Two Ingredient Cold Cauliflower Soup

Cauliflower Soup can get complicated but this recipe uses just two ingredients for the purist and easiest soup ever.  Eat it cold in the summer garnished with chives and black pepper like vichysoisse soup.   In cold weather,  it is as warming as potato soup without the extra carbohydrate load.  It freezes well too.  What more can one say?  Only that people who don’t think they like cauliflower (like children) really like this.

Two Ingredient Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
1 large head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 quart chicken stock  (2 cans of low sodium chicken broth is fine)

Method

• Combine ingredients in a large pot and place over medium-high heat.  Cover and bring to a boil. 
• Lower heat to a low boil (above simmer) and cook 30 minutes until cauliflower is soft.  
• Use an immersion blender or a standard blender to puree the soup.  If using a standard blender, allow soup to cool 1/2 hour before blending to prevent a hot eruption.  If you’d like a thinner soup, add a bit of water.  
• Taste for salt and pepper.  Depending on the stock or broth, you may add up to a teaspoon of salt.  Serve hot or cool and refrigerate for cold soup. 

Summer Antipasti

Antipasti allows you to create your own platter of favorites.  This grouping takes me back to the antipasti bars at restaurants in Italy that provide cool mid-day shelter and a terrific first course.
You can create this yourself from store-purchased, pre-made items and it will be as good as the quality of ingredients you can get your hands on.  Lately I find marinated artichokes in jars too sharp and the olives at supermarket antipasti bars a bit dull.  My husband despairs that too many shoppers have coughed all over these antipasti bars and once your mind goes there, you are done.  It’s time to make your own.   The good news is antipasti is easy and it’s a delightful way to contribute to a shared dinner.   Individually, any of these will make a nice little hostess gift as well, especially the house roasted mixed nuts or house marinated olives.  

Our platter, which served eight, included:
Marinated mushrooms
Salami horns with red peppers and baby artichoke quarters
Polenta triangles with sage
Sliced cantaloupe melon
House marinated olives
House roasted mixed nuts

A basic vinaigrette is the key to easy preparation.  Mix a batch and divide into several smaller batches.  Add herbs to match the vegetables you are marinating (oregano, basil or tarragon for mushrooms, thyme, dill or fennel seed for artichokes). 

Basic Vinaigrette
2 ounces apple cider vinegar
6-8 ounces olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together and taste.  I like to use a screw-top jar for this quantity.  For marinades, I keep the vinegar more prominent and use the lesser quantity of oil but go by your own tastes.  You can also try different oil and vinegar varieties. 

Marinated Mushrooms
1 10-oz package Portobello mushrooms, medium size
1 tablespoon olive oil
3-4 ounces basic vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano and basil
garnish: fresh oregano

Cut mushrooms into bite-sized haves and quarters.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat and sauté mushrooms until just softening.  Remove to a bowl and pour vinaigrette and herbs over hot mushrooms.  Allow to cool for about 1/2 hour then refrigerate until serving, allowing mushrooms to sit at least 2 hours to absorb marinade.  Serve cold or at room temperature. 

Salami Horns with Red Peppers and Artichokes
1 red bell pepper (or a small jar roasted whole peppers
1 package frozen artichoke hearts
3 oz basic vinaigrette
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 pound thinly sliced salami (your favorite kind)

If using a fresh bell pepper, roast skin under a broiler or on an open flame.  If using a broiler, cut pepper into sections (and remove stem and seeds)so they will lay flat on a foil lined roasting pan.  Broil 10-15 minutes until skin is well charred.  If using an open flame, use caution and tongs.  Place charred bell pepper in a paper bag to rest a few minutes during which time steam will help loosen the skin.  Peel away skin and slice pepper into long pieces.  Defrost artichokes using a microwave or over a steamer.  Toss with vinaigrette and thyme.  Set aside in refrigerator at last 2 hours.   To assemble horns, cut salami rounds in half and place a red pepper or artichoke quarter on the half.  Roll to create a horn and lay horn a serving platter seam side down.  You may stick a toothpick in horns to help them retain their shape and keep guest fingers neat.  Horns can be assembled hours ahead.  Lay a damp paper towel over platter and refrigerate. 


Polenta Triangles with Sage
3 cups water
1 cup medium grind corn meal
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried sage
1 tablepoon unsalted butter
olive oil
garnish: fresh sage leaves

Make polenta.  Bring water or broth to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heart.  Stir in cornmeal and stir well to prevent lumps.  Once mixture begins to thicken (about 10 minutes on low heat), you will only need to stir occasionally.  Polenta is ready when corn meal is fully expanded and soft and all liquid is absorbed.  Thinly coat a 9” X 13” baking pan with oil and pout polenta into pan.  Cover lightly and refrigerate until firm, about 2-3 hours.  Cut into wedges, squares or use a cookie cutter to cut our specialty shapes.  Garnish with some fresh sage if desired. 

House Marinated Olives
2 jars olives in brine, any variety
large peel of lemon and orange (no white pith)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2-3 springs fresh thyme, rosemary and/or oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
optional:1 dried arbol pepper or 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 375˚F.  Toss all ingredients together and place in a small roasting pan or pie plate.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil.  Bake 20 minutes.  Remove foil and let cool about 20 minutes before serving.  Remove any large stems from herb sprigs but leave remaining flavor ingredients. They are edible and create a pretty, rustic look.  These olives keep refrigerated for up to a week and taste best at room temperature. 

House Roasted Mixed Nuts
2 cups of your favorite nuts, whole or havles
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon each: paprika, black pepper, dried rosemary, salt
pinch sugar

Preheat oven to 375˚F.  Mix all ingredients together and place in a shallow roasting pan.  Roast, watching nuts carefully to prevent burning.  Some nuts, like pecans, burn more easily than others.  Check every 3-4 minutes and toss nuts so that they are well coated each time.   Nuts need only cool a few minutes before serving and also hold up well at room temperature.  Store extras in an airtight container.

Sliced Cantaloupe Melon
1/2 cantaloupe, seeded and rind removed, cut in long, bite-sized slices
Serve plain with toothpicks or drizzle limejuice and/or a bit of honey on top.  Some people like freshly ground pepper on their melon.  Melon tastes superb nestled alongside chacuterie (witness prosciutto and melon). 

Antipasti ingredients can make dinner easy on hot nights.  Serve it along with a platter of cold pesto noodles, crusty rustic bread slices and a glass of an Italian white wine like Pino Grigio or Gavi or a red with the Sangiovese grape. (See June 20th entry for pesto recipe.)

Pesto Rustico

Basil Pesto is a summer staple that whips up quickly in a food processor.  But that isn’t how it was always made so don’t let lack of equipment stop you from making a batch at a rental summerhouse.  All you need is a sharp knife and cutting board, a fork and a bowl.  

While I did not expect a mortar and pestle, I thought this house would at least have a cheese grater or micro-planer.  Thus, Pesto Rustico.  I washed and rolled the leaves of fresh basil into a cigar shape and cut the little roll into thin slices (chiffonade).  I destroyed the chiffonade with cross-wise slices that left me with finely chopped basil and placed it in a cereal bowl.  I added a large pinch of salt (my friction) and a handful of pine nuts.  Pine nuts are softer than the walnuts often used in American pestos.  Walnuts are generally less expensive but not easily crushed with a fork thus not the nut for this job.

With the side of a chef's knife, I crushed a whole garlic clove.  After peeling away the skin and I finely chopped the clove and added it to the basil leaves where the salt would help pulverize the garlic's pulp. 


With the back of a fork, I got to work crushing the basil against the salt and pine nuts to create a bright green paste.  Food historians believe this is roughly how the first pestos were made in mortars.  Using a pestle the hard working cooks pounded basil leaves with salt to produce a creamy base for pine nuts, cheese and olive oil.

Back at the cutting board I sliced and diced the Parmesan cheese into itsy-bitsy pieces that would melt into the warm pasta.  (A vegetable peeler would have yielded thin slices that would melt instantly but all I could find was a beer bottle opener.)  I mixed the cheese into the basil mixture and tasted for salt and black pepper.  (Remember that dry cheeses contribute salty flavor so add just enough at the beginning to help break down the basil leaves.)  A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil completed the flavor profile.






The result was a delightfully fresh and slightly deconstructed pesto that melted and melded into just drained Penne pasta.  Summer dinner with some grilled chicken.

Pesto Rustico
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 cup tightly packed fresh basil leaves
large pinch salt
1/3 cup pine nuts
1-2 garlic coves, peeled and finely minced
2 oz Parmesan cheese
black pepper to taste
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Finely chop basil and mix with salt and pine nuts in a small bowl.  
2. Add minced garlic.
3. Crush mixture together with the back of a fork.  
4. Grate or finely slice cheese and add with remaining ingredients to basil mixture.  
5. Toss with 8 ounces cooked, hot Penne.  Serve hot or cold.

Banana Freeze Out

I can’t resist the quick sale section in the produce aisle.  Most eschew even looking.  Last week there were over-ripe bananas in quantity.  Too far gone for the regular bin, these were ready to bake into banana bread, banana pancakes, banana muffins and cookies.  Some were perfect to eat that day in cereal and fruit salad. 

Ten or twelve were packaged together for under a dollar.  That was the trouble.  One loaf of banana bread only requires two mashed bananas. Even the most ardent baker can’t drop everything to bake five banana breads.   Banana bread freezes pretty well but that’s a lot of time and energy for an impulse item.  And so most people have to pass up the produce sale section.

As it turns out, the freezer is part of the solution.  I bought a batch of very ripe bananas, set aside two  at their peak for the fruit bowl and picked two almost black-skinned ones for one banana bread I baked that day.   I put the remaining six bananas in the freezer as is.  Unpeeled, unwrapped. 

A week later, I removed four bananas and made cookies with two and Banana Freeze with the remaining two.  Banana Freeze is like the purest banana ice cream you can imagine.  The texture and flavor are true with no cream and no added sugar.

Brown Sugar Banana Cranberry Cookies
These are cake-like cookies and fit somewhere between a free form muffin and a scone.  Perfect any time of day. 

(Yield 30 2-inch cookies)
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup  brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup  mashed bananas (about 2 bananas)
• 2 cups whole wheat  flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup each chopped walnuts and dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup toffee bits (try Heath Bits o Brickle)

Method

1. Preheat  oven to 350°F. 
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla.  Continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. 
3. Add the mashed banana to the butter mixture. 
4. In a medium bowl,  combine flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and spices.   Stir well with a whisk to evenly incorporate ingredients and lighten mixture.  Stir into butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined. 
5. Fold  walnuts, cranberries and toffee bits into batter.  
6. Use two tablespoons to  drop in small mounds of batter onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets. 
7. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Banana Freeze
For each serving, use 1 frozen banana
Optional: chocolate syrup, chopped nuts, strawberries or cherries, whipped cream

1. Allow unpeeled banana to sit at room temperature 10-15 minutes until partially thawed.  
2. Peel banana and place in a wide bowl or pie plate.  With a sturdy fork or potato masher, mash banana until fairly smooth.  (Do not be tempted to use a food processor.  The heat produced by the high friction liquefies the banana.)  
3. Scoop into serving bowls and enjoy immediately plain or with toppings.  Banana freeze can be re-frozen.  Thaw a few minutes before enjoying. 

Next week,  perhaps banana cheesecake with a chocolate crumb crust. 
All this for less than a buck.

This week apples hit the sale section. 
Hmmm, apple pie, apple butter topping for oatmeal, apple danish, apple turnovers, apple cake (try Arthur Schwartz’s  made with matzo cake meal).