Cauliflower Steaks, Mac’n’Cheese: Cookbook and Magazine Serve up Winners

It’s that blah mid-winter time of year and, for me, a bumpy patch on the mean­der­ing path of discovery.

The obvi­ous anti­dote: cook­ing up a storm in my com­pact Kens­ing­ton Mar­ket kitchen.

Much of this culi­nary cure for what­ever ails my trou­bled soul is inspired by recipes from cook­books and food mag­a­zines, both of which are on-and-off addictions.

So dear read­ers, as is my wont, I am about to share the fruit of my labours. In this case, it’s two recipes.

First, a superb dish called Roasted Cau­li­flower “Steaks” with Crunchy Parsley-Pine Nut Bread Crumbs from a big, gor­geous new cook­book called “Roast­ing” by Molly Stevens. These are so deli­cious, I won­der where this clever idea has been all my life. I now keep extra amounts of the crumb top­ping in my fridge to spin­kle on all man­ner of cooked veg­gies, salad, soup, meat, fish — almost any­thing except dessert.

Sec­ond is the delec­tably gooey, chewy Mac­a­roni and Cheese with Roasted But­ter­nut Squash that appeared on the cover of the Feb­ru­ary, 2012, issue of Chate­laine mag­a­zine. This is not a low-cal dish by any means but it is a tad health­ier than most ver­sions because of the chunks of roasted squash that inun­date it.

Here are the recipes, in both cases slightly tweaked by me. You’re welcome!

Roasted Cau­li­flower “Steaks” with Crunchy Parsley-Pine Nut Bread Crumbs

I make extra bread crumb mix­ture to scat­ter on any dish that could use it and use what­ever bread I have on hand, whirred in the food proces­sor, to make coarse crumbs. I used fresh corian­der instead of pars­ley and dried cran­ber­ries in place of raisins — I find both ingre­di­ents add extra zip. I stream­lined the method by toast­ing the crumbs and pine nuts in a skil­let instead of in the oven. Adapted from “Roast­ing” by Molly Stevens.

I medium head cauliflower

¹⁄₄ cup plus 1 tbsp olive oil

¹⁄₂ cup fresh (i.e. home-made) breadcrumbs

3 tbsp pine nuts

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

¹⁄₄ cup chopped fresh pars­ley or coriander

3 tbsp golden raisins or dried cranberries

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

Pre­heat oven to 450F.

Remove leaves from cau­li­flower. Cut core from base so it is slightly recessed but do not remove. Stand cau­li­flower upright and cut in slices about 3/4-inch thick. (Pieces will likely crum­ble off; don’t worry.) Place slices and crum­bled bits on bak­ing sheet lined with sil­i­cone liner or parch­ment paper. Driz­zle with ¹⁄₄ cup olive oil. Sprin­kle with salt and pep­per. Turn to coat.

Roast cau­li­flower in oven, turn­ing once or twice to brown evenly, about 30 min­utes or until tender.

Mean­while, make crumb mix­ture. Add remain­ing 1 table­spoon olive oil to medium or large skil­let. Add bread crumbs; cook over medium heat 8 to 10 min­utes or until golden brown. Place pine nuts in small skil­let; cook over medium-low heat until browned, about 5 min­utes. Cool crumbs and pine nuts.

Place pine nuts, pars­ley, raisins, lemon zest and a pinch of salt in food proces­sor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Trans­fer to bowl. Add toasted crumbs; stir to combine.

To serve, trans­fer cau­li­flower to warmed serv­ing plat­ter. Just before serv­ing, sprin­kle with crumb mixture.

Makes about 4 servings.

Mac­a­roni and Cheese with Roasted But­ter­nut Squash

From Feb­ru­ary 2012’s issue of Chate­laine mag­a­zine. I roasted the squash slightly longer than the recipe pre­scribed, 30 instead of 18 min­utes. You could use any short pasta.

About 3 cups (half a medium) peeled, finely diced but­ter­nut squash

1 tsp olive oil

2 cups dry elbow macaroni

2 tbsp butter

¹⁄₄ cup all-purpose flour

2 ¹⁄₂ cups milk

1 tsp Dijon mustard

¹⁄₄ tsp salt

Pinch of cayenne pep­per (optional)

1 cup grated white cheddar

1 cup grated mozzarella

¹⁄₂ cup grated gruyere

¹⁄₃ cup panko bread crumbs

Pre­heat oven to 400F.

Toss squash with oil on bak­ing sheet. Bake in oven about 30 min­utes or until ten­der, stir­ring halfway through.

Cook mac­a­roni in pot of boil­ing water until al dente, about 8 min­utes. Drain.

Melt but­ter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Grad­u­ally whisk in milk, Dijon, salt and cayenne. Stir until mix­ture comes to boil. Remove from heat; stir in mac­a­roni. cheese and squash. Trans­fer to bak­ing dish. Sprin­kle with panko.

Place under broiler until top is golden brown, about 3 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings.