Lentils with cauliflower steak, yeah, it's much more delicious than the sum of it's parts. You can do it all in the pressure cooker ahead then assemble and eat as desired

I saw a picture of lentils with a cauliflower steak on it, online.  I was intrigued and delighted at the same time.  Yeah, I had a bag of lentils and you bet I had a whole cauliflower.  I grabbed the pressure cooker and got started.  The total cook time, once at pressure, is 9 for the lentils and 10 for the cauliflower.  I made them ahead and shoved them in the fridge so that when I had a hankering, it could be satisfied within minutes and THAT is the way I like a hankering to be satisfied.

TRACY'S LENTILS AND CAULIFLOWER STEAK

OK, I cooked the cauliflower, whole, in the pressure cooker... link here:

http://www.tracycooksinaustin.com/2016/07/whole-cauliflower-in-pressure-cooker.html

THEN I made the lentils in the pressure cooker... link here:

http://www.tracycooksinaustin.com/2016/07/pressure-cooked-lentils-as-side-not-as.html

I happened to make both the day ahead but you can certainly do this at the last minute.  Cook the cauliflower first so it can set while you make the lentils.

This is an assembly job, ready?  You're going to love this: 

METHOD

Slice the cauliflower into one inch steaks.  Heat some butter and a little oil in a pan over medium high.  Salt and pepper the cauliflower steak and place it in the butter.  Leave it alone.

    

 You'll notice the butter browns slightly around the edge of the cauliflower, that's your notice to flip it, add a little water around the edge to stop the butter from browning and to help heat the cauliflower through if you're using it from the fridge like I did.

     

Put some lentils in a bowl/plate and heat them up, I nuked mine :) Place the cauliflower on top and drizzle with any of the pan juices.

EAT

  

 I hope you like this I saw a pic online of this and had to make my own version immediately.  I'm sort of weak like that.

I devoured this and am eyeing the cauliflower thinking I might secretly make myself another one, you know, for science.  I hoe you try this, it's really quite delicious and you feel great eating it, it's filling but light at the same time,  A big crusty roll would go nicely here too.

Let me know what you think!

/enjoy


tracy

Cauliflower Salad with bacon

So, you fry a pound of bacon until it's crisp and then chop it up.

HA!  got your attention, is there any recipe on earth that can be BAD starting like that?  This is one of those oldie and goodie recipes. The church ladies and regular folk made it and took it to whatever function was being attended at the moment.  It comes in and out of fashion.  I used to make it as my standard party piece but then it fell by the wayside in favor of me making some other new and more interesting salad.  Well, it's come around again by way of my dear friend who asked me to make it 'again' and I took it to her house today and we ate it, and we loved it, and it's back in rotation so I thought I'd share it with you.

Tracy's Cauliflower Salad

1 lb bacon, cooked and chopped
1 head cauliflower, broken into tiny florets
1 small iceberg lettuce (it HAS to be iceburg lettuce, there's something wonderfully old fashioned feeling about having a chopped iceberg salad)  anyway, shred the lettuce.
*IF you want it to be more substantial, you can substitute shredded cole slaw mix in place of the lettuce, it's a different creature all together but it's as delicious and it's heartier and will hold longer

THAT's it!  Seriously, throw it in a big bowl.  The secret, is the dressing:

1 cup mayonnaise (not miracle whip or salad dressing, use real and full fat or don't bother making this)
1/4 shredded parmesan cheese (or a little more if you like)
1 Tablespoons sugar
**I add a number of grinds of freshly cracked black pepper but it's not "officially" in the recipe ;) 

Mix the dressing separately and then toss it all together at the last moment.  DEVOUR with abandon!

I felt obligated to take some quick pics as I made it, i'm a little embarrassed it's so quick and easy.

Ok, cook your bacon.  This is a lb and I cooked it in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes, drained on a towel then chopped it up.  I saved the fat in my bacon fat jar :)
 

Look at this lovely cauliflower!  I break it into quite small florets and then chop the stalk small and include that.  It's so tender and flavorful, even raw.  Do it.
   
 

The dressing, I just toss in a measuring cup and leave in the fridge until I'm ready to mix it.  Mix at the last moment, the lettuce doesn't hold up well.

Toss and eat with joyful abandon, it's SALAD :)  I love this with brisket, shredded and piled high on homemade rolls... hmmmmm  that gives me an idea

  

It's just a quickie but it's a GOODIE!

Greenling Vegetable Delivery Day (4th time)

I've been stressed out about vacations, secret missions, BabyAlice (pug) and now Lola (boxer cross) who is having 'experimental' surgery on Friday to try to help her stripped ACL.  Needless to say, it's been an emotional week. 

BUT

I opened my door this morning and found my fabulously refilled with local farm produce in a neon green plastic box on my porch.  YAY!  

Here's what came and what I'm going to do with it: 

Ahhh, the big reveal!

 

first a treatie! I LOVE a treatie!  Unfortunately, I hate kettle corn but Connor loves it so he snarfed the bag and ran upstairs to do science experiments, while eating kettle corn.  Nice!

So, let's look to see what we have and what I'm going to do with them: 

Strawberries:  We're just going to eat those, maybe some will appear on the next pavlova!  I am going to Cauliflower: I'm going to cook the cauliflower in the pressure cooker and fry it up as a side as needed this weekend. 

Greens: Another bag of delicious mixed greens.  They make a fabulous salad and that's what these are destined for.  I will make an orange vinaigrette with the oranges I got and maybe some of the strawberries on top.  Yeah.

Arugula:  I love arugula and it's peppery edge.  I will mix some in with the greens with my salad and some I will use in my egg salad sandwiches, on the homemade farmhouse loaf I just pulled out of the oven.
   
Oranges:  2 will be eaten and 1 will be zested and juiced for the salad I'm having tomorrow.

Mushrooms.  I'm going to fry them in butter and use then as a sauce on my chicken breast on Saturday night.

Kohlrabi:  I love this, I like it shredded and added to a slaw, I will salt and drain it a bit before I add it to some shredded cabbage and apples as a lunch on the weekend, nothing like a fresh, crisp coleslaw on a springtime Texas day.

Cilantro:  it'll go in, on and around everything.

   
Swiss Chard:  Love it sauteed in some bacon fat with garlic slivers until it's just tender then piled high as a side for whatever I make this sunday night.

Butter lettuce:  I love butter lettuce under grilled chicken with a chicken fat/olive oil vinaigrette ;)
 
Well, this is a beautiful box and I can't wait to get cooking with it! I <3 box="" farm="" font="" local="" my="" nbsp="">

/Tracy

Cauliflower in the Pressure Cooker

I bought a cauliflower at the market the other day.   I love cauliflower.

I love it in things, on the side of things, alone.  I love it with hollandaise, baked with a bechamel, with a cheese sauce or with chunky, buttered, bread crumbs sprinkled on it. I like it roasted, boiled or baked.

It takes a bit more commitment that I like to cook it sometimes, there's the pot and the water and the timing and the draining and it just takes   forever.  You have to keep poking it, testing it, is it done? is it all done?  It's a pain. Sometimes, the house starts to smell like cauliflower.  That's not a problem for ME but it is for the men I live with.

I realized I had to cook or lose the cauliflower today so I stood with it in my hand, hoping for some inspiration.  While I was looking at it, my eyes looked up to the pressure cooker that lives on the top of the fridge.  BINGO! Let's pressure cook it!  I haven't pressure cooked many vegetables because, well, it seems silly.  I have done corn, which is the best but I needed to try something else.

I have never, ever, cooked a more perfect cauliflower.  Crisp tender cooked but not mushy or slimy.  The most perfect PERFECT way to cook cauliflower.  I'll NEVER ever ever cook it any other way again.  Oh and did I mention, 3 minutes?  THREE minutes????  wow.

Pressure Cooked Cauliflower

*There's no choice between instructions today.  It's long form all the way this time: 

Separate one whole cauliflower into large florets.  Chop the stem into 1/2 inch pieces.
Put 1 cup of water, a trivet and florets in pressure cooker
Lock and Load
THREE MINUTES!  (3 minutes)
Speed release
Eat or drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking and save for other uses.

     

  

 

WOW

try this... now!  

/enjoy