Cauliflower

Recently at the farmers market, our six year old picked out a gigantic head of cauliflower.  And, probably due to some confusion about whose bags were whose as we were paying for our produce, we came home with a second gigantic cauliflower.  Needless to say, we've been eating more than our fair share of cauliflower in the last week or so.  My husband says he doesn't like cauliflower, so I can't just steam it or roast it and call it good.  There has to be something interesting to it.

For the longest time I preceived cauliflower as, "like broccoli, but white."  But really, cauliflower seems milder in flavor and therefore more versatile than broccoli.  Broccoli seems to be sufficient side dish simply steamed or roasted.  Cauliflower can be steamed or roasted too, but it benefits from being dressed up a bit.  

Roasted Cauliflower with a Mustard Glaze
(I don't know where I got this recipe, but it is not a combination I came up with myself.  I think it may be a Mark Bittman creation.)

This is super easy, but it is different enough that it could easily be a side dish at a holiday meal.  Once the cauliflower is cut up into florets, 90% of the work is complete.  Simply roast it, then dress with an easy mustard vinaigrette.  Serve it hot or at room temperature. 

Cauliflower
1 lb cauliflower, washed and cut into florets
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Vinaigrette
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon prepared good-quality mustard
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 400.  Toss cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread on rimmed baking sheet.  Roast 20-25 minutes, turning once or twice, until slightly brown around the edges.

Meanwhile, in serving bowl, whisk together garlic, mustard and vinegar.  Drizzle in olive oil while whisking.

Add cauliflower to vinaigrette and stir with a spatula to coat.

To dress it up:  Sprinkle with toasted buttered bread crumbs and parsley.

Braised Beef with Leeks

While onions are not readily available at farmers markets in November, leeks certainly are.  By the way, if you garden, now is the tail-end of the planting season for onions.  You can buy a bunch of 25-50 onion starts for about $5 in Upstate California farmers markets in October and the beginning of November.

Last weekend I found huge leeks at one of the stalls.  So this week we used one of them in a stew-like dish:  Braised Beef with Leeks.  This is basically my own creation, inspired, I suppose, by an episode of No Reservations in which Anthony Bourdain demonstrates Boeuf Bourguignon.


This is a slow-cooked beef dish in which the leeks cook down and, along with chicken broth and wine, create a sweet sauce for the beef.  We like it served over cornbread.

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Our What's in Season Now Page has been updated with November's list.

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Braised Beef with Leeks
Inspired by Anthony Bourdain
Serves 6.  Make ahead:  Step 1 can be completed up to 1 day ahead of time.  Or Steps 1 & 2 can be completed up to a day ahead of time.  Store tightly covered in non-reactive dish in refrigerator overnight.  Return to dutch oven and reheat over medium heat.  Garnish and serve. 

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 lbs good quality beef stew meat
1 lb leeks, the white and light green parts only, cleaned and trimmed, and halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch slices.
2 tablespoons flour
2 large carrots, cut into large chunks
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup inexpensive red wine (We used $2 Buck Chuck Shiraz)
Whatever herbs you have available: 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of rosemary (or similar amounts of dried herbs)
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley or 1 cup green peas

1.  Season beef generously with kosher salt and pepper.  In large dutch oven over medium high heat, brown the meat.  You may need to do this in two batches.  Don't attempt to cook it thoroughly, just get most sides brown. Remove meat to a plate.  Set aside.  Add prepared leeks (and a little more oil if the pan is dry), a dash of kosher salt, and cook over medium heat 5-10 minutes, to brown slightly.

2.  Preheat oven to 300º.  Return meat to pan. Toss leeks and beef with flour.  Cook about one minute.  Add carrots, broth and wine and herbs (but not parsley).  Bring to a boil.  Stir.  Cover with lid and cook in 300º oven 2 hours.

3.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Remove bay leaves and any herb stems.  Add peas, stir and let sit to heat through.  Or skip the peas and simply garnish with parsley. Serve over freshly baked cornbread.

On Roasting Winter Vegetables

It seems that every autumn I succumb to the temptation to buy multiple winter squashes: butternut, acorn and at least a few whose names I can never remember; you know. the beautiful ones piled in bins at the farmers markets.  And every year, regardless of whether the vendor promised that they were "super-sweet," or "buttery and rich orange on the inside,"  I end up cooking them, not liking them and throwing them away.  Frankly, the only recipe for fresh winter squash that I've ever liked enough to cook a second time (and a third and fourth time, in fact) is the Pumpkin Bread recipe from Joy of Cooking.  I substitute roasted butternut squash or Cinderella pumpkin for the pumpkin, and my husband and I agree that we actually like the squash bread better than (canned) pumpkin bread.

But as the weather in Upstate California abruptly cools off and as all my favorite cooking blogs post recipes that include these autumn beauties, I have been tempted once more.  This time, with not so much a recipe, but a method for roasting pumpkin... that and the gorgeous photos of the oh so simple finished product.  Roasted pumpkin seasoned simply with salt and pepper and 'branches of herbs,'  or cinnamon and sugar.  But I don't go that route.  I think I've tried it before, and been disappointed.  (You guessed it, I am not one of those people waits expectantly all year for pumpkin lattes to be 'in season.') 

I think I've figured out the root of my disappointment with squash :  I really do look forward to sweet potatoes and parsnips all year long.  Really.  And I love them roasted.  In fact, quite often, I'll roast extras and heat them up in the microwave and eat them as one of the most comforting afternoon snacks ever.  And it just isn't sweet potato or parsnip season yet.  So for now, roasted pumpkin or squash will have to do.


There really isn't a secret to roasting winter squashes.  I simply cut them in half, remove the seeds and roast while I'm cooking whatever else I am cooking, until they are soft.