This recipe is a variation of another recipe that I did from chef Pollyanna Coupland. Her recipe was called Roast CauliflowerRecipe with Smoked Cheese Sauce. She had this brilliant way of seasoning the cauliflower with lemon, oil, little dijon, and a little thyme. This goes magically well with the smoked cheese sauce and some sort of pickled vegetable.

This time I didn’t have leeks so I thought my pickled onions would work here. I also make my own cheese sauces because I put a lot of cheese in them and my sauces never break or taste floury. My trick is to always make cheese sauces with corn starch. My other trick is to add as little fat as reasonably possible because I want most of the fat in my sauce to come from cheese. I also use fat free milk. This recipe can take two days to prepare because I like to make anything pickled at least one day before. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small side order or a large serving. I’m going to guesstimate this up to 6 servings.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 red onion – sliced thin (preferably on a mandolin)

1 cup white vinegar

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds

2 sprigs thyme

1 cauliflower – break down into florets

1 1/2 lbs carrots – you can cut them however you like it really doesn’t matter but the cook time will differ.

4 pinches of dried thyme

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 large juicy lemon – you need the juice and zest

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

sea salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil – About the amount of oil I sprayed on the nuts

1/4 cup pepitas

1/4 cup sliced almonds

2 cups fat free milk

2 Tablespoons sweet butter

1/4 cup corn starch

9 oz mature cheddar cheese – shredded

4 1/2 oz munster cheese – shredded

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

hot sauce to taste – (I used Frank’s Red Hot Sauce didn’t measure but it might have been 2 Tablespoons)

liquid smoke to taste – (didn’t use much somewhere between 1/4 teaspoon – 1/2 a teaspoon so do a 1/4 first and then decide if you need more)

1/4 cup chives or scallions – chopped for finishing

Directions

Make the pickled onions. Bring to boil the vinegar, salt, bay leaf, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and thyme sprigs. Reduce to simmer for ten minutes. Take off heat. Pour the hot liquid over the red onions. Leave out till it is room temperature and then refrigerate.

Preheat you oven to 375 F degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the dried thyme, dijon mustard, lemon juice and lemon zest, and oil and mix well. Reserve around 1/2 the liquid. Mix the carrots in around 1/2 of the liquid and place them on a sheet tray. Cover the tray of carrots and put them on the lower rack. Now mix the cauliflower florets in the same large bowl adding the reserved liquid. Mix them around and place them in a single layer on a sheet tray (do not cover this one) . Timing will differ mostly due to cut on vegetable. Uncover the carrots at 30 minutes if you want to brown them a little. Leave the carrots in the oven till they are cooked all the way threw by testing with a fork. My cauliflower took 35 minutes. My carrots took a little longer. I lightly salted mine with my home made smoked pecan sea salt and a little fresh ground black pepper.

When your carrots come out you can toast the nuts. Put the almonds and pepitas on a sheet tray and spray them with oil. I put mine on the lower rack and mine took around ten minutes to get a nice light brown color.

Make the cheese sauce. Put a pot on medium high heat and melt the butter. Mix together with a whisk the milk, and corn starch. Add that to the butter. Cook until thickened and make sure that this bubbles so you know that it is cooked. Mix in the dijon, nutmeg, white pepper, smoked paprika and turn down the heat to medium low. Stir in the cheese. Keep stirring so the sauce stays smooth. Add hot sauce and liquid smoke to taste.

Arrange and serve.

Cauliflower, carrots, go on the plate. Top with cheese sauce, pickled onions, toasted nuts and some chives or scallions.

Enjoy!!!!

A Special THANKS to chef Pollyanna Copeland for her Amazing recipe so I could do what I got here!

Ground Turkey was on sale at Fry’s so between that, this spiffy bottle of Moroccan Cured Olives (I found at Walmart Grocery) and other things I had around the kitchen I came up with Moroccan Style Meatballs today! They are easy to make but I made them with a lot of ingredients that you might not have like bulgar. For me this made 10 smaller servings or 45 smaller meatballs. I’ll say 8 servings because most people do want bigger portions than me. The harissa recipe may be or may not be enough sauce for all your meatballs and you might want to make extra. Usually you don’t need to use much because that sauce is so flavorful.

Ingredients for around 8 servings.

2 large red peppers – broiled till black on all sides or blackened on a grill, stem, skin & seeds removed – chopped

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1-3 hot red peppers -chopped – to taste (I used two Fresnos that are hotter than red jalapeños)

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 small-medium lemon or 1/2 a large – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon sea salt (I used homemade smoked sea salt)

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 lb ground turkey (I used 85% lean)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 red bell pepper – remove core, stem, and seeds – fine chop

1 small red onion – remove skin and fine chop

1 inch grated ginger

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 jalapeño – remove stem and core – fine chop

15 Moroccan cured olives (I found them at Walmart Grocery) remove pits and fine chop

1/2 cup bulgur

1 cup water

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1 Tablespoon vegetable soup base (this is instead of salt and is healthier with less sodium and also give more flavor…I used Better Than Bouillon Brand)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro chopped – (leaves and fine stems) + plus a little extra for finishing

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1/2 cup whole wheat panko

non-stick spray

Directions

Make the Harissa Vinaigrette. Blend together the first 12 ingredients. (bell peppers, cumin, caraway, oil, garlic, hot pepper(s), tomato paste, lemon juice, vinegar, sea salt, black pepper, and Aleppo pepper). Taste and adjust if necessary.

You need to cook the bulgur. You can microwave the bulgur with the water in a microwavable container. In my microwave it takes 9 minutes. Or you can do it on the stove top if you prefer.

Put a large fry pan on medium high heat and add the oil. When hot add the bell peppers, onions, jalapeño, hot red pepper, ginger, garlic, and tomato paste. Stir it around a bit. Cook til the onions look transparent and the peppers are soft and then take off heat.

When your bulgur and the vegetables that you just cooked cool down to room temperature you can continue with the rest.

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a couple sheet trays with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine the bulgur, vegetables that you have just cooked (bell peppers, jalapeño, onions, hot red pepper, ginger, garlic, tomato paste) also add the remaining ingredients – ground turkey, olives, lemon zest, turmeric, cumin, soup base, 1/2 cup cilantro, eggs, and panko. Mix well and let this sit around ten minutes.

Before you make the meatballs it always is a good idea to do one tester ball because there are a lot of vegetables here that might differ in size and your batch of meatballs might come out more moist or more dry than mine and you might need to adjust slightly. (more moist add a few tablespoons panko…too dry add a tablespoon or two water or stock.

When you’er ready use a small scooper and space out your meatballs a little so they can get heated up all around each ball. If you used a small scooper they will take 15-20 minutes in the oven. If your scooper was bigger than mine they will take slightly longer.

Serve the Moroccan Style Meatballs with the Harissa vinaigrette. Top with a little fresh cilantro. You might want to add some high quality feta cheese. Couscous, freekah, bulgur, rice, lentils, or chickpeas would go well with this dish.

Enjoy!

This recipe was an inspiration from Food & Wine Magazine. I came across Roasted Broccoli Steaks with Tomato Butter and Tapenade by chef Greg Vernick. I looked at the photo, read the recipe. While I was cooking I thought another onion would benefit the recipe. I cut the amount of stock to add but my sauce still came out too loose so I added a Tablespoon of tomato paste to make it right. I didn’t like the idea of adding tapenade so I added olives instead. And lastly instead of toasted crumbs I thought crushed Taralli crackers would be tastier. ANYWAYS****It came out FORKING DELICIOUS. Chef Greg Vernick’s recipe in Food & Wine Magazine gave me the inspiration to come up with what I got here. This recipe makes around 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste (I used my home made lightly pecan smoked sea salt)

fresh ground black pepper – to taste

3 medium-small broccoli heads – cut in thirds threw the head like steaks

10 oz plum tomatoes – quarter

2 small red onions – cut in wedges

4 oz vegetable stock

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – cut in small cubes

Optional – 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (if sauce is too loose)

4-6 olives – remove pits, slice or cut off of the pits ( I used cured black olives)

5 taralli crackers crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F with a grill pan on the middle rack. Let this heat up at least 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl add the broccoli, tomatoes, and onions. Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (around 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Mix and arrange in a single layer on the grill pan. Turn everything over after 10 minutes and mostly everything will be done in another 10 or 15 minutes.

The tomatoes get blended with 1/2 of the onions (this should be done with a stick blender or you have to wait for this to cool with a regular blender) Slowly blend in the cubes of butter. If this is too loose add the tomato paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I used around 1/2 teaspoon H.M. smoked sea salt and around 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.)

Arrange the plates

Put tomato butter on bottom of plate. Then add broccoli and onions, add olives and crushed taralli. I also added some cherry peppers stuffed with cheese.

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine and Chef Greg Vernick for an amazing recipe to inspire what I’ve done here.

About once a year I make my pastrami, rye bread or rolls, some sort of mustard and a slaw. This year I used sake instead of beer in my mustard so I did a little Asian Twist on slaw and it came out really great! Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a tiny side cup or a true side order. This stuff really is tasty. You might eat more slaw than you normally do. I will guesstimate 6 large servings (large to me for slaw) but you might really get 8.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1/2 small cabbage – shredded thin on mandolin

1 carrot – shredded

1/2 onion sliced thin on mandolin

2 small avocados – mashed

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 Tablespoons bonito flakes – split onto 2T& 2T (sold at Asian Markets) (2T for salad and 2T for finishing)

1 teaspoon dry dill

1/2 teaspoon granulated onion

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried chives

1/2 teaspoon dried parley

1 Tablespoon wasabi powder (or to taste..)

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon shiso fumi furikake (sold at Asian Markets) (for finishing)

1/4 cup scallions – either sliced thin or on a diagonal (for finishing)

Directions

In a large bowl mix up the dressing. Combine the avocado, yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, granulated onion, garlic, chives, parsley, wasabi, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and vinegar. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, carrot, and onion. Mix well.

Serve

Finish with bonito flakes, furikake, and scallions

ENJOY!!!!

I sure learned a lot from Chef Claudette Zepeda’s recipe for Strawberry (and Radish…..online the radish is omitted from the name of recipe ) aguachile recipe. I had no idea that you can lightly cook strawberries and come up with such an amazing strawberry sauce that is truly amazing. I just had to do parts of the recipe different. I also didn’t want to throw out vegetable and fruit solids that tasted so good and added healthy fiber and nutrition to the dish. I cut out some of the straining. I also cut out picking out seeds from tiny chitepin peppers (who does that?), and icing up and drying chopped scallions before serving (it really is a nice touch but………). Also picking off cilantro leaves one by one. The big one that I couldn’t agree with was not using one third of a roasted pepper because it was just too much roasted red pepper…….(how could that that be?….the roasted pepper is so darn delicious. By not doing all those things I guess what I made is no longer aguachile and really is a cold soup. >>>>>>>>Also I think I simplified the cooking of the strawberries. It is also very hard to keep a simmering bowl of water under a bowl with 2 pounds of strawberries for an HOUR…..I made that easier by cooking them in a low oven. This recipe was based from chef Claudette Zepeda’s Food & Wine Magazine Recipe. It came out delicious anyway. You need to know that this is a very time consuming recipe…I cut out some steps and it still is very time consuming. You are welcome to strain everything all you want if you care to. If you strain everything you will have a true aguachile but you also will end up with much less.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1 red bell pepper – roasted – stem, skin, seeds, removed and chopped

2 1/2 pounds strawberries – stems removed, quartered divided into 2 pounds and 1/2 pound that is reserved for topping the aguachile

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 medium scallions – root cut off – white and light green chopped – separate the dark green part and trim thin on a diagonal

1/4 cup fresh cilantro – leaves and fine stems – chopped and reserve 6 of the thicker stems, chop the stems but keep them separate

2oz cucumber flesh – diced

2 limes – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

5 dried chiltepin (or easier to find pequin) dried peppers – crushed

4 regular radishes sliced thin or use any radish you want. You just need a little to garnish each bowl.

radish micro greens for garnish

optional sea salt flakes for finishing

Directions

Set your oven to 180 degrees F.

In a large baking dish or pan add 2 pounds (remember you should have reserved 1/2 pound) strawberries. Sprinkle the strawberries with salt and sugar. Cover the pan and place on the middle rack of your preheated oven. This stays in the oven for an hour.

Take a break…or do the next step and put it off to the side and into the refrigerator.

Combine the cucumber, lime juice, lemon juice, chiltepin peppers, bell pepper, white and light green scallions, reserved cilantro stems. Blend till smooth.

By now your strawberries should be out of the oven. You need to place them in a colander over a bowl to catch the juices that leak out. This will take another HOUR.

All the strawberry juice gets added to the cucumber/strawberry juice mixture. Blend up the strawberries till smooth and add that also to the cucumber mixture till smooth.

This needs to chill in the refrigerator a few hours before serving.

Assemble – divide the aguachile into 4 servings. Top each bowl with the remaining strawberries, radish slices, cilantro, scallions, radish sprouts. Add flaked salt if you like.

A Special THANKS!!! to chef Claudette Zepeda and Food & Wine Magazine for inspiring me to do my twist on their amazing recipe.

I recently did one of Kwame Onwuachi’s recipes for jerk chicken and I thought that was an exceptionally good recipe. So it made sense to do his braised cabbage and carrot recipe to go with the jerk chicken. Incase you don’t know Kwame Onwuachi is a James Beard Award Wining Chef and also was a competitor on Bravo’s Top Chef TV Show. This recipe is very easy. Also the cabbage comes out all melted and very soft. You might want to serve something like rice with it. It’s not very seasoned but is tasty. It will help to cool you off after the fireworks from the jerk chicken. I cut his recipe in half so depending on your portion size it will make 4-6 servings. The cabbage does shrink a lot as it cooks.

Ingredients for around 5 servings

1/2 head medium cabbage – core removed julienne cut

2 carrots – shredded

1 1/2 Tablespoons garlic – ground to paste

1 1/2 Tablespoons ginger – ground to paste

1 onion – diced

6 oz coconut milk

1 tablespoon sea salt

6 Tablespoons butter – cut in slices

1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice (this gets added at the end for finishing)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a small bowl mix together the coconut milk, ginger, garlic, salt.

Get a large pan and the cabbage, onion, carrots, and butter slices. Give it a little mix. Add the small bowl of liquid. Try to pour it all over.

Cover the pan.

Put on middle rack of the oven for one hour and forty minutes.

A Special THANKS!!!! to Kwame Onwuachi for sharing this family style recipe.