Posts Tagged ‘vegetarian’
garlic roasted cauliflower pasta
I have a simple philosophy. Almost any vegetable side dish can be turned into an entrée simply by tossing it with pasta and this dish definitely proves it and then some.
Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that isn’t the best thing raw, but can be exponentially improved by roasting which brings out all sorts of awesome caramelization flavors and textures. Tossed with tons of roasted garlic and bright lemon juice, this is a delicious side-turned-entrée no doubt, and thankfully one of those things that could easily be served winter, spring, summer or fall.
Update: Just wanted to say a big “Thank you!” to Fine Cooking magazine for featuring this post in their Best of the Blogs. Thanks again!
baked parmesan “risotto”
Baby, it’s cold outside.
As I write this my 100-year old iron radiator in the kitchen sounds like a rocket ship about to take off and my feet are nestled in down booties where I hope they stay for the next 3 months. It’s coooold! If there was one thing I didn’t miss about the Midwest it was the harsh (cruel, evil, torturous) winters. I love copious amounts of snow but the brutal sub-zero temperatures are just rough after awhile.
Thankfully, a big Dutch oven full of delicious risotto will take that chill off easily. Now, I’ve never been a huge risotto fan. It’s a texture thing more than anything. Foods where I don’t know whether to chew or swallow kind of irritate me (oatmeal being the exception) and I just never really had a fondness for it. However, a coworker has been developing risotto recipes in the TK recently so after eating them so many times lately I really grew to love it. It’s like listening to a song you dislike – hear it enough and it grows on you.
This dish has one of those stick-to-your-ribs qualities about it (without being over-the-top heavy or calorie laden, which let’s face it, is a welcome thing for weight-gain season). I don’t mind standing at the stove stirring risotto for 30 minutes but jeez, if you can just skip it and get delicious, creamy, wonderfully flavored results without that work, why would you bother?
