How To Roast a Cauliflower

Need an easy vegetarian dish? Roasting a whole head of cauliflower gives you a dish that works as both a main course and a side. As a dinner table standout, it can't be beaten.

Ingredients

1 cauliflower
80 mL olive oil
60 g grated Parmesan cheese
5 g dried basil
5 g dried parsley
5 g dried thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
2.5 g sea salt
1.5 g black pepper

1. Preheat your oven to 205°C. Rinse and pat dry the cauliflower. Remove the outer leaves and carefully cut off the woody center of the bottom stalk so that it's flat and the head stays in one piece. 

2. In a box mix the olive oil, the garlic, half of the Parmesan cheese, and the remaining spices and seasonings.

3. Put the cauliflower upside down (core side up) in a Dutch oven. Drizzle half of the sauce over the cauliflower, tilting it to let it drip down the core and all around. Flip the cauliflower over and drizzle the remaining sauce over the top, and use a pastry brush to ensure the cauliflower.

4. Cover the Dutch oven with its lid and bake everything for 35-45 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender and pierces easily with a knife or fork. Remove the lid and sprinkle the top of the cauliflower with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Place the cauliflower under the broiler and broil for about 5 minutes, until the cheese is browned.

Random Thoughts on Food Trends of the Decade

All the best to everyone in 2020. As we say goodbye to 2019 and look forward to a new decade, it's time to look back at some of the foods and food-related things that occurred in the 2010s.

• Cauliflower
  In the past ten years, the price of cauliflower has skyrocketed, with it going for as much as $9 per head at one point. Though a drought in California, oil prices, and a dropping Canadian dollar were to blame for this, it didn't stop the rise in popularity of cauliflower rice and cauliflower crust.
• Food in bowls
  Putting food in small hand-sized bowls was a popular thing this past decade, which is strange given that putting food in bowls has been around for as long as there have been bowls. It got popular enough that the term "bowl food" now exists, with the British press making a big deal about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle serving food other than soup and cereal in bowls at their wedding reception.
• Craft beer
  So many people started drinking beers from small independent breweries that the major breweries stood up and took notice, with new offerings to compete with the abundance of IPAs, sours, kölschs, and saisons now available.
• Cannabis edibles
  With weed legalization happening in more places around the world, people are being introduced to more ways to get the effects of cannabis without having to smoke it. Whether it's infused in gummies, cereal bars, lollypops, or seltzers, you're no longer limited to brownies.
• Non-dairy milk
  The cow has lost out on its monopoly in the dairy section with almond, coconut, hemp, rice, and soy milk now being regularly available. This opened up so many possibilities and options to people with dairy restrictions, milk allergies, or are lactose intolerant.
• Gluten
  Over the past ten years, we learned that gluten makes dough chewy and elastic and that people who don't even suffer from celiac disease enjoying gluten-free meals.
• Food on Instagram
  If you check someone's phone, you're probably going to find a photo of something someone can eat. Letting others see what they ate or what is available to be eaten is how Instagram became a social media powerhouse.
• The Instant Pot
  It's hard to believe that this ingenious kitchen device only debuted ten years ago. Now it's taking up space on kitchen counters everywhere with its ability to be seven different devices all at once.
• Plant-based meat
  People took to plant-based meats in a big way last year. There is some debate on whether this meat alternative is healthier for you, but anything that cuts one's intake of red meat isn't a bad thing health-wise.
• Pumpkin spice
  You either like it a lot or loathe it with every fibre of your being, but there was no escaping this ubiquitous flavouring, even if you didn't like expensive coffees.
• Fried chicken sandwiches
  You couldn't eat the ones at Chick-fil-a without upsetting the LGBTQ community; you couldn't find one at Popeyes because they sold out of them within hours; the other fast food companies scrambled to market one of their own. Who knew putting a piece of chicken in a bun would be so lucrative and controversial?
• Avocado
  Whether it was being put on toast, or being blamed for people's inability to save for a house in today's market, the avocado was the food that millennials made famous.

Summertime Quick Pickling

As we sweat through the dog days of summer, it's easy to forget that the cold bite of winter will soon be upon us. While it's not possible to bottle up the warmth of the season, it is possible to capture the taste of summer by pickling some of your vegetables. It's not as hard or time consuming as you would think, it's a great way to savour the bounty from local farmer's markets, and it adds a little something to a meal no matter what season.




Ingredients / Equipment

vegetables (cucumber; baby carrots, cauliflower, green beans, okra, onions, radishes, zucchini)
equal parts water and vinegar (enough to cover the vegetables, ratio can be adjusted according to tastes)
30 g granulated sugar
30 g kosher salt
15 g brown mustard seeds
5 g whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
enough canning jars for your vegetables

1. Pack your vegetable of choice tightly in a glass jar, leaving about 1 cm of room at the top. Place each vegetable in its own jar as vegetables pickle differently and at different rates.
   
   Note: Crunchy vegetables, like carrots, should be boiled a little before pickling; delicate vegetables such as cucumber and zucchini, don’t need to be cooked ahead of time.
   
2. Toast the mustard seeds and peppercorns in a saucepan over medium heat for about two minutes, or until fragrant . Add the remaining ingredients and stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved, and bring the mixture to a boil.
3. Pour the brine into the jar immediately, covering the vegetables completely. Allow about an hour for the mixture to cool to room temperature, then tightly seal the jar. Shake it or rotate it to evenly distribute the brine and spices, then store in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours and preferably a week before using. Your vegetables should last for about a month.

The Courthouse's Roasted Cauliflower and Garlic Soup

I've been wanting to make a soup for some time now, and when I came across this recipe on the Courtyard Restaurant's website, I figured this past weekend was as good a time as any. I was pleased with the results, I made a very creamy and flavourful soup. Because the recipe made more than what my family and I were willing to eat, I've pared down the recipe, all measurements are assumptions or approximations.

Ingredients
1 bulb garlic, roasted
1.25 heads cauliflower, roasted
2 onions roughly chopped
1.5 stalks celery roughly chopped
1.5 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
0.25 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
4 cups water
1/4 L heavy cream

1. Add cauliflower and half of the onions to a large bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and toss with vegetable oil.  Spread evenly on parchment lined baking sheet and roast in a 450 degree oven until golden brown.  Rotate/toss cauliflower as necessary to prevent uneven browning and burning.
2. Place a head of garlic with its top cut off on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Cover with tinfoil, roast in 450 degree oven for approximately 40 minutes.
3. In a large pot add butter, celery, garlic, and the remaining onions until they become translucent.  Add the roasted cauliflower, onions and garlic to the pot, add water, cream and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.  Cook until the vegetables are very tender. 
4. Use an immersion blender to puree, then pass through a sieve, or use a blender and blend in small batches.  Return the soup to the large pot and heat to desired temperature. 

Here's how it turned out:

Feel free to leave comments, as it's the only way I'll learn.