You consider yourself a vegetable aficionado, buying brussels sprouts by the stalk, munching beets of every stripe and crunching roasted kale chips with abandon.
But sometimes cauliflower confounds you.
You drench it with hollandaise or cheese sauce or ignore it completely, invoking Mark Twain's quip, "Cauliflower is nothing more than cabbage with a college education."
Too bad. You're missing out on some good eating.
"I love cooking cauliflower. I think it's multidimensional," says Angelo Sosa, "Top Chef" contestant and author of "Flavor Exposed: 100 Global Recipes From Sweet to Salty, Earthy to Spicy" (Kyle Books, $29.95).
"The texture is beautiful, very silky and smooth, so white and so earthy. And that beautiful cauliflower flavor is just magical," he adds. "After you cook it, you get a lot of nutty flavor and nutty aromas coming through."
So how does he coax flavor from cauliflower?
"I definitely would make something like a cauliflower flan or a panna cotta," says Sosa, chef/partner at restaurants Social Eatz and Anejo Tequileria in New York. "If I want more of a Mediterranean or Italian or Moroccan feel, maybe I'd macerate some beautiful golden raisins in some riesling or Japanese vinegar to contrast that."
He'll roast cauliflower or cook it in milk (sometimes soy milk so the nuttiness of both comes through) or turn it into a playful "couscous" by breaking cauliflower into florets, pulsing in a food processor until it breaks down into couscous-like pieces then cooking in a splash of water until just tender and dry.
"You could add pine nuts, sliced almonds, dates," Sosa says. Just don't overcook it.
"The goal is to retain its color." And its flavor.
"When I think about (cauliflower), I think earthy, but I wouldn't say that it's equivalent to something like coffee, which is extremely earthy. On the other side of the pendulum, it would be in the realm of a parsnip, very light, very earthy, very sweet."
Sosa's attention to flavors (his book tackles sweet, salty, smoky, bitter, sour, spicy, earthy, nutty, umami in all sorts of pairings) was nurtured first in the kitchen of his late Aunt Carmen, then during his work with renowned chefs Alain Ducasse and Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He understands the challenge of combining flavors, especially when a cook wants to amp up the flavor profile of mild vegetables, from cauliflower to carrots.
Cauliflower and olive salad
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 pound 5 ounces cauliflower
2/3 cup mixed olives
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Salt and ground black pepper
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Juice of a half lemon
Instructions
Boil cauliflower florets in salted water until tender. Drain and transfer to a bowl with the olives. Add the teaspoon ground coriander and teaspoon ground turmeric and ½ teaspoon ground ginger and season with salt and pepper.
Drizzle with 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil and the juice of a half lemon. Toss to combine, and serve.
Change it up: Replace olives with ½ tablespoon finely chopped flat-leaf parsley and omit the ginger.
This recipe is from "A Month in Marrakesh: A Food Journey to the Heart of Morocco," by Andy Harris (Hardie Grant, $34.95).
Cauliflower and almond purée
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Servings: 6
Ingredients
2 pounds cauliflower, cut into florets
1½ cups whole milk
¼ to ½ cup water
1 cup blanched whole almonds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Combine the cauliflower, milk, water and almonds in a large saucepan. Heat to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat to medium. Cover; simmer, stirring occasionally, until cauliflower is tender, 10 minutes.
Carefully transfer mixture to a blender or food processor, working in batches if necessary; purée. Add butter, sugar and salt; blend until very smooth. Reheat if necessary before serving.
This recipe is adapted from chef Angelo Sosa's "Flavor Exposed." He suggests serving it with lamb or any red meat or Middle Eastern flavors. The almonds accentuate the vegetable's nuttiness and "are a beautiful texture and contrast for the purée."
Per serving: 245 calories; 8 grams protein; 15 grams carbohydrates; 19 grams fat (5 saturated); 16 milligrams cholesterol; 369 milligrams sodium; 4 grams fiber.
Cauliflower with ginger, garlic and green chilies
Makes: 3 to 4 servings
Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic
1-inch piece fresh ginger
4 cups cauliflower florets
1 to 3 fresh hot green chilies
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garam masala
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup water
Instructions
Heat 3 tablespoons vegetable oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add ½ teaspoon each cumin seeds and yellow mustard seeds. As soon as seeds begin to pop (a few seconds) add 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped; a 1-inch piece of peeled fresh ginger, finely sliced; about 4 cups cauliflower florets; and 1 to 3 fresh hot green chilies. Stir-fry until cauliflower is lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add ¾ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon garam masala, ‹ teaspoon cayenne pepper and freshly ground black pepper to taste; gently toss with the florets. Add ¼ cup water; cover wok and cook, 2 minutes.
This recipe is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's "Quick & Easy Indian Cooking" (Chronicle Books, 1996).
Cooking With Sharon: Aloo Gobi
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