What’s with all the cauliflower??
All of a sudden, this sturdy, white-on-white hunk is the darling of the dining scene.
Last week I wrote here about the simple but sensational cauliflower dish at NOBU
in San Diego’s Hard Rock Hotel. Roasted in a brick oven and lightly misted with a “sauce” of pureed fresh jalapenos, Japanese vinegar and grapeseed oil, it was a marvel of taste and texture.
On Saturday night, I discovered chef David McIntyre’s stunning presentation of sauteed divers scallops in a pureed cauliflower sauce that was plumped up with a little cream. The talented chef/owner of Crescent Heights in downtown San Diego set the bronzed scallops alongside a colorful confetti of weensy cauliflower rosettes in purple, green and white, golden raisins and roasted shallots. Another pale sauce -- of white wine, preserved lemon and butter -- accented the dish (pictured here).
McIntyre stresses that the cauliflower comes from Chino Farm in Rancho Santa Fe, which means it has the fresh, pronounced flavor necessary to make an interesting sauce. Cooked al dente, these dainty florets held their shape and color perfectly, and their flavor heralded the new spring season.
For years it seems that cauliflower was waiting in the wings, while trendier veggies like fiddlehead ferns and white asparagus, ramps and pea tendrils stole the show.
But now, it’s stage center. At Tilth in Seattle (whose chef Maria Hines won the James Beard Award last week for Best Chef Pacific Northwest), a truffled cauliflower flan is set off with Meyer lemon zest and bits of crunchy fried capers. At Gotham Bar & Grill in New York City, chef Alfred Portale does a braised cauliflower salad with golden raisins, capers, pine nuts, goat cheese and a white verjus (juice of unripe grapes) vinaigrette.
And last week’s New York Times featured a review of the new restaurant Fishtail By David Burke
and proclaimed cauliflower the standout dish at the pricey Upper East Side eatery. According to critic Frank Bruni, “Its given one of those treatments popular with chefs of a super-indulgent bent, who see no reason why vegetables should be any less rich than desserts…Fishtail’s cauliflower gets so much cream it’s nearly a custard, so much cheese it could impersonate a quiche.”
For my money though, the simpler the preparation, the better. I recently taught a cooking class at Great News! in Pacific Beach that featured five of the best restaurant recipes I discovered while eating my way around the world. One of them was a delicious pasta dish from Masseria Il Frantoio, a magical country inn in Puglia, Italy. The mingling of orecchiette (ear-shaped) noodles, cauliflower florets, almonds and garlicky toasted breadcrumbs is easy to make, hard to forget.
But perhaps the most luscious performance by a head of cauliflower that I’ve encountered was the soup created by chef Trey Foshee and his team at George’s California Modern in La Jolla.
A satiny mix of pureed veggie, heavy cream, chicken stock and a whisper of white truffle oil, the potage is topped with a delicate “salad” of Dungeness crab, lemon zest and chopped Marcona almonds.
Here’s the recipe.
CREAM OF CAULIFLOWER SOUP
DUNGENESS CRAB & MARCONA ALMOND SALAD
8 servings
From George's California Modern
Soup
1 ea. Yellow onion, peeled and minced
5 ea. Garlic cloves, slices
¼ # Butter
2 hds. Chino white cauliflower, chopped
4 C Chicken stock
1 C Heavy Cream
1 T White truffle oil
Crab Salad
4 oz. Fresh Dungeness crab
Zest of 2 Meyer lemons
3 T Marcona almonds, chopped
For the soup:
In a medium sauce pot sweat the onions and garlic in the butter until soft but not browned. Add the cauliflower and cook 5 minutes and add the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until everything is soft, about 15 minutes. Add the cream and bring to a simmer, blend well and strain and finish with salt, white pepper and the truffle oil.
For the crab salad:
Combine everything in a bowl and mix.
Hi Maureen
Love your blog.
Could you e mail me the pasta cauliflower recipe
from May 14,2009 from your cooking class from
Masseria Il Frantoio.
Thanks Nancy Kollisch
kolna2002@yahoo.com
Posted by: nancy kollisch | July 29, 2009 at 06:03 PM