After the lengthy, grey winter, outdoors is the place I need to be increasingly. And someway all I need to eat is greens, maybe as a sort of tonic.
In case your local weather permits, this gentle, sunny menu is actually extra of a daylight meal, relaxed and finest eaten open air (although, this yr, it’s anybody’s guess what shocking issues the climate may do).
Salad, made with components of the season, is a necessity for me all yr spherical. What I would like proper now could be a salad of just-picked tender greens with colourful radishes, candy uncooked younger turnips, roasted beets, asparagus ideas, shavings of fennel and recent herbs. Contemporary, brisker, freshissimo.
Some salads are tossed, whereas others, like this one, are composed. The concept for this delicate, interesting first course is to have an assortment of complementary greens, herbs and greens, artfully organized on a platter or particular person plates, dribbled with a tangy French dressing. Be at liberty to improvise: A number of spinach leaves, a handful of uncooked candy backyard peas or fava beans, or thinly sliced uncooked artichoke will be good additions, as can edible blossoms like nasturtium, rose or calendula.
For a important, I selected cauliflower “steaks,” which I hadn’t made ages. A big cauliflower steak was all the fad in upscale eating places a number of years in the past, when cauliflower was the darling of the cooking world. It’s a vegetable that, cooked accurately, is simple to like.
To get thick slices, you’ll want a few medium to massive heads. Be warned that there might be trimmings, to be was a soup or use for stir-fry for one more meal. However I by no means thoughts having an excessive amount of cauliflower. Should you don’t need hassle with slices, you can also make this dish with baked florets simply as simply.
It’s a easy dish to organize. The steaks are painted with extra-virgin olive oil, seasoned on either side, after which roasted, topped with cheese and bread crumbs, and positioned again into the oven to get golden. Should you high them with a little bit of anchovy, it’s not vegetarian, after all, however it’s awfully good. These steaks are surprisingly substantial and filling. An possibility to think about is serving the baked cauliflower steaks with a light-weight marinara sauce, however they’re very tasty with no sauce in any respect.
Right here, in California, latest torrential rains have pummeled the strawberry fields and prevented the day by day harvest. Fortunately, now the solar shines, and natural native strawberries are again.
For dessert, I made them the centerpiece: I sliced some and frivolously sugared and spooned them into glasses, topping them with ricotta cream — sweetened ultra-fresh ricotta, frivolously whipped. Generally utilized in Sicily to fill cannoli or frost conventional truffles, it’s fairly fabulous. I layered the beautiful stuff with the strawberries for a splendid parfait.
Such a pleasing meal it was, a spring awakening.
