Cauliflower Puree with Sauteed Zucchini

It's been a while since I've posted, and a lot has happened in the meantime.  We've been pretty busy - Kristin and I have packed up and moved to Wisconsin to start a pair of new jobs.  That's meant a new home, new schedules, and a new kitchen.  As we're settling back into the routine, I'm happy to find more time to think about blogging again.

Kristin and I have few fundamental disagreements when it comes to food.  One thing we just can't see eye to eye on, though, is potatoes.  She - like the rest of the world - loves them.  I - the weird one - hate them.  Since I do most of our cooking, this leaves Kristin tragically craving potatoes.  We may finally have found a good compromise, since this cauliflower puree seems to scratch that itch for her without resulting to the scourge of potatoes.

Here's what you'll need: cauliflower, zucchini, sour cream, some soft melting cheese (I used Neufchatel, and have also used goat cheese here to great effect), a bit of butter, a splash of milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Feel free to vary the ingredients here to taste - much like potatoes, this puree will take to all sorts of flavors, so add, remove, or adjust seasonings to fit your particular meal.

Start by chopping down the cauliflower.  There's really no need to turn it into pretty florettes - you're going to puree it, after all.  The goal here is just to break it down into manageable pieces with a fair amount of surface area for easy cooking.

Throw the chopping cauliflower into a pot of lightly-salted water, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or so until the cauliflower is tender, but not mushy.

If you really want to be a purist, you could stick to just some tasty pureed cauliflower, but I decided to top this dish with some chopped, sauteed zucchini to offer some additional flavor and textural contrast.

While the cauliflower is simmering away, dice your zucchini into nice, small pieces.

Saute the diced zucchini with a bit of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  It should only take a couple of minutes - take it off the heat when the zucchini still has some bite to it, otherwise you'll end up with a much more boring soft-on-soft texture with the finished product.

When the cauliflower is tender, drain it well in a colander.  You don't want watery puree, so drain it really, really well - shake it around, leave it for a minute or two, shake some more, and even consider pressing some water out.

When your cauliflower is well drained, throw it into a blender or large food processor along with a dollop of sour cream, the cheese, and a generous quantity of salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Don't add any milk yet.

This process could also benefit a great deal from an immersion blender if you have one - if so, combine everything in the pot you used to simmer the cauliflower instead and just take the immersion blender to it.

Once everything is in the blender, give it a whir.  If it's being stubborn, add a splash of milk to help it mix - otherwise, there's no need.  Keep blending until you hit a texture you're happy with - just a few pulses for a thicker texture, or longer for a smoother, thinner texture.  Try a bit and adjust the seasonings to your taste.

Serve hot with plenty of sauteed zucchini on top.

Recipe: Cauliflower Puree with Sauteed Zucchini
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 20-30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 large heads Cauliflower
• 2 large Zucchini
• 4 oz Neufchatel Cheese
• 2 tbsp Sour Cream
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: Milk as needed to blend

Instructions

1. Chop cauliflower down into small pieces.
2. Add cauliflower to a pot of lightly salted water.  Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes until tender.
3. Finely dice zucchini.
4. Saute zucchini until just tender in a skillet over medium-high heat with butter, salt, pepper, and a dash of garlic powder.
5. When cauliflower is tender, drain well to remove as much water as possible.
6. In a blender or large food processor, combine drained cauliflower, sour cream, neufchatel cheese, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
7. Blend cauliflower mixture to desired texture, adding milk as needed.
8. Serve cauliflower puree hot topped with sauteed zucchini.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Roasting can be an unsung hero among cooking methods.  It's not flashy or noisy, it's simple.  It's not fiddly or complex, it's easy.  All you need is plenty of heat and plenty of time.  This week I roasted some broccoli and cauliflower, veggies that I would usually just steam.  Roasting took longer, but the flavors and texture were leaps and bounds more interesting than my usual methods.  This makes for a side that can stand up to just about anything, but without becoming too heavy or overpowering itself.

The ingredients this week are simple and inexpensive.  Here's what you'll need: broccoli, cauliflower, a lemon, a few cloves of garlic, some olive oil, salt and pepper, and a bit of Parmesan to sprinkle on top if you're so inclined.

There's lots of chopping to do.  Break down the broccoli and cauliflower into florettes, leaving a couple of inches of stalk.  Also mince the garlic and zest the lemon.

Throw everything you just chopped and zested into a large bowl.  Drizzle the mixture with olive oil and the juice from the lemon, then sprinkle with salt and black pepper.  Stir it around a bit and let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes.  Pre-heat the oven to 425 while you wait.

After you've waited 10 or 15 minutes, give the veggie mixture another good stir, then pour it out into a single layer on a greased sheet pan.

Roast in the oven at 425 degrees for 25-35 minutes, turning halfway, until the vegetables are nicely brown and tender enough to pierce easily with a fork.  These actually went back in a little longer after this shot, because I like mine quite crispy.  Don't fret if you end up with some really, really dark pieces - they may look burnt, but they're probably the tastiest ones.

Serve hot with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese if you so desire.

Recipe: Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 25-35 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1-2 pounds fresh Broccoli
• 1 head fresh Cauliflower
• 1 lemon
• 3-4 tbsp Olive Oil
• 4 cloves Garlic
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Chop broccoli and cauliflower into florettes with 1-2 inches of stalk.
3. Mince garlic and zest lemon.  Add to large mixing  bowl with broccoli and cauliflower.
4. Drizzle olive oil over contents of bowl.  Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper and stir to mix.  Let sit 10-15 minutes.
5. Arrange vegetable mixture in a single layer on a greased baking sheet.
6. Roast vegetables 25-35 minutes, turning halfway, until well-browned and tender enough to pierce easily with a fork.
7. Serve hot with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese if desired.

Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Kristin and I are up in Vermont again this year, and it seems that we're developing a trend for baking with zucchini while we're here.  Last year, we made Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins.  They were fantastic.  So tasty, in fact, that Kristin agreed to marry me.  We can't exactly repeat the proposal, but this year my birthday was one of our first days in the cabin, so we decided to make some zucchini cake.

I started off searching for a recipe for chocolate zucchini sheet cake, but found a recipe for a pineapple zucchini cake, instead, and decided to shake things up.  We made a number of changes to that recipe, but the end result was killer - a super-moist, flavorful cake with sweet and tangy icing that everybody loved both on the night of my birthday and over coffee as breakfast the next day.

Here's what you'll need for the cake portion (the icing will come later): flour, sugar, vegetable oil, zucchini, crushed pineapple, sweetened coconut, eggs, baking soda, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt.

Start by combining the flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Give them a good stir.

In another, somewhat smaller mixing bowl, beat the eggs, then add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

Stir the wet stuff into the dry stuff, then add the grated zucchini and the all but a couple of tablespoons of juice from the can of crushed pineapple.  The batter will be wet and thick.

Pour the cake batter into a well-greased 9x13" pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.  It's done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the edges have just started to pull awy from the edges of the pan.

Let it cool completely before you frost the cake - this will take a surprisingly long time.  The cake is quite dense, so it will hold its heat for ages.  It wouldn't hurt to refrigerate it - we actually liked it cold quite a lot.

While the cake is baking - or even while it's cooling - you'll need to make the frosting.  We forgot to take an ingredients picture (oops!), but here what you'll need: softened butter, a package of cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, the couple of tablespoons of pineapple juice you saved from the can, and maybe just a splash of orange juice, too.

First, combine the softened butter and cream cheese in a large mixing bowl and beat until smooth.  This would be much easier with a mixer - we don't have one up here, but a large fork and some elbow grease did the job, too.

Finish the frosting by adding the powdered sugar, vanilla, pineapple juice, and orange juice (if you want some).  Mix again until it's smooth and at the texture you like - a bit more sugar makes a firmer frosting, a bit less leaves it relatively thin.  We kept it a bit on the thinner side to make for easy spreading.

When the cake is finally cool, spread the icing over the top.  We refrigerated the iced cake afterward to help everything set up a bit, and it ended up very tasty that way, especially on a hot summer day.

Serve generous slices of cake, and give some real consideration to some coffee on the side - the earthiness of the zucchini really matches well with a good, dark-roast coffee.  

This cake made for a very happy birthday, and we just might have to make it again before another year is up.

Recipe: Pineapple Zucchini Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 40 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 12 Large or 16 Medium Slices

Ingredients

Cake:

• 2 1/3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/3 cups White Sugar
• 1/2 cup Sweetened Coconut
• 2 large Eggs, beaten
• 2 cups Grated Zucchini
• 1 (20 oz) can Crushed Pineapple, undrained
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Frosting:

• 2 cups Powdered Sugar
• 1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese
• 2 tbsp Butter
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 2 tbsp reserved Pineapple Juice
• (Optional): 1-2 tbsp Orange Juice

Instructions

Cake:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, coconut, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.
3. In a medium bowl, beat eggs, then add oil and vanilla.  Stir to combine.
4. Add wet ingredients into dry ingredients, followed by grated zucchini and crushed pineapple.  Reserve approximately 2 tbsp pineapple juice in the can for the frosting.  Mix well to combine.  Batter will be thick and wet.
5. Pour batter into a greased 9x13" pan.  Bake 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees until a toothpick comes out clean and the edges have just started to pull away from the pan.
6. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

1. In a large bowl, combine butter and cream cheese.  Mix well until smooth.
2. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, pineapple juice, and orange juice if desired.  Mix again until smooth.  
3. Add additional powdered sugar as necessary to achieve desired texture, mixing well.
4. Spread frosting over cake once cooled completely.  Refrigerate frosted cake to set up frosting.  Serve cold.

Parmesan Zucchini Fries

Since Kristin and I live in a second-floor apartment, we don't get much of a chance to grow our own food.  In fact, even the poor herbs that I try to grow in the window only have about a 50% survival rate.  Kristin's family has a great garden, though, and they even like us enough that they sometimes share their home-grown veggies.  Thankfully, that means we don't miss out entirely on the fresher-than-fresh summer harvest.  This week, Kristin's mom shared a couple of beautiful, gargantuan zucchini with us.  I really don't think I've ever seen larger.  She mentioned that she was going to make Zucchini Parmesan out of the ones that she kept, and that sounded awfully good.

This week, I made something like a side-dish version of Zucchini Parmesan: zucchini fries. They're lightly breaded in crumbs and Parmesan, seasoned with classic Italian flavors, and served with marinara sauce.  These fries made an awesome accompaniment to our dinner, or could serve as an easy appetizer or party food.  If you find yourself saddled with a couple of giant zucchini (or some boring, regular-sized ones), give these fries a try.

Here's the cast of characters: a couple of enormous zucchini, some panko bread crumbs, some Parmesan cheese, an egg or two, a bit of milk, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

If you haven't been blessed with a giant zucchini, don't be too glum - just use a few more standard sized ones.

Start by cutting your zucchini down into 3-4 inch long sticks.  If you want your fries to be more crisp, err on the thinner side for the sticks.  I enjoyed getting a little more meaty zucchini bite, so left the sticks fairly thick.

Next, set up a breading station.  Make an egg wash by whisking the egg into the milk in a bowl large enough to submerge your zucchini sticks.  On a plate, combine the breadcrumbs, all of the seasonings, and plenty of grated Parmesan.  Don't be shy with salt and pepper - these fries will be a bit bland without a significant amount.

Cover a baking sheet with some parchment paper, or just grease it if you don't have parchment handy.

Your breading process is simple - dip each zucchini stick in the egg wash, roll in the breadcrumb mixture until it's lightly coated, and place the finished product on the baking sheet.

Don't worry about getting each and every piece 100% covered in crumbs, especially if you're using a larger crumb like panko and Parmesan that doesn't come from a green tube.  It just won't stick completely, but that's fine - you get plenty of crunch and flavor from this "rustic" breading.

Bake your fries for 25-30 minutes in a 425 degree oven until they're crispy and golden brown.

Serve immediately with marinara for dipping.

Recipe: Parmesan Zucchini Fries
Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 30 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 4-6 as Side Dish

Ingredients

• 4 Large Zucchini (Or 2 Gargantuan Zucchini)
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 cup Milk
• 1 cup Panko Breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
• 1 tbsp Oregano
• 1 tbsp Basil
• 1/2 tbsp Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease or cover baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cut zucchini down into 3-4 inch long sticks.
3. In bowl large enough to submerge zucchini sticks, whisk eggs into milk to create egg wash.
4. On a large plate, combine panko breadcrumbs, grated Parmesan, oregano, basil, garlic powder, and plenty of salt and pepper.
5. Dip each zucchini stick in egg wash, then roll in breadcrumb mixture to coat.  Place on prepared baking sheets.
6. Bake 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees until fries are golden-brown and crispy.
7. Serve immediately with marinara sauce for dipping.

Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

It is an undeniable truth in life that food on a stick is great.  Meat on a stick?  Great.  Vegetables on a stick?  Great.  Dessert on a stick?  Great.  Food and sticks just go so well together.  I took advantage of that fact for one of this week's meals - I made some really fantastic teriyaki chicken kabobs.  The same ingredients could have gone into a stir fry and been tasty, sure -- but really, why not put it on a stick?  

Kabobs are so tasty that Blogger's spell-check really wants to correct their name to "Kaboom!" The high-heat cooking method gives a great char to the vegetables that's hard to get from a pan while keeping the chicken tender and flavorful.  What are you waiting for?  Put some food on a stick!

Here's what I used: chicken breast, bell peppers, sweet onion, pineapple, fresh mushrooms, teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lime juice, and a bit of salt and pepper.

First, go ahead and chop the vegetables down to an appropriate bite-or-two size that will fit on your skewers.  I went ahead and left my mushrooms whole, but if yours are bigger feel free to chop them down, too.

Chop the chicken down into similar, bite-or-two sized pieces fit for skewering.  My chicken wasn't quite done thawing when I chopped it, but that actually worked to my advantage -- slightly frozen chicken is very, very easy to chop into just the right shape and size you're looking for.

The key to a good kabob is a good marinade.  I spiced up my bottle teriyaki sauce with some lime juice, rice vinegar, and sesame sesame oil to make sure that the chicken and vegetables would all be really packed with flavor.

I went ahead and marinated both the chicken and the vegetables (in separate bags) overnight - basically, everything but the pineapple.  Be especially certain not to leave pineapple in a marinade with meats for longer than an hour or so, as pineapple juice will break down meats and make them quite soft and unpleasant if they're in contact too long.

Give the chicken and vegetables plenty of time to marinate -- overnight if at all possible.

When it's time to cook, don't forget to chop your last ingredient - the pineapple!  Before you start chopping, get your skewers in to soak -- soak at least 30 minutes, lest they catch on fire.

Once your skewers have soaked at least a half-hour, assemble your kabobs.  I didn't really have a set pattern for my skewering - I just grabbed whatever seemed right to go next, and tried to make sure that each skewer got at least a few pieces of everything.  Pre-heat your grill or broiler while you assemble and it should be ready to go by the time you're done.

Broil the kebabs for 4-5 minutes per side, turning once, until the vegetables are slightly charred and the chicken is cooked through.  If you have some marinade leftover from the vegetables, feel free to give them an extra basting as you turn halfway through.

Serve hot over rice or your starch of choice.

Recipe: Teriyaki Chicken Kabobs

Prep Time: 15 Minutes (Plus Marinade Time) | Cook Time: 10 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
• 1 whole Pineapple
• 1 large Sweet Onion
• 2 large Green Bell Peppers
• 12 oz. Fresh Mushrooms
• 1 cup Teriyaki Sauce
• 2 tablespoons Lime Juice
• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 2 tsp Sesame Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Bamboo Skewers

Instructions

1. Chop chicken and vegetables into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
2. Combine teriyaki sauce, rice vinegar, and lime juice.  Separate into two portions and marinate chicken and vegetables in separate containers overnight.
3. Soak bamboo skewers at least 30 minutes before assembling kabobs.
4. Chop pineapple into bite-sized pieces large enough to easily skewer.
5. Assemble kabobs by alternating all ingredients on bamboo skewers.
6. Broil kabobs 4-5 minutes per side until vegetables are lightly charred and chicken is cooked through.
7. Serve warm over rice or other starch.