Cauliflower With Water Chestnuts And Black Olives Food

SICILIAN CAULIFLOWER AND BLACK OLIVE GRATIN

Steps:

• Break up the cauliflower into small florets while you bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously and drop in the cauliflower. Boil 5 minutes while you fill a bowl with ice and water. Transfer the cauliflower to the ice water, let sit for a couple of minutes, then drain and place on paper towels.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish or gratin dish. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes, and add a pinch of salt and the garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds, until fragrant and translucent. Remove from the heat and stir in the olives.
• Place the cauliflower in the baking dish and add the onion and olive mixture, the remaining olive oil, the parsley and half the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir together well. Spread out in the dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese is nicely browned. Serve hot or warm.

CAULIFLOWER AND CHESTNUT GRATIN

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add salt. Add florets, and cook until just tender, about 6 minutes. Drain in a colander, and rinse under cold running water until cool. Let dry on paper towels.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Finely chop stems to make 1 1/2 cups. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add stems, shallots, and garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until pale golden brown, about 4 minutes. Add wine, stock, and cream. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until liquid has reduced by about half, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool slightly. Stir in horseradish, and season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Puree mixture in a blender until smooth. Stir in thyme.
• Spread florets and chestnuts in a 9-by-12-inch oval gratin dish. Season with salt and pepper. Pour puree on top, and gently stir to combine slightly. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake until bubbling and just golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

PASTA WITH CAULIFLOWER AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add cauliflower, cover, and steam until tender but not mushy, 4 to 6 minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes.
• While pasta boils, heat olive oil in another large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and saute briefly, 1 to 2 minutes. Do not brown. Add chopped olives. Saute to heat through, 3 to 4 minutes. Add basil and black pepper.
• Add steamed cauliflower to the olive mixture. Mix well. Mash cauliflower slightly with a potato masher, leaving some florets intact. Serve over drained pasta. Top with Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.

CHARRED CAULIFLOWER WITH CLEMENTINES AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange cauliflower in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and brush both sides with 2 tablespoons oil. season with salt and pepper. Roast, flipping one, until tender and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter with clementine segments and olives.
• Meanwhile, make vinaigrette: Whisk remaining oil with vinegar and clementine zest and season with salt. Drizzle over cauliflower, clementines, and olives and sprinkle with parsley.

CAULIFLOWER PUREE WITH CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• Break the cauliflower into large florets. Trim off and discard the tough outer layer of the core, then cut the tender inside into 1 1/2-inch pieces.
• Heat the oil in a heavy 6-quart pan over moderate heat until it shimmers. Add the cumin seeds and dried red chile and cook, shaking the pan, for 1 minute. Add the shallot, garlic, ginger, and fresh green chile and cook, stirring for 30 seconds. Stir in the turmeric, tomato and salt to taste.
• Stir in the cauliflower and stock and cover the pan. Simmer gently until the cauliflower is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. (It's important that the cauliflower cook slowly; otherwise, the liquid will evaporate too quickly, you'll have to add more, and the cauliflower will turn soggy.)
• Puree the cauliflower mixture in a food processor in 2 batches until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Melt the butter in a 10-inch skillet over high heat and saute the ginger for 30 seconds.
• Add the chestnuts, stirring and shaking the skillet, and season with salt. Saute the ginger and chestnuts until golden and caramelized and a little crisp around the edges, about 2 minutes. Transfer the ginger and chestnuts to paper towels to drain.
• Reheat the puree over low heat and stir in the chives and cilantro. Serve the puree topped with the sauteed ginger and chestnuts.

CAULIFLOWER AND OLIVES (GREECE)

Steps:

• Trim leaves from cauliflower & remove the core, then cut into medium, even-sized pieces.
• In a large skillet heat oil & saute cauliflower 1-2 minutes, then remove cauliflower.
• To the skillet add onion & cook to soften.
• Add water & lemon juice to skillet, then bring to boil.
• Return cauliflower to skillet & cook until tender.
• Remove cauliflower to serving dish, then add tomato paste to liquid in the skillet, boiling to reduce.
• Pit olives, then chop them roughly & add to the skillet.
• Pour heated sauce over cauliflower & sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

CAULIFLOWER WITH WATER CHESTNUTS AND BLACK OLIVES

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add 1 teaspoon salt. Cook cauliflower chunks in the boiling water until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Cut into bite-size chunks.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Cook and stir garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add cauliflower; cook and stir for 1 minute. Stir in water chestnuts and olives. Add water; cook until water evaporates, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

MEDITERRANEAN ROASTED CAULIFLOWER WITH OLIVES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a 12x18-inch baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
• Combine olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and freshly ground pepper in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on High for 20 to 30 seconds. Watch carefully, and remove from the microwave when the oil bubbles. Set aside.
• Combine cauliflower florets, red onion, and red bell pepper in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil mixture and stir until all the vegetables are coated. Spread out vegetables on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer.
• Roast in the preheated oven until vegetables reach the desired doneness, 20 to 25 minutes. Broil if you like additional color, carefully watching that the vegetables do not burn, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle sliced olives over the vegetables and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve warm.

HOW TO COOK CAULIFLOWER

Steps:

• The success of most all dishes hinges on the quality and freshness of the ingredients involved, and cauliflower's no exception. Before you cook, you must buy, and buy well. Here's what to look for as you shop. A member of the brassica family, which includes broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale, cauliflower is pretty much always available, with stunning consistency in quality all year long. But farmers' market shoppers may notice them start to show up in early fall and last until early winter. Cauliflower heads at commercial grocery stores look fairly identical, often weighing about 1½ to 2 pounds with a uniform, ivory color - and almost always wrapped in plastic. But once you break out into smaller specialty groceries and farmers' markets, size, shape and color can vary drastically - don't be afraid! Orangey-yellow (or "Cheddar" cauliflower for its color, and not, unfortunately, because it tastes like cheese), purple and neon green specimens taste almost the same as the white ones and can be used interchangeably. Regardless of color, size or where you're buying them, choose heads of cauliflower that seem heavy for their size (fresher produce has higher water content and therefore weighs more) with tight, compact leaves and clusters of florets. Avoid any that feel soft or spongy or have dark spotting on the top, a sign they are past their prime. A fresh head of cauliflower should last in your kitchen about a week, wrapped tightly in plastic or stored in a resealable bag in the refrigerator. Cauliflower's shape lends itself to being intuitively broken down from one large floret into smaller and smaller florets with your hands or a knife. The size of floret desired will depend on preparation, but if you want steamed or roasted cauliflower florets, they should be relatively bite-size for even cooking and practical eating. While many recipes call for them to be removed, the core and leaves are not only edible, but delicious. The core has a meatier, firmer texture than the florets, but its flavor is the same and should absolutely be included in all preparations. The tender, pale-green leaves, which taste almost like cabbage with a texture to match (they are from the same family, after all), should not be discarded. They can be left on or included in any preparation. For some preparations (roasting, gratins, searing, grilling), it's nice to slice the heads lengthwise through the core to keep the center-cut florets together, creating a thick slab. When doing this, nearly all the first attempted slices will crumble, but that's O.K. (Save those crumbles to roast for extra-crunchy bits, or save them to throw into a salad.)
• The phrase "steamed cauliflower" sounds almost like punishment, but it can be delicious. Steaming cooks the cauliflower quickly, gently and without diluting its delicate flavor (as opposed to blanching, which can waterlog and strip the vegetable of all nutritional value).To steam your cauliflower, break the cauliflower into large, but still bite-size, florets, and place them in a steamer basket set inside a pot of simmering salted water. Season the florets with salt and pepper, and cover the pot. Let them steam until the tip of a knife or fork can be inserted easily without resistance, 8 to 10 minutes, depending on size. The ideal steamed cauliflower should read al dente, never mushy. From here, the florets can be broken down more by crushing them with a fork or potato masher, ricing them through a ricer for a proxy of creamy mashed potatoes, or simply breaking them up by hand. Since there has been no caramelization, the flavor will be more subtle than in other preparations, which means there are plenty of opportunities for dressing it assertively for both flavor and texture. A blank canvas of sorts, it takes kindly to plenty of tart lemon juice, loads of olive oil or browned butter, chopped crunchy nuts and a generous grating of hard, salty cheese.
• Sautéing cauliflower allows for quicker cooking and more surface area for caramelization, bringing out some of its natural flavor. The results can be eaten on their own, or even mixed with raw cauliflower to add texture.To sauté, break down a head of cauliflower into small pieces. Heat a bit of olive oil in your largest skillet (to avoid crowding, which leads to steaming), and cook the cauliflower hot and fast, working in batches, if needed. If adding aromatics, like thinly sliced onion, smashed garlic, herbs, spices or anchovy fillets, give them a brief sauté in the olive oil first, so they soften and caramelize before the cauliflower is added. You'll know it's ready to eat when the florets are nicely browned and have a firm, yet tender texture. While a whole bowl of raw cauliflower can be tough for some, adding a bit to sautéed cauliflower is a good way to return some crunch to a dish. From here, it can be served warm or room temperature with nearly anything in your kitchen, whether a creamy yogurt sauce or crunchy chopped almonds. It is also excellent dressed almost like a pasta salad, with vinegar, a few briny, salty things like capers or olives, and loads of herbs.
• Something magical happens to cauliflower when it's roasted for long enough at a very high temperature. It transforms - from raw to soft and tender, to kind of mushy, to deeply caramelized and almost crisp. Your patience is rewarded here: The flavors deepen in a way they don't with any other preparation.To roast an average-sized cauliflower, break it into medium to small florets, or slice it into ½-inch-thick slabs, drizzle with 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Add any spices or aromatics you like (a pinch of ground turmeric, whole cumin or fennel seed, red-pepper flakes) and roast at 450 degrees until browned and caramelized, 20 to 30 minutes. A common pitfall when roasting is either doing it at too low a temperature or stopping once the cauliflower is tender: You have to stick with it, continuing to roast until the color goes from creamy white to deeply, impossibly golden brown (think: the color of a well-baked pastry). Sure, it will be technically cooked through before it gets to that stage, but pushing it helps it reach its full potential. Because it's so versatile, cauliflower pairs well with nearly anything you want to roast alongside it: aromatics, such as crushed cloves of garlic, spices, chiles or sprigs of hearty herbs, as well as more substantial ingredients like sliced fennel or canned, rinsed chickpeas. You can also sprinkle it with a light dusting of Parmesan in the last 10 minutes of roasting for a very good, very cheesy result. Just make sure that you coat it in plenty of olive oil, so it almost sizzles. It'll aid its transformation.It may come as no surprise, but cheese loves cauliflower. The two are already fantastic paired on their own. But adding heavy cream, simmering it until it reduces and the florets caramelize at the edges, bubbling and crisped on top - well, that's truly spectacular. It's not necessarily better than macaroni and cheese, but it definitely hits similar pleasure receptors. While you certainly could go by the book, with a béchamel and bread crumbs, simply cooking it in heavy cream and topping it with a shredded Cheddar or Gruyère will get you there in a fraction of the time. (This recipe will get you there, and fast.) Herbs, like picked thyme leaves, or an allium, like thinly sliced onion, garlic or leeks, are great additions, but if you want to keep things pure and simple, a gratin made of 100-percent cauliflower would still be very good.
• Once you have a few of the most popular preparations of cauliflower down, you can explore some of the more obscure ways to make it. Here are a few more ways to turn your cauliflower into something truly special.The flavor of raw cauliflower isn't much to write home about, but if you're a fan of crunchy vegetables for dipping, you might consider including tiny florets in your next crudité platter. Broken down in a food processor or finely chopped, raw cauliflower has also been known to take the place of grains for those abstaining. For a tabbouleh-esque dish, dress finely chopped raw cauliflower with a ton of freshly chopped herbs (parsley, cilantro, mint would be good), lots of acid (fresh lemon or lime juice or a mild vinegar), olive oil, some finely grated garlic, maybe a chopped cucumber or two and a good amount of salt and pepper. Cauliflower doesn't absorb flavors as quickly raw as it does cooked, so let it sit for a few minutes and reseason before serving. Cauliflower is a key ingredient in the popular sweet-tangy-spicy pickled condiment piccalilli, but it can also be pickled on its own in a simple vinegar brine. The vegetable's cruciferous aroma tends to be enhanced when pickled, but the flavor is actually quite mellow and will absorb any aromatics, like mustard seeds, crushed garlic and turmeric. Use small florets in place of cucumbers in any pickling recipe.Deep-fried cauliflower is fantastic for obvious reasons (Crunchy bits! A golden-brown exterior!), but perhaps most practically, it doesn't need to be battered or coated before being thrown into a pot of hot oil. It can be deep fried, then tossed in a spicy sauce (à la Buffalo cauliflower) or dipped into any sauce of your choosing. To fry cauliflower, fill a medium pot about halfway with neutral oil and bring it to 375 degrees. Working in batches and using a slotted spoon, drop florets into the hot oil and fry until deeply golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove and let drain on a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt.Cauliflower is an excellent choice if you're looking for a vegetable to turn into sauce or soup. It becomes incredibly creamy, tasting like you've added a quart of cream, even if there's no dairy. To purée cauliflower, simmer florets in chicken or vegetable stock (of course, you can also use milk, if you want) until the cauliflower is extremely tender. Use a slotted spoon to transfer cauliflower to a blender, along with enough of the cooking liquid to get the blender going. How much more cooking liquid you add depends on your taste: Less will give you a thick purée for serving beneath roasted chicken or braised short ribs; more will give you a silky soup for topping with croutons and chopped herbs.

ITALIAN MARINATED CAULIFLOWER AND BROCCOLI SALAD

Steps:

• Chop all of the vegetables and place in large bowl. Mix dry dressing mix with oil and vinegar as directions suggest, add prepared Zesty dressing and pour over the vegetables.
• Marinate covered overnight. Just before serving add the cherry tomatoes.

CAULIFLOWER WITH CAPERS, BLACK OLIVES AND CHILES

Steps:

• Trim the cauliflower, and break the head apart into florets.
• On a chopping board, combine the olives, capers, parsley and lemon zest, and chop together to mix well.
• Bring a pot of water large enough to hold the cauliflower to a rolling boil. Add a big pinch of salt, and when it returns to a boil, add the florets. Cook until the florets are just barely tender, about 6 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a skillet large enough to hold all the ingredients, warm the chile flakes and the garlic in the oil over medium-low heat until hot, about 3 or 4 minutes. The chile and garlic should be starting to melt in the oil, rather than sizzling and browning. Stir in the lemon juice, and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the olive-caper mix, give it a stir, take it off the heat and set aside.
• Drain the cauliflower well, shaking the colander. Combine the cauliflower with the olive-caper dressing in the skillet, and set the skillet back on medium heat. Warm it up to serving temperature, taste to make sure the seasoning is right and serve.

CAULIFLOWER GRATIN WITH ROASTED CHESTNUTS AND PARMESAN CREAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a medium stockpot or Dutch oven, combine cauliflower, chestnuts, and heavy cream. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; immediately reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until cauliflower is tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove cauliflower and chestnuts from cream and set aside to cool.
• Add Parmesan and thyme to cream and return to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until cream mixture is reduced by half and slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.
• Return cauliflower to cream mixture and season with salt and pepper. Spoon cauliflower mixture evenly into eight 8-ounce ramekins; top each with 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs.
• Place ramekins on a baking sheet and transfer to oven; bake until topping is golden and sides are bubbling, 4 to 5 minutes. Serve warm.

CAULIFLOWER AND BLACK OLIVE GRATIN

Steps:

• 1. Break up the cauliflower into small florets while you bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously and drop in the cauliflower. Boil 5 minutes while you fill a bowl with ice and water. Transfer the cauliflower to the ice water, let sit for a couple of minutes, then drain and place on paper towels.
• 2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a 2-quart baking dish or gratin dish. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 3 minutes, and add a pinch of salt and the garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds, until fragrant and translucent. Remove from the heat and stir in the olives.
• Place the cauliflower in the baking dish and add the onion and olive mixture, the remaining olive oil, the parsley and half the cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper and stir together well. Spread out in the dish and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese is nicely browned. Serve hot or warm.
• Advance preparation: The cauliflower can be cooked and refrigerated for up to three days. The dish can be prepared through Step 2 several hours before assembling the gratin. Hold on top of the stove or in the refrigerator.

SALAD WITH CAULIFLOWER AND OLIVES

Steps:

• Cut off the stem of the cauliflower, and break and cut the head into small florets. Steam over boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle the cauliflower with red-pepper flakes while it steams.
• Mince the garlic. Wash and drain the capers. Pit the olives, and coarsely chop them.
• When the cauliflower is firm but tender, drain and place in a bowl. Pour the wine over it, and add the garlic, capers, olives, oil and vinegar. Cover and allow to marinate until serving time.

CRISPY CAULIFLOWER WITH OLIVES, CAPERS, AND PARSLEY

Steps:

• In a small bowl stir together olives, capers, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons oil.
• In a large non-stick skillet heat remaining tablespoon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking and cook cauliflower, covered, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes. Uncover skillet and sauté cauliflower until tender and browned, 5 to 10 minutes more. Transfer cauliflower to a bowl and toss with olive mixture and parsley. Season cauliflower with salt and pepper.