only thing that has changed is the size of my storage container. I now have a 2.5 gallon Rubbermaid tub to keep the beast at bay.

PS – Artisan Bread has a website! http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/