Winter has completely settled into Desertville. We've been mostly snowed in for a few days now. It is strange to see the desert plants under blankets of snow, but very beautiful.
Husband and I are somewhat addicted to Top Chef and watched it this week despite having to go out to scrape snow and ice off the satellite dish a few times when the picture started to degrade. I like cauliflower, so Ariane's winning cauliflower puree intrigued me. She seemed so proud that it didn't have any butter when guest judge Martha Stewart commented that it was swimming with butter. I was curious.
It turns out that she cooked the cauliflower and potato for the puree IN HEAVY CREAM. Yes, as in boiled the veggies in the cream. I can think of almost nothing that wouldn't taste good cooked in heavy cream. I, however, had neither the cream supply nor the inclination to cook the veggies in cream. I compromised and cooked them in a combination of milk and water. I used a half cup of heated heavy cream to puree it and added a small knob of butter for good measure. I was only missing the fresh thyme, and that would have been lovely.
We all liked the puree, and I'll make it again. It is a nice accompaniment to a strong-flavored dish. Tonight, I made pan fried tofu with a lemon-caper sauce. Little Girl adores capers. She loves tofu. She was lukewarm on the puree, but ate some of that along with some leftover peas and mushrooms.
Although I did get a nice brown on the tofu, this was still a pretty bland-looking meal, so no photos tonight. But I hope to gain points for following and linking to an actual recipe.
Husband and I are somewhat addicted to Top Chef and watched it this week despite having to go out to scrape snow and ice off the satellite dish a few times when the picture started to degrade. I like cauliflower, so Ariane's winning cauliflower puree intrigued me. She seemed so proud that it didn't have any butter when guest judge Martha Stewart commented that it was swimming with butter. I was curious.
It turns out that she cooked the cauliflower and potato for the puree IN HEAVY CREAM. Yes, as in boiled the veggies in the cream. I can think of almost nothing that wouldn't taste good cooked in heavy cream. I, however, had neither the cream supply nor the inclination to cook the veggies in cream. I compromised and cooked them in a combination of milk and water. I used a half cup of heated heavy cream to puree it and added a small knob of butter for good measure. I was only missing the fresh thyme, and that would have been lovely.
We all liked the puree, and I'll make it again. It is a nice accompaniment to a strong-flavored dish. Tonight, I made pan fried tofu with a lemon-caper sauce. Little Girl adores capers. She loves tofu. She was lukewarm on the puree, but ate some of that along with some leftover peas and mushrooms.
Although I did get a nice brown on the tofu, this was still a pretty bland-looking meal, so no photos tonight. But I hope to gain points for following and linking to an actual recipe.
All your posts are always so well written. :D Happy New Year!
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