Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta and Savory Fig Compote

The trendsetters over at Food52 recently told me that I could unabashedly pluRonk a whole cauliflower onto my table and call it dinner. Not just any cauliflower, though: it was this one, simmered in a rich, flavorful broth, then roasted on high high heat until the edges were singed, the whole orb a glistening golden. Then I could plunk it on my table and call it dinner. I needed zero convincing to try this one.

I will confess, though, that I only had one cauliflower in the fridge, and I was nervous that it wouldn't be enough to feed four of us. Since I'd bought a beautiful fillet of shad the previous day, I decided to roast that alongside the cauliflower. This meant that the cauliflower wasn't our only main dish, but no matter: it was a pièce de résistance all the same. The inner flesh was soft and flavorful from the broth, and those outer bits, well - I could eat them all day long.

The sauces didn't hurt, either: one was a whipped feta, made with a bit of yogurt and some softly whipped cream. The other was a savory fig compote, made by heating and steeping dried figs with capers until everything was soft, then blending the mixture until it was smooth. Sweet and briny, it was the perfect compliment to the silky cauliflower.

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The Menu: As promised, here's what we served for dinner that night:

• Leek Apple Walnut Soup (totally vegan, really delicious)
• Cauliflower with whipped feta and savory fig spread on the side
• Simply roasted shad (smeared with a bit of the fig jam; roasted with a few segments of lemon, flaky salt, and a drizzle of olive oil)
• Platter of leeks, turnips, and carrots roasted in equal parts miso and olive oil for about 45 minutes, until soft and browned
• Bulgur salad with eggplant and tahini dressing (from our friend Jana; super tasty)
• This orange marmalade cake, served  with whipped cream fortified with a bit of sour cream. Great combination

Dinner was simple, but we really enjoyed it.  And had we skipped the shad, we wouldn't have missed it.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Whipped Feta and Savory Fig SpreadAdapted from Alon Shaya, via Food 52Serves 2 as a main course with leftovers, 4 as a side

For the cauliflower: 1 whole cauliflower, leaves removed, stem trimmed 2 1/2 cups dry white wine 1/3 cup olive oil 1/4 cup salt (don't worry - it doesn't make the cauliflower too salty. Remember, you're seasoning 10 cups of liquid.) 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper 1 tablespoon sugar 1 bay leaf

Heat oven to 475° F. Bring wine, oil, salt, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, sugar, bay leaf, and 8 cups water to a boil in a large pot.

When broth is boiling, carefully lower in cauliflower, reduce heat, and simmer 15-20 minutes, turning once at the 10-minute mark, until a knife easily inserts into center. Using 2 slotted spoons or a mesh strainer or spider, transfer cauliflower to a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, draining well. Roast, rotating pan halfway through, until brown all over, 30 to 40 minutes. Transfer cauliflower to a plate. Drizzle with a bit more olive oil; sprinkle with sea salt. Serve with whipped feta cheese and/or savory fig compote. (recipes below)

That broth, by the way? Do not throw it away. It makes a fantastic base for soup and stew, and works like a charm as the cooking liquid for grains. I made some killer wheatberries in it right after removing the cauliflower.

For the whipped feta: 4 oz. feta cheese 1/2 cup whipping cream 3 oz. yogurt or sour cream

Put feta in a medium mixing bowl. Use a fork to mash the feta until mostly smooth (some chunks are okay). In a separate bowl, whip cream until it just barely holds soft peaks. Fold whipped cream and yogurt/sour cream into feta until combined.

For the fig compote: 1 cup dried figs, stems removed, halved 2 tablespoons capers plus 1 tablespoon caper brine (okay to skip if using salt-cured capers) 1/2 cup brewed chai tea

Bring chai tea and 1/2 cup water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Add figs and capers; simmer 5 minutes. Then remove from heat and let steep 1 hour. Blend cooled mixture using immersion or regular blender until smooth.

Cauliflower and Hazelnut Salad with Sherry-Maple Dressing

The seasons have turned, haven’t they? The pretty little pint of greenhouse cherry tomatoes on my counter notwithstanding, DC’s got a case of cold wind and short days that puts me in the mood for stew and hot cider.

But first, before I wind down on salads for weekday lunch, I want to share a good one that makes the most of fall produce and that I think you’ll enjoy serving all winter long.

Tell me you’re shocked that it comes from Yotam Ottolenghi; I don’t believe you. The new king of vegetables has struck again, and this time, there isn’t a drop of tahini or yogurt in sight. (That might surprise you.) The dressing is a simple concoction of sherry vinegar and maple syrup, which slicks a big pile of roasted cauliflower, celery, parsley, pomegranates, and toasted hazelnuts. Doesn’t it just sound like fall?

You won’t want to miss this one. Especially since later this week, you just might feel the urge to make a certain pie.

Stay tuned, friends.

Cauliflower and Hazelnut Salad with PomegranatesAdapted from Jerusalem, by Yotam Ottolenghi

1 head cauliflower, broken into bite-sized florets 5 tablespoons olive oil 1 large celery stalk, sliced thinly on the bias 5 tablespoons hazelnuts 1/3 cup parsley leaves 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar 1 ½ teaspoons maple syrup ¼ teaspoon cinnamon ¼ teaspoon allspice Flaky salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread cauliflower on the baking sheet in a single layer, drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle lightly with flaky salt and pepper, and bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until cauliflower is golden brown in spots.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Spread hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with fresh parchment paper, and toast for about 15 minutes checking at the 10-minute mark) until uniformly golden brown. Let hazelnuts cool, then wrap hazelnuts in a towel and rub back and forth to loosen and remove their papery skins. Chop coarsely.

Meanwhile, make the dressing: Whisk remaining 2 tablespoos olive oil, sherry vinegar, maple syrup, cinnamon, and allspice in a medium bowl. Add ½ teaspoon flaky salt and a couple grinds of pepper and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, combine cauliflower, hazelnuts, pomegranate, celery, parsley, and dressing. Stir to incorporate, and serve.

Zuni Pepper Relish

This past Sunday, thousands of DC residents who work for government frantically checked email to see whether they'd be considered essential staff in the event of a government shutdown. Politicians continued to refine the art of ignorant obstructionism. This town became even more this town-ish.

...and the rest of us? Well, we went outside.

Government shutdown notwithstanding September 2013 should go down in the history books as a glorious time in this town. The weather has been incredible: clear skies, cool breeze, not too much rain. It's practically screaming at you to stop being an idiot, get up off your butt, and get stuff done. The pols may not listen, but I will.

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We spent the morning at the National Arboretum, an outdoor oasis owned by the Department of Agriculture (government! Ahh!) right in the middle of Northeast. It's got big, green pastures, hundreds of varietals of plants, trees, and herbs, and even a separate garden with twenty kinds of chile peppers. The first time we went was for a birthday party that actually happened elsewhere -- oops! -- but we were so taken with the expanses of green in the middle of the city, we decided to go back.

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We roamed the grounds for an hour, and then -- because what's a hike without a picnic?  -- we chose a speckled sunny spot in the middle of one of the gardens, put down a big blanket, and laid out a majorly awesome spread of food. We covered the blanket with fresh harissa, hummus, three kinds of bread, zaatar-roasted eggplant, cucs, sprouts, avocados, and plenty of feta cheese.

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Oh, and of course, some of this pepper spread.

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Put thoughts of saccharine, mushy relish out of your mind. Would the Zuni Cafe ever commit such a crime? Of course not. It's more of a salad, this pepper relish. It's meaty and rich, the perfect balance of tangy and sweet. At Zuni, they pair it with lamb, quail, and sea bass. I've yet to try any of these combinations, as I've been too busy spooning heaps of it onto sourdough toast.

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For our Sunday outing, I added about 1/2 a cup of the relish to a big bowl of simply cooked white kidney beans, and tossed the mixture with whole peppercorns and plenty of olive oil. The resulting bean-pepper salad was great on its own, but especially tasty piled on baguette with avocado and feta. One of these days, I'll get around to using it for its intended purpose. But between you and me, there's no rush.

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Zuni Pepper RelishAdapted from the Zuni Cafe Cookbook makes about 1 1/3 cups (I doubled it)

2 medium bell peppers (I like red or yellow) 1 1/2 tablespoons dried currants 2 teaspoons sherry or red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon warm water 3 tablespoons pine nuts 1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil 2 small garlic cloves, pounded into a paste 3 tablespoons good olive oil 1 to 2 tablespoons sweet sherry or marsala (or substitute 1 teaspoon sherry/wine vinegar and a pinch of sugar) salt

Combine the currants, vinegar, and warm water. Set aside to plump up while you roast the peppers.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Lay peppers on a shallow roasting pan and place on the top rack of the oven. Turn the peppers as their skins start to brown, and roast them for 25-30 minutes, until they are blistered all over and have nearly collapsed.

On a separate, smaller, roasting pan, roast the pine nuts just to warm through, about 4 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Transfer the roasted peppers to a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Once the peppers are cool enough to handle (about 15 minutes), slip the skins off of the peppers. It's okay if bits of skin remain on the peppers; try to avoid running them under water, since you'll lose much of their flavor that way. Instead, peel the skins over a bowl to catch the juices; if the skins stubbornly stick to your hands, run your hands under water.

Remove the stems, membrane, and seeds from the peppers. Dice the peppers and combine in a bowl with their juices, holding back any seeds that may have fallen in with the pepper liquid.

Combine the peppers, pine nuts, currants, basil, garlic, oil, and sherry/marsala. Taste, and season as desired. Serve at room temperature.

Serving suggestions:

• alongside lamb, quail, or chicken
• as bruschetta on toast
• stirred into a big bowl of cooked white beans for a great fall salad
• on pizza, topped with smoked mozzarella
• as a sauce for grilled white fish (tilapia, rockfish, snapper, etc)

Purslane Salad with Cantaloupe and Feta

Purslane is in season here, and if you've had the chance to buy it straight from a grower, you know that it's far more active of a plant than it might look on the shelf of Whole Foods. Purslane is no wimpy pile of leaves; it's a big, flowery, almost overgrown plant, with thick stems the size of garlic scapes and row after row of firm, round leaves. It announces itself by looks alone, and with its bright, tangy flavor, boy does it pack a punch.

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The stems of purslane, I recently discovered, are quite mucilaginous, not unlike okra. I tried to saute them in a bit of olive oil and I ended up with a stew the texture of gumbo. Next time, I'll leave the stems whole and either grill them, or saute them in a very hot pan with very hot oil, to keep the goo at bay.

But the leaves, that's where the fun is. Purslane is tart, like sorrel, which makes it a perfect pair for summer's sweetest melons.

Last week, when most of what we had in the house consisted of tomatoes in one form or another, I did manage to get my hands on both this purslane and a beautiful cantaloupe. I'd also bought a fresh block of feta, which added the much-needed salty component to this salad. The dressing was an entirely unfussy combination of sherry vinegar and good olive oil (substitute red wine vinegar if you don't have sherry), with a bit of flaky salt and pepper. And because I couldn't resist using some of the beautiful spearmint that I'd bought for the most amazing soup ever (stay tuned), that went in, too. Super simple, really refreshing.

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If you've found purslane and are looking for other things to do with it, here are a few recommendations:

• Use as a bed for steak salad or duck confit
• Add to potato salad; dress with a spicy, mustard-heavy dressing
• Toss with sesame noodles; dress with a thin, soy-based dressing heavy on the sesame oil
• Combine with sauteed tofu, julienned carrots, and some avocado in rice paper rolls; serve with peanut sauce

And if you want even more ideas, Clotilde over at Chocolate and Zucchini wrote a post with more suggestions that you can fit into a single season.

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Happy purslaning!

Purslane Salad with Cantaloupe and Feta serves 2 as a main course, 4 as an appetizer or component of a meal

1 big bunch of purslane 2 cups diced cantaloupe 5 oz. good, briny feta cheese, crumbled or cubed (your choice) 3 sprigs spearmint or peppermint, just leaves 2 tablespoons sherry or red wine vinegar 1/4 cup good olive oil flaky salt and pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon each, less if your salt is fine)

Separate the thin stems and their attached leaves from the thick central branch, and cut them into smallish sprigs.

Toss purslane, cantaloupe, feta, and mint in a large bowl.

Combine sherry, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and whisk until combined. Drizzle over salad and toss to combine. Spoon out onto small plates and serve immediately.