ROASTED GARLIC BREAD

What is there to even say? Everyone loves garlic bread; my anti-garlic mom loves it, vampires probably love it too. However, I have found that sometimes that raw garlic flavor lingers, or it gets burnt, or it's covered in layers of cheese and doesn't really taste like anything other than fat and carbs. If I'm going to bother eating something patently bad for me (I'm looking at you, fried chicken!) it better be worth it. It better be flavorful, addictive, and wonderful. To start with, I roasted the garlic ahead of time. It becomes sweeter, richer, nuttier, and just better all around. It does lose some of that heat raw garlic packs, but I add a healthy pinch of chili flake to get that spicy kick, a little lemon zest for brightness, and rosemary for an earthy, herbaceous note. It hits all of the spots you want garlic bread to hit, and then some. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 heads garlic, peeled

1 large ciabatta loaf (or a baguette)

3 oz butter

1 teaspoon rosemary, chopped

1 large pinch red chili flake

1 teaspoon lemon zest

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

Heat your oven to 425, place the peeled garlic cloves in a sheet of aluminum foil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and pop in the oven for about 45 minutes, or whenever the cloves get soft and golden brown. Turn the oven down to 350. Pop the cloves in a food processor with some olive oil, or using a mortar and pestle, mash the garlic into a paste. Put the garlic paste, butter, rosemary, lemon zest, and chili in a small sauce pan, and put over a medium flame until the butter is melted and everything is fragrant. Slice the ciabatta in half, length wise, and pour the garlic mixture evening over each side. Use a spoon to spread everything around, so all of the knooks and crannies are covered. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and pop in the oven for 10 minutes until everything has soaked in and is bubbling a bit. Turn on the broiler to high for a few minutes, or until the loaf is golden brown and crisped at the edges. If you get distracted and over torch the whole thing (like I did...twice) just use a knife to scrape off the burnt bits, and tip the loaves to dump them out. To serve, slice the loaves in half lengthwise and then in 1 inch slices horizontally. Enjoy!

MIDAS SAUCE

Midas, meaning everything it touches turns to gold. This sauce, which I first discovered as an accompaniment to oysters on the half shell at BP Oysterette, is delicious on anything. Cherry tomatoes, mint, shallot, Jimenez sherry vinegar, and olive oil keep this sauce sweet, spicy, sour, and bright all at the same time. Up the vinegar and olive oil for a delicious vinaigrette; pour in a bowl of olive oil to serve with a baguette; heap on top of any seafood; marinate your chicken in it; dress your roasted veg in it to cut the richness; add more tomato and mint, plus a little mozzarella for a nice cheese course. The possibilities are endless and it's so simple to make. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons cherry tomatoes, finely chopped

1 tablespoon mint, finely chopped

1 tablespoon shallot, finely chopped

1 tablespoon Jimenez Sherry Vinegar (sometimes spelled Ximenez)

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together with a spoon. Feel free to double, triple, quadruple this recipe and adjust the ratio to suit your needs. Enjoy!

CAULIFLOWER, ROMANESCO, AND SUNCHOKE

Cauliflower has been low on my list of palatable vegetables for a long time. It's bland color, vague relation to broccoli, and dubious odor threw me off for a long, long time...until, that is, last week. It was raining hard and my mom and I took shelter in the cinnamon sugared warmth of Huckleberry Cafe. If you've been following my posts here, you know that Huckleberry is my go to everything restaurant, "everything" meaning breakfast and baked goods, but honestly, is there really anything else? We got there after eleven, which means they stopped serving my favorite poached eggs over market vegetables, so I opted for the fried egg sandwich while my mom had two bites of whatever she ordered then squirreled it away into to-go boxes for a snack later. What I do remember is her soup. That spicy cauliflower soup. I had a spoonful on a whim and then another and another and then my mom snatched it away like moms do and put it in its to-go container.

After drying off from the rain I immediately began investigating soup ideas and came up with this recipe. Spicy, flavorful, creamy (with no cream!), and slightly sweet and nutty from the sunchokes. Sunchokes are another recent favorite of mine. Otherwise known as Jerusalem Artichokes, these roots may look like ginger, but when roasted they are scrumptious and sweet, with a little burnt caramel thing going on at the edges. Raw, they're not unlike jicama. While shopping for sunchokes I bumped into romanesco, a cousin of cauliflower and broccoli. I've often stared at romenesco, taken aback by its alien "Alabama Hills" landscape, intrigued but intimidated. I was already buying sunchokes and cauliflower, so I thought, "Aw, screw it, whats another weird vegetable?" Luckily my laissez faire attitude paid off and the romanesco was delicious. All I can say is let it get a deep deep brown, the crunchy bits are the best. Enjoy!

Spicy Cauliflower and Roasted Sunchoke Soup

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil, plus two tablespoons
2 onion, peeled and diced

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons coriander seeds, crushed
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, crushed

1/2 teaspoon chile powder

1/4 teaspoon dried chile flakes
2 large heads of cauliflower, trimmed of green leaves and coarsely chopped (about 10 cups)

1 lb sunchokes, peeled and cubed

Salt
Fresh-ground black pepper

8 cups chicken broth
4 cups water (if needed)

Peel and cube the sunchoke, coat it in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in a 425 F oven for 30 minutes, or until soft and deeply browned. Heat a large pot over medium heat, add a 1/4 cup of olive oil, add the onion, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, chile powder, chile flakes, a pinch of salt and pepper, and lastly the garlic. When very soft but not browned, cauliflower, sunchokes and chicken broth. Raise the heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the cauliflower is very tender, about 30 minutes. Pour the soup into a blender or using an immersion circulator, blitz the soup until luxuriously smooth. Add water if it feels too thick. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Enjoy!

Roasted Romanesco and Sunchokes

2 heads Romanesco, florets cut off and halved

1 lb sunchokes, peeled and cubed

olive oil

pinch of chili flakes

salt and pepper

Coat the romanesco and sunchokes in olive oil and seasoning, and roast at 400 F for 30-45 minutes. The darker brown the romanesco gets the better, it becomes like candy! When everything is tender take out of the oven and serve hot or room temperature. You can dress it with a squeeze of lemon or some minced garlic if you like as well. Enjoy!

NUTS ABOUT FLOWERS: VALENTINE POT DE CREME

Some people dismiss flowers as a frivolous gift, a vapid, transient indulgence that withers and dies as quickly as an impulsive love...

I am not one of those people.

When I last got the flu, I stayed in bed and googled varieties of hybrid and English roses, fantasizing about which ones would fill my nonexistent future garden. My hypothetical wedding date could be determined by the blooming season of peonies (April for the Northern hemisphere, November for the Southern). I kill almost everything I try to plant, so I have a soft spot for the hearty architecture of succulents. I love flowers. So whenever Valentine's Day comes rolling around, my dad, or brother, or for the past 3 years, my boyfriend notices that yearning look I have every time I walk past the florists. It's on a Liz Lemon "I want to go to there" level. To stem my craving, I've gone ahead and put flowers in my Valentine's Day desserts: pistachio with rosewater (and a dusting of cardamom), and almond with lavender, all topped with honey whipped cream. The crunch of the nuts, the subtle tint or lavender or rose, and the luscious texture of the pot de creme all make for an unexpected, and delicious dessert. Enjoy, and Happy Valentine's day!

Pistachio Rosewater Pot de Creme

For 4 servings

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup raw pistachios (the greener the better), pulverized somewhere between finely chopped and dust.

1 1/2 teaspoon rosewater

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar

For the Whipped cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Arrange 4 custard cups or espresso cups in deep pan (at least 2 inches). Combine the whipping cream and pistachios in a medium saucepan. Bring almost to simmer over medium heat, whisking until the cream is slightly colored by the pistachios. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in large bowl and gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Whisk in the rosewater and vanilla extract.

Divide the custard equally among cups. Pour enough hot water into the pan so it comes halfway up sides of cups. Bake custards until just set around edges but still jiggly in center, about 20-25 minutes. If you're not sure, take a cup out and lightly drop it. If it jiggles in the center, but remains firm around the edges and doesn't slosh about, you're good. Remove the cups from the water and press a little plastic wrap into the custard, to prevent the a skin from forming. Refrigerate to set up to a day ahead. To make the cream, whip all of the ingredients together slowly, until the cream forms soft, voluptuous peaks. Spoon whipped cream atop custards, sprinkle with a little cardamom, and serve.

For 4 servings

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup raw almonds, lightly toasted then pulverized somewhere between finely chopped and dust.

1 teaspoon dried lavender

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar

For the Whipped cream

1 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Arrange 4 custard cups or espresso cups in deep pan (at least 2 inches). Combine the whipping cream, lavender, and almonds in a medium saucepan. Bring almost to simmer over medium heat, whisking until the cream is slightly colored by the almonds. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in large bowl and gradually whisk in hot cream mixture. Whisk in vanilla extract.

Divide the custard equally among cups. Pour enough hot water into the pan so it comes halfway up sides of cups. Bake custards until just set around edges but still jiggly in center, about 20-25 minutes. If you're not sure, take a cup out and lightly drop it. If it jiggles in the center, but remains firm around the edges and doesn't slosh about, you're good. Remove the cups from the water and press a little plastic wrap into the custard, to prevent the a skin from forming. Refrigerate to set up to a day ahead. To make the cream, whip all of the ingredients together slowly, until the cream forms soft, voluptuous peaks. Spoon whipped cream atop custards and serve.

A tribute to McQueen

The incomparable Alexander McQueen died yesterday, and in honor of his passing, my sister and I baked a dolly cake homage to him, replicating our favorite creation of his. We gave her multi-colored petticoats, and added the exaggerated pleats by baking two cakes and carving them together. We'll miss his artistry and his profound effect on the fashion world. Rest in peace, Mcqueen.