Creamed Spinach with Cauliflower Puree カリフラワーピュレのクリームほうれん草

I make cauliflower puree occasionally. I modified how I make cauliflower puree mostly for my convenience. I steam the cauliflower florets for 10-15 minutes until very soft. Then I place the cauliflower in the container used for the emersion blender, add warm (in the microwave oven) milk (1/2-2/3) cup and puree first on medium speed and then on high speed until very smooth. This takes a few minutes on high speed. Then add several pats of unsalted butter and salt to taste and puree to incorporate the butter . The resulting puree can be used as is or many other ways which I have posted.  We found it is particularly good as an accompaniment to white fish. This time, we bought “baby arugula and spinach salad mix” and found out the vast majority was spinach. So instead of salad, we decide to make this into“creamed spinach using the cauliflower puree. It was quite good. This blog entry is for us to remember how we made this.

To make creamed spinach: Cook a bag of spinach in a wok without adding water with a tight fitting lid on low flame. Occasionally turn the spinach over until all wilted and cooked. Squeeze out excess moisture (I use a potato ricer to do this). Chop the spinach finely. Mix the spinach into the cauliflower puree. We also added cheeses (Gruyere and parmesan). Place the creamed spinach in a ramekin and bake in the toaster oven 350F for 20-30 minutes.

We had this as a side for “Tsukune with lotus root” 蓮根つくね, pickled daikon and cucumber 大根, キュウリの漬物.

This is a very acceptable substitution for bechamel based creamed spinach. It had a very rich flavor and creaminess.

Seared Scallops on Cauliflower Puree 焦がし帆立とカリフラワーピュレー

We like cauliflower puree. Now I changed how I make it and the process is easier but the results are the same (I added the directions below).  We used the puree for quite a few dishes. Recently, we revisited one of our favorite fish dishes; Chilean sea bass (Patagonian tooth fish). We really like this fish over a bed of Cauliflower puree. Recently we tried a similar combination using seared diver scallops which we got from Great-Alaska-Seafood. I made an impromptu pan sauce which went well.

For seared scallops
Ingredients (for two small servings)
4 diver scallops, thawed if frozen, patted dry and seasoned with salt and pepper
1tsp peanut or other vegetable oil
Pan sauce:
2tbs Japanese sake for deglazing
1tbs lemon juice
1 tsp x4 concentrated Japanese noodle sauce
1 tbs of cold butter

Directions:
Add the vegetable oil with high smoking point to a stainless steel or iron frying pan on medium high flame. Heat the pan until the oil just starts smoking
Add the scallops and brown one side for 1-2 minutes and flip-over . Brown the other side for another 1 minute or until the scallops are just cooked in the center (expect some smoke).
After removing the scallops, add the sake and deglaze the pan. Reduce the liquid to half. Add the noodle sauce and the lemon juice. Reduce briefly and finish with pats of butter.
Place the scallops on the bed of warm cauliflower puree and pour the pan sauce over the scallops.

For cauliflower puree
Ingredients (makes at least 4 to 6 servings):
One head of Cauliflower, washed and florets separated
1 to 3/4 cup 4% milk, warm (I microwave but be careful of over boiling)
Several thin pats (2-3 tbs) of cold butter
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Directions:
Steam the florets for 7-10 minutes or until very soft.
Meanwhile warm the milk (I microwave but be careful of over-boiling)
In a cylindrical container for a immersion blender, add the cauliflower and half of  the warm milk.
Press down the immersion blender at a medium speed, up and down several time.
Depending on the consistency add more milk and blend in high-speed until silky smooth (may take some time to attain the smooth puree).
Add the butter and salt and further blend
Taste and adjust the salt

We really like this combination. The pan sauce also worked well. If this is a main dish, I would use 4 scallops per serving and add side vegetables.

Chilean Sea bass チリアン・シーバス

 We eat lots of fish. When we lived in California many years ago, we really liked  “Chilean sea bass” which is buttery moist yet flakey and very difficult to overcook and make dry. Then we learned the real name of this fish is ‘Patagonian toothfish” and, at that time, that the fish was frequently illegally poached. So we stopped buying it and forgot about it for a long time. Then, my wife found Chilean sea bass available at Vital Choice which came from MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) -certified sustainable fishery. We remembered how wonderful it was and ordered it, although  it was a bit on the expensive side.

Digression alert: “Chilean sea bass” is said to be the most popular in US, and EU as well as in Japan. (Although when I was in Japan I did not know about this fish.) In Japan, this imported fish is reportedly called “mero” メロ or “ginmutsu” ギンムツ.

The fish was as wonderful as we remembered. Actually the first time I cooked this fish, I did not take a picture. So, I made the same dish a second time in an identical fashion. This was simply sautéed in butter with a caper lemon butter sauce. The sides were  cauliflower purée and haricot vert (pre-blanched) and Campari tomato (skinned) sautéed in butter. Everything went well together but the combination of cauliflower puree and Chilean sea bass was sublime.

Ingredients (2 servings):
2 4oz frozen Chilean sea bass, thawed, seasoned with salt and pepper

For Caper lemon butter sauce
2 tsp pickled capers (from a jar)
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 tsp lemon juice (half lemon)

Directions:
Cook the filets in melted butter on medium flame, turn once after 5 minutes and cook another 5 minutes (I put on the lid since one of the filets was rather thick)
Once cooked, set aside on a plate
In the same pan add the butter. capers and lemon juice and quickly warm them up then pour over the filets

We also served small slices of mini-baguette I baked to soak up the sauce. The fish is buttery, flakey but moist. Somehow it went so well with the cauliflower puree. The green beans can be “a hit” (nicely crunchy after few minutes of steaming) or “a miss” (fibrous skin no matter how you cook) but this one was definitely “a hit”.

Scalloped potato with cauliflower puree

My wife came up with this dish one day. A few days before I had made my usual Cauliflower puree. Beside eating it as an “adult baby” food, we have made Mac-and-cheese using the puree instead of Béchamel sauce. I am not sure how she came up with this dish but, it is essentially scalloped potatoes made with the Cauliflower puree, cheese, onion and jalapeño pepper. This was topped with several kinds of cheese and baked.

After the servings were cut out, you could see multiple layers of thinly sliced potato with cheesy sauce. The green bits are chopped Jalapeño pepper. She ended up making a quite large amount but we managed to enjoy it all as a side for lunches and dinner and also as appetizers. Probaly not as rich as if we made this with full-fledged Béchamel sauce but it was quite good.

I ask my wife to provide the recipe. I help her by slicing potatoes, onions, and chopping up Jalapeño pepper.

Ingredients:
Two russet potatoes thinly sliced
2 onions thinly sliced
2 jalapeño pepper
1 cup of cheddar cheese grated
1 cup monterey Jack cheese grated
1/2 cup parmesian cheese grated
Several slices of smoked gouda to top.
Enough cauliflower puree to cover several layers


Directions:
Cover the bottom of an oven casserole dish with the puree. Distribute a layer of potatoes (#1) then the sliced onions, jalapeño pepper and the various cheeses (# 1&2) then the cauliflower pure (#3) Keep layering until all the ingredients have been distributed. End by putting on slices of smoked gouda (#4). Cook in a 400 degree oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and continue cooking for 30 minutes until the potatoes are tender and a knife slides in easily. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

This is a very comforting dish with thin layers of potatoes between custard like layers of warm cheese. The jalapeño peppers and onion give a nice flash of flavor. You would never guess that cauliflower was one of the main ingredients. It heated up nicely in the microwave. This would the a staple for any menu. 

One spoonful appetizers and more

These are appetizers I served one evening. Not particularly new but we had "uni" sea urchin from Maruhide 丸秀 a day before, so my one spoonful appetizers a.k.a baby food for adults got a topping of ikura with chopped perilla (for cauliflower purée) and uni with broccoli florets (for broccoli purée).

I also added three small appetizers  which I served in small lidded bowls we got from Nishiki market in Kyoto 京都錦市場. We had Dassai 45 獺祭４５with this.

This is salmon "Nanban" 鮭の南蛮漬け (fried salmon marinated in sweet vinegar with carrot and celery).

This is salmon Russian marinade 鮭のロシア漬け topped with vinegar cucumber slices.

For veggies, I served blanched sugar snap soaked in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし and skinned Campari tomato.

Uni from Maruhide (both regular and in salt water) is really good. My one spoonful appetizer definitely got "kicked up a notch" with the addition of uni.

One spoonful appetizers a.k.a baby food for adults 一口スプーンの前菜第二弾

This is another iteration of one spoonful appetizers. I am making more purées or what I refer to as “baby food for adults” to use as one gulp spoonfuls of food. In any case, the below are three such appetizers. From left to right: Kabocha potage カボチャのポタージュ, seasoned soft boiled egg 味卵 with ikura salmon roe イクラ and cauliflower puree with ikura.

I also strewed the plate with simmered kabocha カボチャの煮物 (left lower corner), braised cauliflower モンパルナスのカリフラワーand blanched sugar snap in salt broth スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

The below was what I served for another evening. This time I made broccoli puree which I garnished with flowerets of blanched broccoli. The other two are the same cauliflower puree and Kabocha potage shown in the pictures above.

I made broccoli puree from the stem of broccoli, onion, and parsnip. It has very good and interesting flavors. When I ask my wife to taste it, she thought it had asparagus.

I made the broccoli puree without a recipe but the basic is very similar to any potage or puree.

Ingredients:
Broccoli stem, hard bottom removed and hard skin removed (I used stems of two broccoli heads), cut into small cubes.
One medium onion, finely diced
One parsnip (or maybe a potato), skinned, cut into small cubes.
1/2 cup of chicken broth or more depending on the consistency of the puree (I used Swanson's no fat reduced salt)
1 tsp unsalted butter and 2 tbs olive oil
Salt to taste
Two bay leaves (optional)

Directions:
Add the olive oil and butter to the pan on medium flame and sauté the onion until cooked (2-3 minutes).
Add the broccoli stem and parsnip and coat with butter/oil and add the chicken both to cover.

Add the bay leaves and simmer until soft (15-20 minutes)
Remove the bay leaves and puree using an immersion blender until smooth (add more chicken broth for desired consistency).
Season with salt

These appetizers are nice. The spoonful is just the right amount for a satisfying gulp. They provide a nice range of flavors although the consistency seems, well consistent. It is lovely and smooth but I can’t help but think of it as sophisticated “baby food for adults”. I’ll have to come up with something different.

A spoonful appetizer 一口スプーン前菜

My wife gave me some new plates and bowls for Christmas which required us to rearrange things to make a room for them. During these activities, we found spoons my wife got for me some time ago which were meant to serve a just one-swallow/bite appetizer.  Since they newly resurfaced, I promptly tried a one-swallow/bite appetizer using the spoon. The handles of the spoons are bent so that they can sit on the plate without a handle sticking over the edge. I served this with the last of New Year’s salmon kelp roll and Russian marinaded salmon.

This was just a whim-of-the moment dish. Since I had Cauliflower purée which I made a few days ago, I just put a small amount on the spoon and topped it with soy sauce  marinated “ikura” salmon roe and micro green perilla from our window sill herb garden. This combination worked well. We had this with cold sake and it went very well.

This was quite good. Although our initial cauliflower purée was made with cauliflower cooked in milk, recently I have been making in an abbreviated quick method.

Ingredients:
One small head of cauliflower, florets separated
1-2 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup warm milk

salt to taste

Directions:
Steam the cauliflower using a basket steamer for 10-15 minutes until very soft.
Place the cauliflower in a plastic container for immersion blender

Add 2/3 of the milk and blend using an immersion blender in high-speed
Add more milk for the nice silky consistency if needed.
Add the butter in thick pats
Season with salt and blend until very smooth and silky

This is wonderful way to prepare cauliflower. This purée can be used in many different ways. The smooth texture of the cauliflower purée was a great contrast to the burst of saltiness from the ikura.

Baked Cauliflower with Chimichurri sauce オーブン焼きカリフラワーのチミチュリソース

We try to make some vegetable dishes which can be eaten during the work week. We had a large head of cauliflower from last week which needed to be prepared. My wife spotted a recipe which is "Cauliflower steak with Chimichurri sauce". Although we are not sold on the idea of thick slab of cauliflower (it was equated with a steak in the original recipe), the idea of baked cauliflower with chimuchurri sauce sounded good. So, instead, we baked cauliflower florets and dressed them with chimuchurri sauce.

The florets were nicely browed (although a bit overcooked).

The chimuchurri sauce was very good with fresh herbs.

Ingredients (with our modifications)

For Chimuchurri sauce

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (for the Chimuchurri)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, large, deveined and seeded and finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar (we used rice vinegar).

1/2 teaspoon paprika (we used smoked paprika)

3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley.

For Cauliflower

1 large head cauliflower (about 3 pounds), separated into florets.

Freshly ground pepper to taste

2 tbs olive oil (for coating the cookie sheet and the cauliflower).

Directions.

1. Combine oil, garlic, jalapeño, shallot and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small frying pan. Cook over medium heat just until the garlic starts to sizzle, 2 to 4 minutes, but don’t let it brown. Remove from heat and stir in oregano, thyme, water, vinegar and paprika. Cover and set aside (#3).
2. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a cookie sheet with olive oil (we used a non-stick cookie sheet).
3. Toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil and season with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
4. Roast the cauliflower, gently turning once halfway through, until browned and the stems feel tender when pierced with a bamboo skewer, 15 minutes (we baked 18 minutes which was a bit too long) (#1 and 2).
5. Just before serving, stir parsley into the reserved herb sauce and season with pepper. Dress the cauliflower florets (#4) with the sauce (#5 and 6).

Th fresh herbs in chimuchurri sauce were very good. It was good warm. We later served cold which was also very good. We may even try real steak with this chimuchurri sauce.

Cauliflower puree with parmesan cheese パルメザンチーズ味カリフラワーのピューレ

This is based on a recipe that appeared in the Washington Post. I decided to make this since I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge which I bought a week ago. I followed the recipe exactly and it was not good. It had an unpleasant mealy consistency and was not smooth and creamy. We figured out why this was. The recipe calls for using a food processor. No matter how long your run the food processor, the cauliflower will not become smooth and creamy. Instead of a cuisinart you need to use a blender on high speed (puree mode). Once I fixed this, the end product was nice and creamy with good Parmesan flavor.

As suggested, I garnished it with finely chopped parsley fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and freshly cracked black pepper. 

The below are the original recipe with one important modification; instead of a food processor, use a blender.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium head (2 pounds) cauliflower, cored and cut into 11/2-inch florets (7 cups)

1/3 cup low-fat milk (1 percent), plus more as needed

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese, plus 4 teaspoons for garnish

1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

STEPS

Place the cauliflower florets in a steamer basket set over a pot of boiling water. Cover and steam until the cauliflower is just tender, 5 to 7 minutes.

Transfer the cauliflower to a blender along with 1/3 cup of the milk (I needed more milk, probably 1/2 cup total), the butter, the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the nutmeg; puree until very smooth.  Add extra milk a tablespoon at a time, as needed. Immediately add 1/4 cup of the cheese and pulsed just until the cheese melted and was incorporated.

When I first made it, using the Cuisinart as specified in the recipe, it was grainy and mealy. When my wife made cauliflower puree to make her cauliflower/spinach panna cotta, the cauliflower puree was really silky smooth. I initially thought cauliflower must be cooked in milk and butter as my wife did. But when we made English pea panna cotta, it became clear to us, the use of the blender made the difference. So I placed my previously made cauliflower puree into the blender and pureed it again. I needed to add a bit more milk but the end result was night and day different. Now the puree was nicely smooth, creamy and incorporated more air and became fluffy. This can be served warm or cold. I served it cold the second time with some good Spanish olive oil on the top. This made it better still. This can be eaten as a side vegetable dish, drinking snack or even as a spread for a cracker or a slice of bread.