Most people have never had a sformato before so most people will not know what it is. A sformato is something that is like a mix of flan, soufflé, and quiche but without a crust. Most people say that it is Italian Flan. It is usually considered to be a side dish but can be a very light meal. It can be sweet or savory. It’s can be a lot of vegetables held together by cheese and eggs or sometimes a batter. I read somewhere (I forgot where) that sformato are usually never offered in Italian restaurants outside of Italy. In my research the majority of recipes that I came across for Sformato were mostly for spinach and cheese. I had a cauliflower to use so I made a sformato with cauliflower. I will be honest and admit that I did break the sformato getting it out of the pan. But then I put it together and it is fine. Most people don’t decorate their sformato like the way I did. Sformato get some herbs or a light sauce with them. I added some red sauce, pesto, cherry pepper slices, basil leaves and a few pine nuts. This sformato is considered to be a side dish so it makes 6-8 servings. Often sformato are cooked in individual serving pans…..(now I know why)…..I think the sformato will be less likely to break if you bake them in cup cake pans.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

1 medium cauliflower – cut into florets

water or vegetable stock (to boil cauliflower) (optional add parm cheese rinds if you have them)

2 cloves garlic (just for boiling the cauliflower)

2 Tablespoons vegetable base (for if you are using water…DON’T USE if using vegetable stock)

1 cup parmesan cheese – shredded

4 eggs – lightly beaten

15 oz ricotta cheese – drained

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground fresh nutmeg

1 lemon (just the zest)

non stick spray

semolina for dusting the pan (around two tablespoons)

Directions

Bring a sauce pot of either water with soup base or vegetable stock to a boil. Add garlic cloves and cauliflower. Add cheese rinds if you happen to have any around. Boil the cauliflower till very tender. Remove the garlic and cheese rinds. The cauliflower needs around 15 minutes) then drain (you might want to save liquid for making a soup). Blend up the cauliflower and put to the side. In a large mixing bowl mix together the parmesan, eggs, ricotta, pepper, nutmeg, and zest. Now add the cauliflower a little bit at a time till incorporated.

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray whatever pans that you are using with non stock spray.

Dust the pans with semolina.

Pour in the cauliflower mixture. Get the mixture level by banging the pan on the counter gently.

Place on the middle rack of the preheated 350 degree F oven till done. Timing will differ depending on what pan you are using. I used a bundt pan and mine took 35 minutes. If you do cup cake sized I am guessing that it will take much less time maybe as soon as 15 minutes.

The sformato should be eaten either room temperature or warmed up. I think that it is easiest to make the day before. Cut what ever portions that you need and reheat to serve.

You can dress up the sformato a bit if you like. I added my pesto, tomato sauce, fresh basil, cherry peppers and pine nuts. I think most people only dress with a few herbs and olive oil.

Enjoy!

I had mushrooms that were getting old so I wanted to do something interesting with them. One of or maybe the most talented vegetable chefs in the world is Yotam Ottolenghi so I looked up whatever mushroom recipes that I could find of his on the web. In case you didn’t know….Yotam Ottolenghi is multi award wining and James Beard award winning cook book author, chef, and restauranteur. Anyways I found a few of his mushroom recipes and they all sounded worth trying…..Today I picked the Marinated Mushrooms with Walnuts and Tahini Yogurt Recipe because it used the variety of mushrooms that was similar to what I had at home. After I marinated them I was so surprised at how special the mushrooms were. I only made a few minor changes that were due to what I had at home and they also went marvelously well. I added the Fried enoki mushrooms……I thought they added something to an already FORKING Amazing recipe. You don’t have to add the fried enoki if you don’t want to.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

8oz mixed mushrooms – cleaned, cut off bases

5 oz seafood mushrooms – cleaned cut off base

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon pure maple syrup

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice (for marinade)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

1 lemon (just the juice for tahini yogurt)

2 tablespoons tahini paste

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1/2 cup greek style yogurt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 cup peas

3 oz toasted walnuts lightly broken

2 Tablespoons fresh basil – torn or chiffonade

2 Tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves

optional – 5 oz enoki mushrooms

optional 1/2 cup potato starch

optional 4 oz butter for frying

Directions

In a large bowl mix together the oil, vinegar, maple syrup, juice of one lemon, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Mix in the mushrooms and let them marinate an hour.

In a small bowl combine the juice of one lemon, tahini, garlic, and yogurt. Mix well and set to the side.

After the mushrooms are marinated add the cumin, peas, and walnuts mix well. Top with fresh basil and marjoram. Then dollop with tahini yogurt.

If you are making the crispy enoki mushrooms all you do is a dollop of butter on medium high. Add the mushrooms dragged threw the potato starch. The mushrooms only need 2-3 minutes a side. You do have to clean the pan between the three batches because the butter burns. I usually fry with oil but butter always makes mushrooms crispier….

Enjoy!

A Special THANKS!!!!!! To Yotam Ottolenghi for his FORKING AMAZING Recipe so that I could make this dish.