Curry-Roasted Cauliflower

Perhaps you’ve noticed, perhaps you haven’t, but cauliflower seems to be having a heyday lately: one can easily find cauliflower masquerading as rice, mashed potatoes, steak, and even pizza crust. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I have even enjoyed sampling some of these cauliflower concoctions, but sometimes it’s nice to eat a food that’s not trying to be something it’s not.

If the examples I mentioned above are considered health food, then this is probably the comfort food version of cauliflower. Coated liberally in a spiced vinaigrette, this cauliflower gets roasted in the oven until tender, golden brown, and so flavorful that I want to eat the entire pan every time. The only bad thing about this recipe is that it's always gone too quickly.

Fun Fact: Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous vegetable family, a group that also includes broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. Cruciferous vegetables provide sulfurous compounds that may aid in cancer prevention. Whether or not these specific compounds are responsible, an inverse association has been found between cruciferous vegetable consumption and cancer rates in large populations. So enjoy some cruciferous comfort food.

Curry-Roasted Cauliflower

adapted from epicurious.com

Large head of cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets (8-10 cups)

1 onion, peeled, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges and separated into layers

½ green pepper, cut into ¾-inch square pieces, optional

½ cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon paprika

3 ½ teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin*

1 scant teaspoon salt (closer to ¾ tsp.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the cauliflower, onion, and green pepper, if using, in a large bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, spices, and salt, and pour over the vegetables. Toss well so that everything is coated. Spread the vegetables onto the baking sheet, scraping as much of the spice mix out of the bowl as possible. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and golden brown, almost charred in some places. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*If you have the means, I highly recommend keeping home-ground cumin around. Many grocery stores sell cumin seeds in bulk. If you toast the seeds in a pan until fragrant, then grind in a mortar and pestle or coffee/spice grinder, your cumin will pack way more punch than the bottles of pre-ground spice you get at the store.

Mexican Black Beans

Every time I eat beans, I ask myself why I don’t eat them more often. For such a humble and inexpensive food, they’re surprisingly delicious, healthy, and substantial. They come in enough varieties and are used in enough world cuisines that I could eat them for a long time and not get bored. So if you, like me, are resolving to eat more beans this year, here is a great preparation to add to your repertoire.

These Mexican black beans are fantastic over Mexican rice, plain rice, on their own, or as a side. They’re nice and toasty from all the cumin and fresh from the cilantro and lime. You can keep this dish really easy and fast by using canned beans or you can make it cheap and folate-rich by using dried beans. These aren’t too shabby topped with shredded cheese either.

A note about using dried beans: don’t do what I did and try to be all “efficient” by using up the last bit of an old bag of beans along with some newer beans. Just don’t. Half of them will be all mushy while the others stubbornly refuse to soften. Stupid beans.

Some of the beans turned PURPLE after soaking!

 Fun Fact: Black beans are high in folate, containing about 32% the Recommended Daily Allowance in ½ cup boiled. (High-heat cooking destroys folate, so canned beans have less folate than boiled dried beans.) Folate is important for DNA synthesis, cell division, and the formation of hemoglobin.

Mexican Black Beans

Adapted precious little from epicurious.com

1 cup dried black beans (or 2 15-oz. cans)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeño chili, seeded and diced fine

heaping ½ teaspoon ground cumin (toasted and ground at home is preferable)

14.5 oz. can low-sodium chicken broth (or water + chicken soup base)

Juice of ½ lime, plus more to taste

3 Tablespoons chopped cilantro, plus more to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

If using dried beans, sort, rinse, and soak overnight with 2 inches (or about 3 cups) of water covering the beans. After soaking, drain the beans, and cover with fresh water by about 2 inches. Boil for 1½ - 2 hours, until very tender.* Alternatively: cook beans in a slow cooker on high for 3-4 hours. Alternatively to the alternative: cook beans WITHOUT pre-soaking in a slow cooker for 3-5+ hours (I find the soak helps the texture, though).

*The cooking time will vary depending on the age of the beans, your elevation, the hardness of the water, etc.

With your cooked/canned beans ready, you can prepare the dish. Heat olive oil in a large-ish nonstick frying pan over med-high heat. Add minced garlic, jalapeño, and ground cumin, and sauté for about 30 seconds. Add cooked beans and chicken broth, and cook together for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. With a masher, crush as many beans as desired to get a chunky or smooth consistency. Continue to boil until the mixture has thickened as much as desired. Add lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper to taste.

Garlic Roasted Asparagus

I’ve broken the barrage of beige!  This is the first green thing I’ve posted here, and I think it’s very seasonally appropriate.  The freakishly warm February weather has made it feel like spring, and asparagus was a very good price at the store, which prompted me to revisit this recipe.  It has become my go-to way of preparing asparagus.  I’m likely to be a fan of any oven-browned vegetable, and when you throw in crispy golden bits of garlic and toasty asparagus tops that remind me of popcorn, well…let’s just say one batch doesn’t stretch as far as it might otherwise.

If you look closely, you might notice the asparagus become less numerous with each picture. I'm not sure how that happened...

 Fun fact: asparagus is a source of inulin, a type of fiber that acts as a prebiotic, meaning it stimulates healthy bacterial growth in the lower GI.

Garlic Roasted Asparagus

½ a bunch of asparagus (about 8-9 oz.)

2 cloves garlic, minced fine

1 teaspoon olive oil

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F. Wash asparagus spears and cut about ¼ inch off of the bottom.  Using a peeler (Kuhn Rikon ones work especially well for this), peel the fibrous outer layer away from the bottom inch or two of each spear.

Spread the asparagus into a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Drizzle the olive oil over the top, and toss with your fingers to distribute evenly.  Give the asparagus a good salt and pepper-ing, and then spread the minced garlic over the top with your fingers.

Roast in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, without turning, until asparagus is tender when stabbed with a fork but not mushy.  The side of the asparagus touching the pan and the minced garlic should both be light golden brown.  (The browned asparagus tops are especially good.)  Serve hot.*

*The long asparagus spears look elegant on the plate but admittedly taste better cut into pieces due to their fibrousness.  So, use your discretion on whether to cut before serving.

Added Bonus: Today you get two garlicky recipes for the price of one!  It's a bargain.

Creamy Garlic Potato Soup

Adapted very slightly from howsweeteats.com

1 head garlic + drizzle of olive oil

½ tablespoon olive oil

½ tablespoon butter

½ yellow onion, diced

1½ lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 cups chicken broth*

¼ cup cream

Salt and Pepper to taste

Topping Options: croutons, shoestring potatoes, French’s fried onions, or even store-bought honey mustard and onion pretzel pieces, (original uses crispy Brussels sprouts)

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Cut garlic head in half across the equator, and rub away excess papery skin.  Set each garlic hemisphere on a piece of tin foil, then drizzle the cut sides with olive oil.  Rub slightly to ensure it covers the surface.  Wrap into a tight foil package, and roast in the oven for about 45-60 minutes, or until golden brown. (You can carefully peel back the foil and check.)  Once done, unwrap and set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and a pinch of salt, and sauté for about 5-10 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add diced potatoes and broth to the pot, making sure there is enough liquid to cover.  Bring the mixture to a simmer, then cover and cook until the potatoes are quite tender.

Turn off the heat.  Here comes the fun part.  Take the cooled garlic, and squeeze the cloves from the papery wrappers and into the soup.  Puree the soup with an immersion blender, normal blender, or food processor.  Return soup to the pot, and reheat over a low flame.  Stir in cream and salt and pepper to taste.  This soup is good with a crispy topping, Parmesan toast, and a green vegetable.

*Add more to make a thinner soup, if desired.  Alternately, you can use water and jarred chicken soup base – it comes as a paste that you can store in the fridge.