Herb, Cheese & Garlic-Baked Cauliflower

There is nothing primal about baking a cauliflower with cheese and herbs and garlic. But it makes a pretty good dinner.

So here is a quick recipe from my kitchen, something that was literally created with some leftover ingredients lying in the fridge. Like the fresh parsley from Maria’s Piri-Piri Chicken and all that cheese from LMN’s birthday party.

I got a beautiful head of cauliflower from the Farmer’s Market for just two dollars. And instead of making my rather favourite Chingri-Phulkopi, I baked it with whatever was at home!

Ingredients for Herb, Cheese & Garlic-Baked Cauliflower are:

1 medium size head of cauliflower, trim leaves and outer stems
Half to one cup grated cheese (I used a mix of grated Parmesan, Mozzarella and Cheddar)
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped + one more tablespoon chopped leaves + few stems for decoration
5-6 fat cloves of garlic, peel on (Use more, I regret not throwing in a whole pod!)
Juice of half a lime/lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper
Salt

Pre-heat oven to 350°F.

Place the beautiful-looking head of cauliflower on a pie dish (or use a baking sheet).

Crack black pepper directly on the cauliflower. Season with salt.

Tuck in stems of parsley in the space between the flowerets.

Now heap the grated cheese and chopped fresh parsley on the cauliflower.  Throw in the unpeeled cloves of garlic too.

Drizzle olive oil covering the cauliflower and garlic cloves.

Bake for an hour.

In a glass jar or bottle add the remaining fresh parsley and pound with a wooden pestle. Add the EVOO and lemon juice. Mix and keep.

When the cauliflower is ready, drizzle the EVOO and parsley dressing all over, covering the cauliflower and the baked garlic.

Cut chunks of the baked cauliflower and serve. Taste the roasted, creamy, sweet garlic with each bite of the baked cauliflower. Enjoy with a baguette and a glass of good white.

Fuzzy Fusilli with Barese Sausage

If my husband were to write a love song, it’d either be – I want to lay you on a bed of pasta, or When a man loves a (bowl of) pasta. His love for pasta is undying. And my love for him is well, known in town by now. This dish was created in my kitchen out of love. My love for him.

Oh, and before you think I have misled you into a delicious image of a romantic husband, let me tell you, he doesn’t write love songs. Mine writes financial software. That’s how deprived I am in the mush department.

So to compensate for my deprivation, I start everlasting conversations with ingredients in my pantry and fridge. And today the box of Fusilli told me to marry it with the Barese sausage I got from St. Lawrence Market.

The mixed pitted olives (green and kalamata) and sun-dried tomatoes came in handy too to invoke a whole lot of flavors in my dish.

Ingredients for Fuzzy Fusilli with Barese Sausage are:

4 cups of Fusilli
Barese sausage (you can use any hot sausage you want)
Half cup mixed olives (pitted)
Half cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil

Cook the fusilli according to package instructions. I like to keep mine al dente. Drain and keep. I always generously salt my pasta while cooking, which means I don’t use salt later.

I grilled my sausages before I added them to the pasta. This was being done simultaneously in the oven. If you are using the thick sausages, make sure you poke them randomly with a fork to avoid any blasts in the oven.

Drizzle EVOO on the fusilli, throw in the olives and the sun-dried tomatoes.

Season with dried basil and black pepper. Once the sausages are done and are cool enough to handle, cut bite-size pieces of them and add into the pasta. Toss everything with the passion of an Italian. Serve warm as a main or a hearty lunch. And see how Cupid looks you back in the eye.

Garlic Hummus

It helps when your mother-in-law to-be and you live in the same city. It gets even better when the son lives in far away Canada, which means that you get the undivided attention of his Mother.

Almost every weekend, before I got married to P, my Mum-in-law would make sure she would send me home-cooked food from their place to mine. This was in Delhi. Among her favorite things to send would be a jar of freshly made Garlic Hummus which she learnt many years ago during their stay in the Middle East.

I got so hooked to her Garlic Hummus, that I would eat it with everything. Including slices of toasted bread. Before my jar of Ma’s Hummus got over, she would make more and send through someone or bring it herself. I also think she did not mind a prospective daughter-in-law with garlic breath, as long as the garlic was from her Hummus.

I have learnt to make Ma’s Garlic Hummus, and find it an easy dip for finger food of freshly cut vegetables like carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.

Ingredients for Garlic Hummus are:

2 cups cooked chickpeas, retain a little water its boiled in
3 tablespoons white sesame seeds, lightly roasted
4-5 garlic cloves
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sprig of fresh parsley
Quarter cup + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Traditionally, Tahini is used in Hummus, but if you don’t have it, use roasted sesame seeds like I do.

Start by breaking down the sesame seeds in a blender. Then add the chickpeas, garlic, EVOO and lemon juice and give it a good whoosh, till you get a thick, smooth consistency. You can add spoonfuls of the water you have retained from cooking the chickpeas to get the right consistency of the Hummus.

Do a taste test and see if you need any salt. Season accordingly.

Just before serving, drizzle a little more of the EVOO, a generous pinch of chopped fresh parsley and cayenne pepper on the Hummus. You can use it as a spread between your pita bread or roti, or just as a freshly made dip for breadsticks, vegetables or kebabs.

The Hummus bowl that you see here is something I made at Pottery School, I had in mind the “Middle East” and my hands just followed my mind.

More pictures of my Pottery Work is here.

Seduction on a Plate

Have you ever wondered how these self-announced culinary goddesses look absolutely ravishing in their kitchen spaces, day after day, show after show. Not a strand of hair out of place, not even a laughter line showing. They look sexy with their mouths full and their bodies look as if they stopped growing after 16! Nigella Lawson of course is an exception.

They have come-hither looks, husky voices, manicured nails, and botoxed assets as kitchen arsenals. I wonder how all their cook wares look so shiny (must be the sponsors!), stovetops spotless, kitchens gorgeous, pantries full and people like you and me eating out off their palms. Well, almost.

I know I am no Nigella or Giada, not even shortcut queen -Rachel Ray. But sometimes away from public eye, I pretend to be one. Yes, I convince myself that I am the domestic diva who can whip out meal after meal everyday, sometimes twice a day! Though its another story that a lot of the times, I spill, overcook, follow recipe books, make frantic calls to the mother, serve leftovers, or conveniently order take out.

Till about a few years ago, I even used to talk to myself, pretending I was hosting some food show. Well, that delusion hasn’t stopped altogether. Except that now, I also have a camera in my kitchen. I am also contemplating about shedding my PJs and slipping into fashionable clothes, curling up my hair and batting mascaraed eyelashes the next time I step inside my kitchen. Some day soon. Very soon. Till then, keep coming back to check on me and my un-sexy home cooked meals.

Today I made my usual, to-be-patented winter staple of clear tomato soup and served with croutons made of French baguette and Spanish Chorizo sausages. They paired well with a light salad made of baby spinach, arugula, red cabbage, sliced avocado, red bell pepper, generous shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano and a good drizzle of EVOO (just the way Rachel Ray says it!). For the uninitiated, EVOO is Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

If you cannot find baguette, take any long-thin bread and make even slices of it, preferably with a serrated knife. Drizzle olive oil. Slice the sausages too to fit on the bread.

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and leave the breads to turn into golden, crusty croutons topped with melt-in-the-mouth sausages.


For the salad I just tossed in everything at the very last minute and served in individual bowls with freshly shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, a dash of extra virgin olive oil, few squirts of lemon juice and some black pepper straight from the pepper mill.

Seared Shrimps and Parsley Couscous Salad

This meal is for one of those days when you can just sit back and relax and do the prep work and the meal right when you are about to eat. It is also good for bachelor nights.

First the Parsley Couscous Salad, which is of course Mediterranean-inspired.

Ingredients for Parsley Couscous Salad are:

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, very finely chopped
1 firm tomato, very finely chopped
1 small red onion, very finely chopped
1 cup cooked couscous ( I use the Israeli variety)
Lemon juice
Fresh cracked black pepper
Salt
EVOO

Mix everything together except the salt and couscous and keep in the fridge. Just before you are about to eat, mix the couscous and salt and serve. Well, I haven’t written a shorter recipe than this. So…

As a last minute thought, I added some pomegranate leftover from the Fresh Fruit and Cream Cake. And the salad looked very Middle Eastern!

That being taken care of I just about had time to get my shrimps seared on my flat tava.

Ingredients for Seared Shrimps are:

400 grams shrimps, shelled, deveined and tail on
4-5 fat cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons dry herb of your choice, I used oregano
Lemon juice
Freshly cracked pepper
Olive oil
Salt

Poke the shrimps on wooden skewers and keep them lined up. Remember to throw the bamboo skewers in water for about 20 minutes so that they don’t char or break in the heat.

Heat a tava or a flat skillet. Add little drizzles of oil, and the minced garlic. Sauté for a minute making sure not to brown the garlic. Add the dried herb. Mix.

Place the shrimps-on-skewers over the spices and let them sear on high heat. Turn the skewers midway. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Remove the skewers from heat when you see the shrimps turning pink in color and curling up. It takes about 5-6 minutes to do the shrimps.

Finish the Seared Shrimps with a squirt of lemon juice.

All this under 30 minutes! I could give Rachel Ray a run for her money. Is anybody listening?