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Fried Cauliflower

We already established I like fried foods, right?

But believe me, for the amount of fried foods I have posted on this blog, I do not eat that many of them… maybe like once a week, maybe. I think it’s just that we’re around the holidays here and these are “more or less” permissible things around the holidays… eat fried foods now, diet and exercise in the new year… But I find that if you exercise and eat healthy all the time, as part of your daily routine, you can indulge every once in a while in a fried morsel of crispy goodness.

Enough…

Here are my interpretation of Fried Cauliflower. I learned to eat this, believe it or not, at the salad bar at Ponderosa Steakhouse. The salad bars here in PR offer, in addition to the standard salad fare, corn sorullitos, macaroni and cheese, cooked corn, steamed carrots, and sometimes, fried cauliflower. They’re sooooo tasty. But the secret of their tastiness is in the batter. Let me show you how…

FRIED CAULIFLOWER

1 head of cauliflower, cut in medium sized florets
2 cups whole wheat or spelt flour

2 tbs cornstarch
3 tbs sofrito
1 tbs salt or garlic salt

1 tbs Herbamare herbed salt
a few grinds of cracked black pepper
water – about 2 cups
a few sprinkles of paprika – optional
Canola oil – for frying

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cornstarch and the water. Mix the water slowly, maybe in two batches. The idea is for the batter to be the same consistency as pancake batter.
Add to the batter, the sofrito, salt, herbed salt and pepper. Add paprika, if using.
Heat about 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Dunk the pieces of cauliflower in the batter. Clean the piece of any running batter and place carefully in the hot oil.
Fry the little morsels until golden brown on all sides. It should take a few minutes – this way the cauliflower will cook/soften a bit and the batter will be golden brown and crunchy.

Eat on their own or dunk in Mayo Ketchup.

Hope you like them!!!

Tags: cauliflower, sofrito, whole wheat

Comments 4 Comments
Categories appetizers, side dishes, snacks

Falafels

20 Dec

I love any type of street food, but I’ve had to learn to make my own sometimes because the original versions are not suitable for vegetarians.

Thankfully, falafels are great right from the start. I had my first official falafels when I traveled to Israel. They eat them inside a pita bread as a sandwich. You then add tahini sauce, a tomato/cucumber salad and any extra fixings you desire. We only ate falafels for lunch for a whole week…

This is my friend’s Rosani recipe, but we collaborated. We used chickpea or garbanzo flour to avoid using canned chickpeas or having to soak and cook the chickpeas first. As I’ve said, we’re busy vegetarian girls… we love our shortcuts. And did I mention we also love our fried foods?

FALAFELS

1 1/2 cups chickpea or garbanzo flour

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 teaspoon of cumin

1 tablespoon of water – if needed

Canola oil for frying

Place the chickpea flour, onion, parsley and garlic cloves in the bowl of a food processor. Process a bit until blended, but not pureed.
Add the baking powder, salt, pepper, cumin. Pulse a bit.
If the mixture is too dry, add water and process until mixture becomes a small ball . If not dry, skip right over to next step.
Let the mixture rest for 30 minutes.
Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts. Let them dry up a bit while the oil reaches temperature.
In a large skillet, heat up canola oil at medium heat and fry falafels until golden brown. It’s important not to have the oil too hot, because the falafel will brown, but not cook inside. We want the whole falafel to the thoroughly cooked.

Enjoy the falafels inside a pita bread and tahini sauce. Or enjoy them as appetizers with a tamarind sauce or mango chutney. As soon as I find tamarinds or tamarind puree, I’ll show you how to do it.

Tags: chickpea, garbanzos

Comments 5 Comments
Categories appetizers, side dishes

Artichoke and Spinach Casserole

16 Dec

I’ve been cooking a lot at the Yoga Center I attend. Last week, I helped my friend Rosani fix dinner for about 25 people. Sometimes when we do these menus, we buy what’s on sale and use our creativity to develop dishes we have not tried before… this Artichoke and Spinach Casserole is one of them. Luckily, most of the time, the inventions turn out fine… we think this one did… I’ll let you be the judge.

Please bear with me and my adjustments on the quantities… I did a huge tray as the photo shows.

ARTICHOKE AND SPINACH CASSEROLE

2 jars of marinated artichoke hearts, rinsed (because Rosani asked me to) and quartered

1 10oz. pack of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out a bit

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 jar of chopped tomatoes or 1/2 carton of POMI chopped tomatoes

2 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion for a few minutes and later on add the garlic.
Add the spinach to the onions and garlic. Saute together to give some flavor to the spinach. Salt and pepper to taste.
In a casserole dish, place the rinsed and quartered artichoke hearts, mix together the spinach mixture.
Add in the chopped tomatoes.
Mix in one cup of the Parmesan cheese.
Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of casserole.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted and a nice crust has developed on top.

It looks like this before putting it in the oven.

Tags: artichokes, spinach, tomato

Comments 8 Comments
Categories main courses, side dishes

Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes

14 Dec

This is one of my go-to recipes when I am hungry NOW!!! It’s super easy to make. I learned this recipe from an old Martha Stewart show where she cooked this with Oprah. That probably was about 10 years ago.

I like to make this pasta with spinach fettuccine, but you can use your favorite pasta. Noodles are nice because it’s a chunky sauce olive-oil based sauce and it coats them well, but any kind will do. This works as a main dish or as an accompaniment to others. I served this together with my Eggplant Parmesan dish.

PASTA WITH MARINATED TOMATOES

1/2 pound of spinach fettuccine, or any other pasta you prefer
3 ripe medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil in a bowl. Let marinate while you make the pasta. Stir a few times so the flavors meld and the fresh tomatoes break up a bit.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt liberally. Cook pasta according to package directions, al dente.
Drain the pasta and return to the pot.
Mix in the marinated tomatoes mixture in the hot pot. The warmth of the pasta and the pot will warm-up the sauce.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

A few additional notes:

I never peel the tomatoes, but you can if you prefer it. I just wash them really well using Fit.
I’ve done this with regular tomatoes, vine-ripened tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes. The results will always be delicious. And if tomatoes are not in season, use jarred chopped tomatoes (Viter is a great brand because they have no additives or preservatives). If using whole canned or jarred tomatoes, just don’t add the juice they come in… Just take the tomatoes and chop them finely.
Make sure the sun-dried tomatoes do not contain sulfites… Sulfites are harmful to your health and a proved carcinogen.

This sauce is really versatile… later on, I’ll show you additional recipes in which yo can use the same marinated tomatoes in other applications.

Tags: garlic, olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato

Comments 2 Comments
Categories main courses, side dishes

Cranberry Preserves

12 Dec

This is the most delicious and easiest recipe for cranberry jelly or preserves you’ll ever encounter. My uncle loves cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving and I wanted to see if I could get him to eat the real thing, not the jelly that comes from a can. It just looks too unappetizing…

I can’t remember well where I saw this recipe, but I have tried a Cranberry Chutney from Martha Stewart which called for orange juice and orange rind, and while it was delicious, the orange rind made it quite bitter for my taste. This recipe is sooooooo easy that you’ll be able to recite it to your friends when the rave about how delicious this is.

I also learned yesterday this might also be called Cranberry Butter… however you prefer to name it, please make it and enjoy.

CRANBERRY PRESERVES

1 bag of fresh cranberries

1 cup apple juice

1 cup brown sugar

Wash the cranberries. Go thru them and throw away all the ones that have gone soft.
Place all ingredients in a large heavy saucepan.
Bring mixture to a boil. I cover it so it comes to a boil faster, but watch it, as it can boil over. After it starts boiling, uncover, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
The cranberries will begin to pop on their own. Stir it every few minutes, and as you stir, pop the cranberries that might be still whole. It’s the pectin inside the cranberries that helps the sauce thicken.
After the cranberries are cooked. Remove from heat and let cool. Be careful, the mixture is VERY HOT and will burn you.
Transfer to smaller jars or plastic bowls.

You can have this cranberry preserves with crackers as a jam, in a sandwich, as accompaniment to mashed sweet potatoes and even as a topping for ice cream. It’s so versatile and soooooo easy.

Hope you make it this Holiday season.