This is tasty as a side vegetable or served as a pasta sauce, tossed with large noodles.

1 large head or 2 small heads of cauliflower
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Clean the leaves from the cauliflower. Remove the base of the stem with a small, sharp knife. From the top down, cut the cauliflower into 1/4-inch slices. (If the cauliflower is large, cut in half for easier slicing.)

Heat in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat 2 tablespoons olive oil. Once the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the cauliflower and season with salt. Let the cauliflower sit until it starts to brown a bit before stirring or tossing. Cook, continuing to stir or toss until the cauliflower is tender, about 7 minutes total. Don't worry if the cauliflower starts to break up; that is part of the charm of the dish. Taste for salt and add more if needed.

Finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil

Variations:

• When the cauliflower is a minute or so from being done, add a couple of chopped garlic cloves and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.
• Garnish with a handful of Toasted Breadcrumbs (page 63).
• A classic Italian dish adds the parsley and garlic along with chopped salt-cured anchovies and capers, hot chile flakes, and coarsely chopped olives. This is delicious on pasta.
• Sprinkle with fresh-ground cumin, chopped garlic, turmeric, and chopped cilantro during the last few minutes of cooking.

I grew up eating cauliflower, usually stir-fried with pork Chinese style. I'm not sure if it was my Chicago-born and raised mother's idea, or my paternal grandfather's. But, I had never had them mashed. when I set my eyes upon the healthy, large, organic white cauliflower on sale at Whole Foods and tasted the mashed cauliflower with garlic and chopped parsley, I snapped up a coouple heads to mash for myself.

TherRecipe is simple:

Make your favorite mashed potato recipe, substituting cauliflower for potatoes. You can either steam or boil your cauliflower, cooking 20-30 minutes until tender to the fork. I used garlic, butter, milk, salt and pepper. I sampled some mashed cauliflower at our local Whole Foods last week. This one was prepared with garlic and chopped parsley.

For a vegan reiteration of this recipe, substitute olive oil for butter, and vegetable stock for milk. I ate mine with brown rice the first night and tossed with nooldels in the second. Mmmmm! cauliflower never tasted so good.

Ingredients

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12 oz. fresh cranberries 

3Ž/4 cup water 

1-1Ž/2  cups sugar

4-1Ž/2 Tbsp orange marmalade 

Juice from 1-1/Ž2 lemons 

Rinse and drain cranberries. Boil water and sugar for 5 minutes. Add cranberries. Cook 8 minutes or until all cranberries have popped open and are transparent. Remove from heat. Stir in marmalade. Stir in lemon juice. Pour into serving bowl and refrigerate. 

 Serves 8

*Martha Stewart’s lemony twist on the traditional tomato basil pasta salad.

Boil the pasta about five minutes before the tomatoes are ready. The warmth will bring out the flavors of the fresh ingredients.

5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

2 pounds ripe heirloom tomatoes sliced into ½-inch wedges

¾ cup torn fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons salt-packed capers, preferably Sicilian, rinsed and chopped if large.

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest, plus more for sprinkling

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound pasta – ideally flat pasta such as maltagliati ,pappardelle or croxetti

Heat garlic in oil in a saucepan over low heat until pale gold (10 minutes or more). Strain; reserve oil and garlic. Let cool.

Combine tomatoes, ¼ cup basil, capers, lemon zest, red pepper flakes and ½ teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Pour garlic oil and chips over tomato mixture. Marinate, covered, tossing occasionally for at least 30 minutes.

Pour tomato  mixture over cooked pasta, tossing gently. Top with remaining ½ cdup basil. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with lemon zest. Serve with optional Parmesan cheese.

Serves 8.

Lentil Soup

1 tsp minced garlic
1 onion, chopped fine
1 large carrot, chopped fine
2 stalks celery, chopped fine
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
2 cups dry lentils, rinsed and picked through
1 heaping tsp sea salt
1 heaping tsp of cumin
1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes (optional)
2 quarts chicken stock, vegetable stock, or water

¼ cup or to taste of white wine or dry vermouth) optional

In a large stock pot, sauté the garlic, onion, carrots and celery in butter/oil until translucent. Stir in the lentils, onions, salt, and cumin to the lentils. Add optional tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil. Turn down heat to simmer, add optional wine, and let cook for another 40 min. The soup will naturally thicken. Salt and pepper to taste.

The lentils may be blended after the soup is done if you prefer a smooth soup. Half a cup of chopped spinach or Swiss chard may be added fifteen minutes before the lentils are done.

The richest creamed corn you'll ever have, but oh so good! Courtesy of my fab cooking friend Barb.

In a large pot, combine then simmer for 5 minutes:
2 20-oz packages frozen corn niblets
1-1/2 pints half & half cream
6 Tablespoons sugar
1 tsp salt
Pinch of pepper
1/4 t MSG (optional)

Mix together then add to corn:
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2  heaping Tbsp flour

Sprinkle with:
Parmesan cheese

Put into an oven-proof casserole. Cover and back at 350° for 30 minutes. To brown, remove cover for last 10 minutes. Alternatively, simmer on stove until thickened, stirring occasionally.

My sister and her son in Palo Alto recently introduced me to a delicious and hearty Lebanese Vegetable Soup that she picked up from the deli at her local Whole Foods Market. I scoured the internet and happily found several recipes online, including one from the famed Sunday’s at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook. Below is my rendition, gobbled down by my husband, much to my surprise. Serve this to your vegetarian friends, as chickpeas are great for protein! If cooking's not your thing, check out your local Whole Foods Market, which may or may not have it on its hot foods line. Mine didn't. But that just meant I got to learn how to cook a new soup!

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
3 medium carrots, chopped (2 1/2 cups)
1-2 stalks celery, chopped (1-1/2 cups)
I bay leaf
3-4 twigs fresh thyme
1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
2-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 - 2 cups sweet potatoes cut in 1/2" cubes
Sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 qt vegetable stock
1 28-oz can Italian plum tomatoes (pomodori pelati), broken up with fingers and hard core removed
10 artichoke hearts cut into eighths (2 cans ), liquid drained and saved
2 cups canned or cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

Optional seasonings
Dash of Maggi seasoning
1-2 tsp of sugar
Shot or two of white wine

Heat olive oil in a large stock pot. Add onions, carrots and celery and sauté only onions are translucent (7-10 minutes). Add coriander, bay leaf and thyme; stir to coat vegetables. Add sweet potato, tomatoes and their liquid, and drained liquid from the artichoke hearts. Season with 2 ample pinches of sea salt and pepper to taste. Bring soup to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Add chickpeas and vegetable stock, and bring to a new simmer. Add artichoke pieces, and simmer for 3 minutes so the flavors can meld. Before serving, adjust with additional salt and pepper and optional seasonings (above). Also remove bay leaf and thyme twigs. 

*If you prefer a thick soup, after sweet potatoes are tender, remove bay and thyme, then blend with an immersion stick blender; then proceed with recipe.

Thank you, Margaret S. Fox!

Clafoutis are traditional French desserts. My version has been adapted from a recipe published by Gaston LeNotre, then famous French patissier. Although they are especially good with cherries, they can be prepared with various kinds of fruit, including an assortment of leftovers, if that is whay you happen to have: apples, strawberries, pears, whatever. Anything but bananas or canned fruit cocktail, please. Canned fruit cocktail clafouti would set Franco-American relations back forty years.
 
1 egg
6 Tbsp white sugar
3 Tbsp white flour
6 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
1-1/3 cups pitted cherries
3 Tbsp melted butter (warn, not hot)
 
Preheat the oven to 400°.
In a bowl, beat the egg and sugar with a whisk until the mixture whitens. Stir in the flour and cream. Beat until completely smooth. Pour half of the batter over the cherries in a medium-sized bowl and fold together gently.
 
Spread the cherry mixture evenly over the bottom of a buttered 8-inch pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, beat the butter into the remaining batter, then pour this over the half-baked cherry batter. Replace in oven and bake for another 15 minutes, or unitl golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

*Note: I’ve used a stick blender with a whisk attachment. The blender’s accompanying marked cup makes it easy to divide and pour the batter.

Apple Clafoutis

From The Café Beaujolais Cookbook, Margaret S. Fox and John Bear

1-3/4 lbs. sliced raw mushrooms
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup chopped green onions
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup unsalted butter
6 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp fresh or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon or dill
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Marsala, optional

Step 1: Sauté vegetables
Sauté mushrooms in 1/4 cup butter for 5 minutes. Add green onions and garlic; continue to sauté for one more minute. Set aside.

Step 2: Make roux
Make a roux by melting 1/4 cup butter in a stock pan (big enough to hold the finished soup). Whisk in the flour, stirring constantly. Cook 4 minutes over medium heat, whisking constantly. Do not let the roux brown.

Step 3: Make soup
Whisk the chicken or vegetable broth into the roux. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently with a whisk. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and simmer for 15 minutes more. Purée the mushroom mixture in a blender or using a stick immersion blender in the pot. Add the heavy cream. Add the tarragon or dill, salt and optional Marsala.

Cooking tip: Use fresh mushrooms. If using typical round, button mushrooms, older ones that are beginning to brown are great because they’ll give you a better flavor. The taste of the soup will also be affected by the type of mushrooms you select. I understand cremini or porcini mushrooms make a fine choice.

*Vegan version

1-3/4 lbs. sliced raw mushrooms
3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or other vegetable oil
1/3 cup chopped green onions
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups canned vegetable broth
2 cups water
3 tsp vegetable boullion
4 Tbsp cashew cream*
1 tsp fresh or 1/2 tsp dried tarragon or dill
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Marsala, optional

*Cashew cream
Cashew cream thickens the soup without using a roux. Simply mix together equal parts cashew butter and water. I get my cashew butter at Whole Foods, where you grind it right there in the store from raw cashews. Alternately, you can make it by combining equal parts cashews and water and blending until smooth.

Cooking
Sauté mushrooms in olive or vegetable oil for 5 minutes or until completely wilted. Add green onions and garlic; continue to sauté for one more minute. Add vegetable broth, water, and vegetable boullion. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes or more until mushrooms are soft. Purée the mushroom mixture in a blender or by using a stick immersion blender in the pot. Blend in the cashew cream. Add the tarragon or dill, salt and optional Marsala. Season to taste with additional salt or white pepper.