Veggies

[Wilfrid]

I have plenty of old-ish French recipes which make vegetables extremely desirable by cooking them with various quantities of butter, cream, flour and eggs. usually onions or bacon too. A pea dish with an egg stirred in right at the end was truly memorable. From memory, there are plenty of vegetable gratins in Olney's Simple French Food.

Of course, none of this will help with guilt, if that is what prompts the question.

[Suzanne F]

Well, between this and the Dinner thread, I have been inspired to make roast carrot, cauliflower, and shallots to go with tonight's relatively boring rib steak and mashed potatoes. And I hope there are leftovers, so that I can purée all the l.o. veg and potatoes later this week and make a soufflé.

[Jinmyo]

A pea dish with an egg stirred in right at the end was truly memorable.

This sounds interesting. Can you tell me more?

[snowangel]

My kids really like roasted cauliflower. So do I.

If we have leftovers, I eat them the next day for lunch, at room temperature, with some sort of "relish" or salsa -- spicy indian pickles, sirichi sauce, Herdez salsa ranchera, sambal. An absolutely heavenly lunch.

[mixmaster b]

Time to bring up the Roasted Cauliflower discussion again! Here's Jim Dixon's post from the middle of page 1 of that link.

I've got a bunch of simple vegetable recipes (I actually don't think of them as recipes, but more like cooking techniques) on my site. I cook this one about once a week, and it's really good...

tossed a sliced head of cauliflower (trim base, set upright on cuttng board, and cut 1/4 inch slices...okay if pieces break up, actually better if they do) with a bit of your cooking grade extra virign olive oil and a little salt

spread in single layer in baking dish (I like to use a cast iron skillet for this, but I use one for almost everything else, too)

roast in hot oven (375-400F), stirring occasionally, until browned around the edges, about 20 minutes.

drizzle with really good olive oil, more salt if like, and eat hot

Two of us easily devour a single head, and when we have any boys home, I always cook two and there are never leftovers.

Jim

We were quite obsessed with this cauliflower for a while there. Mmm, was it good, now I'm thinking about it again and will have to make it soon.

Yes, the roasted cauliflower a la Jim Dixon really is divine. It has been praised copiously by many, and deserves the accolades. Everone who reads e-gullet should try this dish. IMO, it is one of the rewards of the site!

[Jinmyo]

Jim's so dreamy.

[Sandra Levine]

From that earlier thread, here is my entry:

"Roasting vegetables caramelizes them and concentrates the flavors. With the exception of leafy greens, I can't think of a vegetable that doesn't benefit from this treatment. I loathed carrots until I decided to try to roast them. Now, they are one of my favorites.

To give credit where credit is due, I first roasted cauliflower at the suggestion of the much-maligned Amanda Hesser, who mentioned the idea in one of her early articles" [more than a year before it showed up on eGullet] I might add.

If you pair this dish with seared scallops, you'll have a dish that suggests the famous Jean-Georges duo.

I had never heard of roasted cauliflower before the Hesser article. The winsome one (in her pre-Tad days), wrote about all kinds of ways of preparing that veggie and everyone seems to agree that roasting was the best.

Edited November 26, 2002 by Sandra Levine (log)

[mixmaster b]

With the colder weather, I have been enjoying braised veggies. Marcella Hazan has a great braised celery recipe that uses pancetta and diced tomatoes. I have been doing braised leeks, too. The leeks are yum warm but can also be cooled and served with vinaigrette as a first course.

Any other braised veg ideas?

[Jinmyo]

From that earlier thread, here is my entry: 

"Roasting vegetables caramelizes them and concentrates the flavors.  With the exception of leafy greens, I can't think of a vegetable that doesn't  benefit from this treatment.  I loathed carrots until I decided to try to roast them.  Now, they are one of my favorites. 

To give credit where credit is due, I first roasted cauliflower at the suggestion of the much-maligned Amanda Hesser, who mentioned the idea in one of her early articles" [more than a year before it showed up on eGullet] I might add.

If you pair this dish with seared scallops, you'll have a dish that suggests the famous Jean-Georges pairing.

I had never heard of roasted cauliflower before the Hesser article.  The winsome (in her pre-Tad days, wrote about all  kinds of ways of preparing that veggie and everyone seems to agree that roasting was the best.

Roasting gets the best flavour. Even out of winsomeness.