Slow Cooked Oxtail and Short Rib Ragù With Homemade Gnocchi

June 04, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Main Dish, Side Dish

Today is my favorite day of the year- it's my birthday! I'm turning 32 which feels great, but scary at the same time. I'm getting old. It feels like it was not long ago that I left my hometown of Satu Mare, Romania to move to college to Timisoara. The first year was perhaps the best year out of the five that I spent there. I lived with three of my best friends from high school: Ovi, George and Cristi. We were a crazy bunch, but somehow we always stayed out of trouble even thought we often towed the line.

Ovi and Cristi played backgammon (Table in Romanian) every single night. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and they would still be in the kitchen playing. They kept a running score and after a year, the score of the sets was something ridiculous like four hundred and something to four hundred and something. This may not seem to be a lot at first glance, but let me clarify that each set consisted of a best-of-eleven series. The funniest part wasn't even that, but the amount that they bet: 5 RON (less than 50¢).

George and I weren't into board games or gambling, but we were obsessed with this computer game called Football Manager. We'd spend most of our free time playing it. I think the most we played in one sitting was twenty-something hours. The boys didn't really know how to cook so I was responsible for feeding our crew. In exchange, they would wash the dishes (dishwashers are not common in Romania), clean the house and run errands. It was a pretty sweet deal for me, because I loved cooking.

The all-time favorite dish in our house was a bolognese pasta that I made with fresh vegetables, ground meat, and lots of cheese. Not parmesan though because it was way too expensive for our broke-college-student taste. We always served this with cheap wine that we either bought from Recaș, a winery close to Timisoara, or from the tiny convenience store next to our apartment for the equivalent of $1 for 2 liters.

This oxtail and short rib recipe is a lot different though. It is without a doubt the most time consuming of all of my recipes. I make it only once or twice a year and that's not because of the time it takes to cook, but mostly because it yields so much ragù that we stock up our freezer with leftovers.

Next week, I'll go on a three-week long business trip. First, I'll head to Hungary for a conference where I will be presenting, and then to Singapore to help a customer get a system up and running. Although very exhausting I love these kinds of trips. I enjoy traveling to new places, and even though I've been to both Hungary and Singapore before, I managed to get the return ticket with a two-day layover in Tokyo. I've never been there before, but based on what Anthony Bourdain keeps mentioning in his shows, Tokyo is the food mecca where chefs want to retire and die.

One of the reasons I decided to make this hearty dish now, in the middle of the summer, is this trip. I wanted to stock up the freezer for Roni for when I'm gone. She hardly ever cooks, but now with my blog up and running, she does it even less often. When I'm not at home to make food she will eat tacos for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Although I don't mind her eating tacos, I don't want the crew at El Tacorrido to get false hopes that she was back to eating there every day only to get heartbroken again when I return.

This is a recipe you must try. I know it's a lot of time that you will need to sacrifice in order to make it, but it's worth it. Once you taste it you'll understand what I'm talking about. Words can't describe how delicious this dish is. It's a hearty piece of heaven, the perfect dish for a dinner with friends and family. Open a bottle of good red wine, share stories about your old college shenanigans, and have great laugh. After all that is what food should be about: love, friendship and joy.

Slow Cooked Oxtail and Short Rib Ragù With Homemade Gnocchi

Serves over 20
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 7 hours
Inactive time: 6 hours

Ingredients

Ragù

3 TBS unsalted butter
1 lb oxtail
2 lbs beef short rib, bone in
1/4 cup olive oil
1 big yellow onion, finely chopped
1 leek, cleaned and finely chopped
4 celery stalks, finely chopped
4-5 carrots, finely chopped
7 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
2 TBS unsalted butter
1/2 TBS black pepper, freshly ground
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 cups dry red wine
1 cup beef stock
1 1/2 TBS dried oregano
1 tsp nutmeg, ground
1 star anise, whole
3 dried bay leaves, whole
3 big cans (32 oz) San Marzano tomatoes
1 cups beef stock
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bunch fresh basil, finely chopped
2 inches of parmesan rind
7 anchovy fillets
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan, freshly grated
2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
salt, to taste

Gnocchi

2 pounds russet potatoes
2 1/2 TBS salt
1 1/2 cups "00" flour
2 egg yolks

Instructions

Ragù

In a large-heavy bottomed deep skillet melt 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. When the butter starts foaming (don't wait any longer otherwise it will brown and then burn) place the short ribs and oxtail in the pan and brown the meat for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Do not overload the skillet with the short ribs and oxtail. You risk reducing the heat in the pan to the point where the meat will not brown and will become greasy. Instead, work in batches if you have to.
Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Add olive oil to the same skillet and scrape off the burnt pieces of meat. Toss in chopped onions, leeks, celery and carrots (mirepoix) and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the onions become translucent, about 10-12 minutes. Add crushed garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.
In the meantime take a large cast-iron dutch oven and melt the rest of the butter over medium heat. Add the browned meat and season with half tablespoon freshly cracked black pepper. Add milk and let it cook while you take care of the mirepoix and wine reduction.
When the mirepoix is tender pour it over the meat and milk mixture. In the same skillet that you used to brown the meat and sauté the mirepoix add wine and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add oregano, nutmeg, black pepper, anise and bay leaves and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer for about 5-7 minutes.
Pour the wine mixture into the dutch oven and add one cup beef stock. The milk, mirepoix, wine and beef broth mixture should cover the meat by 1-2 inches. If not add more stock to completely cover the meat. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover the dutch oven and simmer for an hour.
Remove the lid from the dutch oven and pour in the San Marzano tomatoes. Set the heat to medium-high and bring mixture to a boil. Add the rest of the beef stock, thyme, basil and Parmesan rind, reduce the heat to low and let the sauce gently simmer (it will bubble very slowly). Cover the dutch oven and cook for about 4-5 hours. Every half an hour or so check the sauce, gently stir and make sure nothing is burned and stuck to the bottom. It shouldn't be the case if you're simmering it on low heat and using a cast-iron dutch oven, but check it just in case. You don't want to burn your sauce after spending so much time and money on the ingredients.
After 4-5 hours the meat should already be falling off the bones. Remove the bones and discard them. Add the anchovy fillets. You're almost there. Set the burner to minimum heat, stir in the parmesan cheese and simmer uncovered for another hour. If you're making the gnocchi, now it's the right time to start preparing it.
Add olive oil to a medium size skillet, add gnocchi and sauce to your liking, and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese and serve hot.

Gnocchi

Put potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water by 2 inches. Add a tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer (medium heat) and cook potatoes for 15-20 minutes depending on the size. When pierced with a fork the potatoes should feel very tender.
Drain potatoes and run them under cold tap water. Remove peel (they should slip off easily) and pass them through a potato ricer, food mill or grater. I don't have the first two kitchen tools so I grated the potatoes on a small hole cheese grater.
Sprinkle potatoes with the flour, add the egg yolks and half tablespoon salt. Knead well until the ingredients are mixed well and the dough is smooth, about 3 minutes. Cut the dough into 5 pieces, sprinkle flour on the rolling surface and roll them out into long ropes (about 3/4 on an inch thick). Cut dough into thumb size pieces (or smaller if that's what you prefer) and place them on a piece of parchment paper. Sprinkle with flour and let them rest.
To cook, bring a large pot of generously-salted water to a boil. Add gnocchi to the pot making sure you don't over fill it. Work in batches if you have to. Stir gnocchi and let them cook for about 1 minute until they float to the top. Remove them from the water using a sieve.

NOTES

If using a non-stick dutch oven for the ragù, the cooking times may reduce a bit. I prefer the cast-iron though because the heat is distributed evenly and the temperature swing is minimal.

Migas Breakfast Tacos

June 01, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Breakfast/Brunch

I've been struggling with coming up with a story for this post. Initially I didn't understand why this was happening, but then I realized that it was because every time I read an article about Austin, breakfast tacos are always mentioned. It feels like there are no more stories to be told about them. With that in mind I'll spare you the usual rundown and go straight to the point: breakfast tacos are absolutely fantastic and deserve all the hype!

If you aren't from Austin and you happen to take a trip here, don't make the mistake of not having a breakfast taco even if it's not for breakfast. You see, Austin is a weird place where most of the taco places will serve you breakfast tacos all day long. It's Austin's favorite breakfast after all. It's got all the ingredients for the perfect breakfast: eggs, vegetables and cheese.

Migas breakfast tacos are perhaps the most famous of all. It's also the preferred breakfast in our household. Almost every weekend we have them by either making them at home if we have the ingredients , or by going to our favorite breakfast taco place, Veracruz. With the monsoon season hovering over Austin for the entire month of May, getting drenched in the rain in line at a taco stand didn't sound like a very good idea, so we made sure that our grocery list included eggs, tortillas, onions, tomatoes, peppers and queso fresco.

Preparing migas shouldn't take too long. You can have them ready and steaming on your table within 20 minutes. If you consider that to be a lot of time, just take a minute and think about how long it would take you to get dressed, drive to a taco shop , wait for your food and then go home. I'm all about efficiency so I prefer cooking my breakfast tacos in my pajamas. Is there really a better way to spend a rainy weekend morning?

In the recipe I recommend corn tortillas, but you can go for flour or whole wheat if that’s your preference. Corn tortillas make the tacos more authentic in my opinion and add a distinguished Latin American taste. The vegetables are also open to variation. The ones I mention in the recipe are the usual suspects in Austin migas, but spinach or mushrooms are also good options. The most important part of the migas and the ingredient that cannot be replaced is the tortilla strips. Migas translates to English as crumbs, so if you're removing those you're having a vegetable scramble and not migas.

Enjoy!

MIGAS BREAKFAST TACOS

Yields 8-10 tacos
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

5-6 eggs, pasture raised
1/4 cup milk (whole or low-fat)
3/4 cup queso fresco, crumbled (or cotija, añejo, or mix of all)
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 TBS canola oil (peanut, or sunflower seed)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, diced (red, green or mix of both)
1 jalapeño, deseeded and sliced (or serrano pepper)
1 medium tomato, diced
2 small tomatillos (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 poblano pepper, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
2 corn tostadas, broken into bite-size pieces (or fried tortillas or thick corn tortilla chips)
1 tsp kosher salt (add more to taste)
8-10 corn tortillas
1 avocado, sliced
1 lime, wedged
1 TBS queso fresco, crumbled (for garnish)
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

In a medium bowl beat eggs until the yolks and egg whites are well combined. Add milk, cheese and pepper. Do not add salt just yet as it will make your migas watery and the tostadas less crunchy. Set aside.
In a deep skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is shimmering add onions, bell peppers and jalapeños and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomatillos and cook for another 3 minutes. Season with black pepper (still no salt).
Pour in egg mixture. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir for about 1 minute. Put in back on the stove and continue cooking for another minute or two. Add poblano pepper and half of the cilantro you have prepared. Repeat the one minute off, two minutes on while stirring and folding the mixture. This procedure will make your migas creamy while keeping the vegetables crunchy. When you reach the desired consistency (I prefer the eggs on the runny side) remove from the heat and fold in the tostada pieces. Now it's the time to salt it. Taste and season to your liking. You're done!
Serve migas on corn tortillas with avocado slices, chopped cilantro, pepper slices, and crumbled queso fresco with lime wedges on the side. If you want to take your breakfast taco to the next level add a few spoons of my Fiery Jalapeño Salsa and/or the milder Roasted Vegetable Salsa.

NOTE: Corn tortillas tend to fall apart easily, so you may want to double up with 2 per taco.

Zserbó Cake (Gerbeaud Cake)

May 28, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Dessert

Hungarians don't talk half as much about food as Americans do, but they love to eat. Eating is sacred and home cooking is present in every household. A regular meal consists of a hearty dish followed by a fruity desserts. Zserbó is one of the latter. It is one of the most famous Hungarian desserts, along with Somlói Galuska and Kürtőskalács. Interestingly enough, all three of them have walnuts as a main ingredient.

The cake was invented by a Swiss chocolatier named Emil Gerbeaud who moved to Budapest in 1884 to take charge of a famous patisserie called Kugler. His staple dessert, a layered apricot and walnut cake (zserbó), slowly became famous all over Hungary. Although the original recipe calls for apricot preserves, it is not unusual to find the cake using ginger and apple, plum jam or honey and walnut filling.

Even though I am not a big fan of sweets, growing up I couldn't ever resist zserbó. My Hungarian grandma, Iolika, made this cake all the time. The main reason was that she and my grandpa had a huge apricot tree with a bench under it right next to their kitchen. As a kid I couldn't wait for June and July to come, not only because of my birthday and summer break, but also because that was the time when the cherries and apricots ripened. All the fruit trees were so full that often times I didn't even have to climb them (or the bench for that matter) to get to fresh juicy fruits. The branches would bend under the weight of the apricots, cherries or pears to the right height for the little chubster Aurel to reach them.

While my other grandpa, Bunu, grew amazing vegetables, grandpa Tatus (his name was Aurel like mine and my father's) had a huge orchard in his backyard. He had a variety of trees and bushes full of red and black currants, strawberries, cantaloupes, grapevines, apricots, white peaches, cherries, pears, apples, quince and plums. Can you imagine spending summers there and eating all of these homegrown fruits? No wonder the first thing on my shopping list to this day is fruit.

July, August and September were also the months Iolika would make preserves out of the fruit we couldn't eat during the summer. It was a delight to open a jar of sour cherry compote during the cold winter nights and eat it while Tatus was watching soccer and drinking homemade wine. Breakfasts during during those days consisted of apricot or plum jam thickly spread over an equally thick loaf of fresh, warm bread and huge cup of chocolate milk.

My grandpa Tatus was a big man. Over 6 feet tall and probably around 300 pounds on a good day. He loved eating and I inherited that habit from him. As a kid, I used to have eating contests with him. I remember one time, I must have been 5 or 6, for dinner we each ate seven loafs of bread with homemade dry sausage, tomatoes, peppers, onions and radishes. The memory of that night is still sharp in my mind, not only because I was able to eat as much as Tatus for the first and probably last time in my life (although I'm sure he had more once I fell into a food coma and passed out), but also because it was the best day I ever spent with him.

When Iolika was baking or preparing homemade noodles and pasta, she would pass me a piece of the dough to knead, roll and shape to my liking. I remember the little green chair I used to sit on while she was at the table doing serious stuff. I didn't have my own mini table, but I was given a big white chair to serve as my work station instead. I even had my own mini rolling pin. We listened to the radio and sang Hungarian songs while the kitchen filled with the smell of freshly baked goods. It was amazing and I am so grateful to have lived such a great childhood.

This cake has new meaning to me nowadays. On my first date with Roni, one of her questions after finding out my Hungarian heritage was if I could make zserbó. Without any hesitation I replied, "Of course, I can." even though I had never made one before on my own. I liked her way too much to let her slip between my fingers just because of a stupid cake that I've seen my grandma make several times before.

Roni's obsession with with this Hungarian delight comes from her own heritage. Her maternal grandparents were Hungarian and her whole family is crazy about zserbó . Last year when I went home to visit my family, Roni asked me to bring her zserbó. I wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, so I decided not to take the risk and actually did it. Imagine how awesome it was going through 3 airports with a cake in my hand. In the end, the airline made me check in my carry-on, which they in turn lost, and the zserbó arrived several days later in broken chunks and crumbs. Roni polished it off anyway.

Every time I make it, Roni's mom, Rachel,stops by our place as soon as the cake is done. Last time I made it, I had to put the cake in the freezer so that they could eat it sooner. If we happen to have leftovers the next day, Rachel usually comes over again and leaves with a tupperware full of cake. All of this makes me happy though, because the best reward I get out of cooking is making my beloved ones happy. After all, Roni's family is my family here in the U.S.

This recipe belongs to my mother, though. Shortly after committing to making the cake for Roni I Skyped my mom and asked for the recipe. I had to do all the translation and conversion from the metric system though, so I feel like it's partially mine, too.

I also added a little spin by making my own apricot jam, mainly because I find the preserves to be too sweet here in the U.S. but also because apricots were on sale. You can save 20-30 minutes by using only store-bought apricot jam (one 14oz jar will do), but I recommend you adding a little bit of orange or lemon juice to make it more tart. I hope you'll try this amazing dessert and if you're going to like it at least half as much as Roni's family, I will consider it a huge success.

Egészségedre! (Cheers!)

ZSERBÓ Cake (Gerbeaud Cake)

Serves 8
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Inactive time: 1 hour

Ingredients

Dough

1/2 cup whole milk
3/8 oz dry yeast (1 packet)
1 tsp cane sugar
3 cups flour, all-purpose
8 oz unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
1-2 eggs, pasture raised
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 1/2 oz sugar, powdered, brown or mix of both

Walnut Filing

3 1/2 cups walnut halves
3/4 cup sugar, brown, powdered or mix of both
1 lemon, zested

Apricot Jam Filling

1/2 cup brown sugar
1 pound apricots, pitted and quartered
6 cardamom pods
8 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup brandy
6 oz apricot preserves

Chocolate glaze

2 TBS brown sugar
2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
2 TBS water
4 oz dark chocolate, chopped
2 oz unsalted butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 365F (185C). Heat up milk to around 110F (45C). Add yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar and mix well. Set aside for 10-15 minutes until the milk starts to bloom (you'll see it bubble up).
In the meantime, combine flour, chunks of soft butter butter, egg, salt and baking soda. Mix it well and then add the rest of the sugar and yeast mixture. If using a stand mixer with a dough hook set it to low and let it run until the dough becomes smooth, but still sticky. I prefer kneading it with my hands, but that's just a personal preference. Once the dough is nice and smooth, put it in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20-30 minutes.
While the dough is rising, put walnuts, sugar and lemon zest into food processor and pulse a few times until the walnuts are finely chopped. I prefer it chunkier, but smooth is fine, too.
Heat sugar in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. Toss in the apricots, cardamom pods and mint and cook for about 5 minutes. Carefully pour in brandy. Ignite mixture with a matchstick or by slowly tilting the pan to the side so the flames can reach it. Let the flames die out and cook for another 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove cardamom pods and mint leaves and transfer the mixture to a food processor. Add apricot preserves and pulse until you get a jam like consistency.
Butter a 13x9-inch baking pan. Alternatively you can use parchment-paper to line the baking pan.
Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. Roll them out to the size of the baking sheet. Transfer one layer of dough into the pan, pressing it into the corners to fit. Spread half the apricot preserves over the entire layer, followed by a layer of walnuts mixture. Repeat the dough/jam/walnut procedure one more time then cover with the third layer of dough. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top layer. That will keep the dough from bubbling up. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown. I using more than 3 layers you may have to bake it longer.
Remove from the oven and let is cool for about 30 minutes.
While the cake is cooling prepare the chocolate glaze by dissolving sugar and cocoa powder in water over medium heat in a small saucepan or a double boiler. Add chocolate chunks and using a whisk stir until the chocolate is melted. Bring mixture to a boil and add the butter. Remove the saucepan/double boiler from the heat and mix well until the butter is completely melted.
Cool the mixture for about 5 minutes and then stir the glaze again. The consistency is right when the glaze is thick enough to coat the spoon you're using for tasting. When it's ready it will be warm and still pourable.
Pour evenly over the cake. Chill for at least one hour before serving. If you have any walnut filling left sprinkle it over the top. It's not the traditional way, but I don't like wasting anything.

Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho

May 25, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Soup, Appetizer

Even though it's Memorial Day weekend, Roni and I decided to stay at home, relax, catch up on our passion projects and ultimately save some money. It all worked out great, except for the relaxation part. It feels like it's been one of my busiest weekends lately and without realizing it time flew by and it's Monday already. It's crazy how fast long weekends seem to pass. The good news is that long weekends are followed by short work weeks, so at least we've got that going for us.

It's been raining nonstop here in Austin lately. I can't remember the last rain-free day. I have never experienced something like this in the four years that I spent in this town. It's as if monsoon season made its way across the Pacific and into the Gulf of Mexico. I know it's beneficial for the lakes around town, but I'm tired of waking up to thunder shaking our house in the middle of the night. I’m especially sick of the swarms of mosquitoes that eat you alive as soon as you step foot outside.

I can't wait for the sunny days when we can go to Barton Springs (which by the way is currently flooded). I want to lay in the sun and take a plunge in the cold water afterwords. I want to get a nice tan, play soccer in Zilker Park, and to be finally able to play fetch with Popsi in the backyard without having to hose the mud off of her.

That is the spirit I cooked this soup in- the hot days of summer when all you crave is a cold and refreshing meal. This soup recipe may be my most simple one. It requires just a little bit of effort: chop the ingredients, let them marinate in the refrigerator and lastly puree them to a silky smooth consistency.

Cold vegetable soups are not too common in Eastern Europe. In Hungary we have cold summer soups, but usually they are made out of fruit. The sour cherry cream soup is one of my favorites and I plan on sharing the recipe sometime soon.

As far as gazpacho is concerned, I didn't know too much about it until about 5 years ago when I was visiting a good friend of mine in Barcelona. It was an eye opening experience. “How have I never thought to make this before?", I thought to myself. It was so delicious that I ate it every single day that I spent there and every time I return to Barcelona I begin my trip with a cold bowl of gazpacho.

The idea of this soup came to me when Roni and I were having friends over for dinner. I made Beef Bourguignon as the entrée, so I wanted a very light appetizer. My Romanian heritage makes me almost always choose soups over salads, so I decided to go with this gazpacho as an appetizer. I served it with pickled shrimp (recipe to come soon), but if you're vegetarian, skip the shrimp and serve it with roasted sunflower seeds and smoked paprika. The nuttiness and crunchiness of the seeds will bring out the sweet taste and smooth texture of the gazpacho.

The recipe is easily modifiable to accommodate vegans, too. Just skip the yogurt and you've got yourself a vegan delight! The final result will taste as good as the original recipe, but it won't be as creamy. Enjoy!

Cucumber and Avocado Gazpacho

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Inactive time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 English cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 large avocado, pitted and diced
1 jalapeño, deseeded and chopped
4 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 1/2 TBS honey
1/4 cup rice vinegar, mirin, or a mix of both
1/4 cup yogurt, optional
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 1/2 cups cold water
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Instructions

In a large bowl combine cucumbers, avocado, jalapeño, basil, lemon juice, honey, vinegar, yogurt, olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well until cucumbers are evenly coated. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Transfer mix to a food processor and puree until it becomes smooth. Add water and pulse for an extra minute. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve gazpacho cold with smoked paprika and roasted sunflower seeds on top.

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpeas with Tahini Sauce

May 21, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Not even a month has passed since I posted my last cauliflower recipe. Last time it was the creamy and flavorful cauliflower risotto with schnitzel, now it's the fragrant roasted cauliflower and crispy chickpeas inspired by middle eastern cuisine. If you like this amazing and underrated vegetable, you're in the right place. Chances are that it will be the most featured vegetable on the blog, not only because of my endless love for cauliflower, but also because of Roni.

As mentioned in my previous post, Roni has this habit of sneaking cauliflower in our shopping cart every time we go grocery shopping. And we go once a week. On top of that, our local CSA also included a few of them in our recent delivery. At this pace, I'm afraid I'll run out of ideas for recipes before the end of the year.

My mom used to cook cauliflower a lot. It was very easy to grow, which meant that my grandfather, Bunu, would always have them in his garden. Luckily it isn't green like broccoli so it didn't scare me and my sister away from eating it when we were kids. My mom would take advantage our our fondness for cauliflower and get creative by making cauliflower soup, roasted cauliflower, fried cauliflower, cauliflower soufflé or even mashed cauliflower. And we'd eat it all without thinking twice.

I find that often people who eat something in huge quantities as kids will start hating that taste so much that when they grow up they lose interest in it completely. It was the opposite for me with cauliflower. Its taste reminds me of my mom. It reminds me of the good old days when I would hang around the kitchen while she cooked.

My dad on the other hand is not the biggest fan of cauliflower, so you can imagine the joy he had when we kept requesting it. He says that boiled cauliflower smells like fart. I think I will have to agree with him on that one, but cheeses smell bad too sometimes, but the taste compensates for the aroma.

One thing must be know about my dad- he has a very sensitive nose. I remember that one time while I was in high school I went to France with a friend of mine to a small town near the Swiss border called Besançon. My mom asked me to bring her back some cheeses. I brought home Camembert, Roquefort, Brie de Meaux, Époisses de Bourgogne and a few others. When my dad entered the house, he immediately turned around, refused to come back in and told us that we had to choose which stayed, him or the cheeses. And he wasn't joking. So we took all the goodies to my grandparents' place and had a huge cheese feast with fresh bread, honey and homemade jams.

The ingredients in this recipe shouldn't scare you away from trying it. I was intimidated at first by all the new spices and ingredients that I had access to in the US, but after a few failed attempts, I managed to get a good understanding of the flavors and uses. Don't be afraid to experiment with new flavors. You may discover a new favorite that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it!

A few years ago, if you had asked me if I liked barberries I would've said, “Hell yeah!”— not because I actually knew what they were (I’m stubborn and likely wouldn’t have admitted not knowing that word anyway), but mostly because it had the word berries in its name, and I love me some berries. Barberries are truly amazing. They are specific to Persian cuisine where they are mostly used in rice and couscous, or served with chicken. You may find them under the name of zereshk at Persian or Middle Eastern stores. They bring a burst of color and an explosion of tartness to your dishes. I chose to add them to this recipe because their tangy and lemony flavor contrast well with the nuttiness of the chickpeas and tahini.

If you can't find them anywhere, worry not, replace them with dried red currants or dried sour cherries.

Curried Cauliflower and Chickpeas with Tahini Sauce

Serves 4
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

Curried Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower
1/2 cup dried barberries
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
1/2 tsp coriander, ground
1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2 tsp curry leaves, dried
1/2 tsp black peppers, freshly ground
2 cans chickpeas, drained (14 oz each can)
2-3 TBS olive oil
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 lemon, juiced (1-2 TBS fresh lemon juice)
6-8 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated or shaved
salt, to taste

Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup raw tahini
1/2 tsp white pepper, ground
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 cup cold water
2-3 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
salt, to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425F (225C). Trim the leaves off the cauliflower and remove the stalk. The cauliflower will naturally fall apart into large florets. Cut these into small florets. Drain chickpeas and pat them dry with a paper towel. Soak barberries in warm water and set aside. Combine turmeric, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper and curry leaves together.
Add cauliflower florets, chickpeas, olive oil, and curry spice mix to a large mixing bowl. Toss well and make sure the cauliflower and chickpeas are evenly coated with spices and oil.
Transfer the cauliflower and chickpea mix to a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread it out evenly and sprinkle smoked paprika on top. Don't go too crazy with the paprika though. If burned, paprika becomes bitter. Put the sheet in the oven and let it roast for about 35-40 minutes. Make sure that you toss it every now and then so that the cauliflower browns evenly and the chickpeas don't burn.
In the meantime, combine raw tahini, white pepper and lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk well. Don't be alarmed if the lemon juice will make your tahini thick and lumpy. Keep whisking and start adding cold water until the sauce becomes smooth and silky. You can adjust the consistency of the sauce by adding more water. If you prefer a really thick sauce reduce the amount of water mentioned in the recipe. Toss in the chopped mint, taste and adjust the saltiness.
Remove the chickpeas and cauliflower from the oven and transfer the mix to a large bowl. Squeeze water out of the barberries and add it to the mix. Squeeze half a lemon, sprinkle chopped mint and grate parmesan on top. Add salt, taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve with the tahini either drizzled on top or on the side in a dipping bowl. Enjoy!