Craig loves cauliflower. It's not too high up on my list, but I try to make it for him once in a while, and it was recently featured as a healthy food in the NY Times. One of the recipes in the Times was for a cauliflower gratin with goat cheese. I more or less followed the recipe, and we both thought it was really good. It was certainly easy. I served it with hippie bread, a big salad, and squash from the CSA. I thought the squash was terrible, whether because I halved it and froze it, or just because it was terrible, I couldn't say. Next to the salad is a plate of dipping oil for the bread--leftover herb oil from a foccacia I made the other day. The wine is a 2007 Cotes du Rhone, which I liked better than Craig did, but we both enjoyed.
Here's the foccacia I made last week. I used the recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and this is the first time I've been unhappy with a recipe from that book. The result is outstandingly delicious, but the process can be dangerous and inconvenient. He has you put 2 cups of olive oil on the dough as it proofs and says it will all get soaked up, which I did not find to be true. The first time I made the bread I didn't think it through and used a flat baking sheet (he doesn't get specific). Of course, all the oil dripping off the sheet started a fire in poor Hollie's belly! Fortunately, a box of salt was all I needed to put the fire out, and the foccacia was yummy. This time, I bought a good rimmed baking sheet and a new box of salt and only used 1 C of herb oil. Still, the oil boiled over and started another (much smaller) fire. So the foccacia came out slightly underbaked and because we vent with our windows, our house was very smoky and very drafty that evening. It's so good though, I'm determined to get it right. I used some leftover whiskey cheddar on the second batch, but you couldn't really taste it. Maybe next time I'll try a cheese with a stronger flavor. Also less oil.
Craig loves cauliflower. It's not too high up on my list, but I try to make it for him once in a while, and it was recently featured as a healthy food in the NY Times. One of the recipes in the Times was for a cauliflower gratin with goat cheese. I more or less followed the recipe, and we both thought it was really good. It was certainly easy. I served it with hippie bread, a big salad, and squash from the CSA. I thought the squash was terrible, whether because I halved it and froze it, or just because it was terrible, I couldn't say. Next to the salad is a plate of dipping oil for the bread--leftover herb oil from a foccacia I made the other day. The wine is a 2007 Cotes du Rhone, which I liked better than Craig did, but we both enjoyed.
Here's the foccacia I made last week. I used the recipe from The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and this is the first time I've been unhappy with a recipe from that book. The result is outstandingly delicious, but the process can be dangerous and inconvenient. He has you put 2 cups of olive oil on the dough as it proofs and says it will all get soaked up, which I did not find to be true. The first time I made the bread I didn't think it through and used a flat baking sheet (he doesn't get specific). Of course, all the oil dripping off the sheet started a fire in poor Hollie's belly! Fortunately, a box of salt was all I needed to put the fire out, and the foccacia was yummy. This time, I bought a good rimmed baking sheet and a new box of salt and only used 1 C of herb oil. Still, the oil boiled over and started another (much smaller) fire. So the foccacia came out slightly underbaked and because we vent with our windows, our house was very smoky and very drafty that evening. It's so good though, I'm determined to get it right. I used some leftover whiskey cheddar on the second batch, but you couldn't really taste it. Maybe next time I'll try a cheese with a stronger flavor. Also less oil.
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