Cauliflower and Blue Cheese Galette
Getting Touchy
It’s getting to that point in the winter where spring is at the tip of the tongue and I never want to eat another beet again. In the summer it’s easy to get your hands dirty. Peach juices drip down our wrists, we pick salmonberries and huckleberries off nearby bushes as we hike by, sun softened tomatoes fall off the vine into waiting hands. But in the winter, vegetables are rootier and starchier: you need a thick knife to harvest the sugars that even the frozen earth couldn’t sour. Stews, broths, roasts – everything I cook feels like it requires a solid half an hour at the chopping block.
But last week, I got lazy. I had a pile of beautiful oyster and shiitake mushrooms and I simply didn’t have the heart to take a knife to them. So I started slowly and gently tearing them apart. They turned out craggly and a bit less uniform than they would have had they been subject to the blade, but the natural edges got crispy and beautiful in the pan and looked delightful on the plate. So last night when I went to dismember a cauliflower for my galette, I cut out the hard core without disturbing the integrity of the cauliflower head and took apart the florets with my hands.
One of the pleasures of the spring is that food becomes tangible again; we harvest fava beans from their shells and find the pressure point on a stalk of asparagus. I urge you, break the winter fast and begin to touch your food again. Your heart and your hands will thank you.
Freezer Food
Who Says Freezer Food Isn’t Good for you?
Welcome to ‘Freezer Food,’ a segment outlining what I cooked during the work week enlisting my trusty sidekick, the freezer.
An Okonomiyaki pancake with homemade okonomiyaki sauce (made for a previous pancake, pulled from the freezer), kewpie mayo, and fish wife x fly by jing smoked salmon. I love this video of Harold from bon appetit making steak Okinomiyaki (watching it may give you some confidence when it comes to the BIG FLIP). I loosely followed this recipe.
Pizza is a staple in our household. I always have dough (I pinch off around 300g every time I make sourdough bread), pizza sauce (a can of San Marzono crushed and mixed with some EVOO, salt, and oregano), and some mozzarella (buy in bulk or DIY), stored in the freezer. Add some anchovies and a side salad (endive with orange and hazelnuts) and you’re good to go.
I’m from Vancouver but lived for 5 years on the east coast. Faced with the scarcity and price of GOOD east coast sushi, i’ve tried my darndest to make adequate sushi at home. But after much trial and error…I absolutely give up. Now I just make sushi bowls, which require virtually none of the skill of a sushi chef and extend the time – and subsequent hits to my wallet – between visits to my favourite sushi restaurants (hi Toshi and Satchi!) This week’s bowl was sushi rice mixed with rice vinegar and a pinch of sugar, topped with fresh tuna mixed with kewpie, some leftover smashed cucumber salad, homemade kimchi, chopped scallions, pickled carrots, homemade gomae (using freezer spinach), and a dollop of salmon caviar. We’re sober weekday warriors, so rather than sake we paired it with sparkling mikan juice.
The Recipe
My husband’s grandparents live in the UK and we’re lucky enough to visit at least once a year. We mostly spend our time going on long walks to pubs, drinking and eating by a fireplace surrounded by muddy dogs and people, and then returning home for a long nap. Of course, the Sunday roast is a classic and never complete without cheesy cauliflower. So here’s a take on those unbeatable Sunday afternoon flavours which won’t have you nodding off around 4pm.
INGREDIENTS
Pie Pastry (homemade, store bought, puff pastry, whatever you can find in your freezer)
Bechamel (keep it classy with just butter, flour, and milk)
1 head Cauliflower (I used fioretto but you can use romanesco or just regular cauliflower if you can’t get your hands on something fun and funky)
Blue cheese to taste (of any kind)
METHOD
Roll our your pastry and trim the edges to create as close to a perfect circle as you can. Leaving a bit of room on the edge, spread your bechamel evenly on the pastry.
Break apart your cauliflower florets, cut up your blue cheese, and layer them onto the bechamel. You want a bit of blue cheese and cauliflower in each bite, so create a line of cauliflower followed by a line of blue cheese and keep going until you’ve covered all the bechamel.
Roll over the edges of your pastry and brush them with egg wash (egg yolk mixed with a bit of cream is best, but you can just use egg and milk otherwise). Drizzle with EVOO, aiming for the cauliflower florets.
Bake at 350*F for around 45 minutes until the center is bubbling and the pastry is golden brown.
Sprinkle with flaky salt and a crack of pepper. Top with dill fronds or whatever other fresh herb you have kicking around.
Enjoy warm with a bottle of bright sparkling wine. Share with friends to avoid the need to lie down for a nap.
Thanks for reading and cooking!
Love
Charlie