Tag: Parsley

cauliflower with parsley-mustard sauce and bread crumbs

cauliflower parsley mustard bread crumbs

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This is a really fun way to enjoy the tiny cauliflowers you can sometimes find at the farmers’ market, but it works just fine with regular-sized heads, as well. It’s based on a recipe from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors. You could serve the cauliflower with grilled zucchini and some slow-roasted tomatoes.

4 small cauliflowers, or 2 medium, or 1 very large cauliflower
2-3 slices whole wheat bread (you can use stale bread, but not dried hard)
½ cup finely chopped parsley
2-4 tablespoons melted butter or olive oil
1-2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
sea salt or kosher salt
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
freshly grated hard cheese, such as Parmesan (optional)

1. Wash the cauliflower, and if using the medium or large cauliflowers, cut them into florets. For the small ones, just cut the big stem out of the middle.
2. Tear the bread slices into smallish pieces and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse and grind them until they are finely ground into bread crumbs. Use ½ cup of them or more for this recipe.
3. Toast the bread crumbs in a skillet until crisp and golden.
4. Steam the cauliflower, the curds facing down in the pot, until tender when poked with a paring knife (maybe 6 to 8 minutes for the whole little cauliflowers, and somewhat less for the florets). Set them on a big platter.
5. Mix the melted butter or oil with the parsley, mustard, ½ teaspoon salt, and the pepper flakes. Pour it over the cauliflower, add the bread crumbs and, if using, grate a little cheese over all.

green cauliflower with parsley and green olives

cauliflower parsley olives green olives

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Have you seen the green cauliflower at the market? This recipe is especially fun and beautiful with the green heads, but it’s good with the white kind, too. The photo shows a combination of white and green. It’s a variation on Deborah Madison’s recipe in Local Flavors. Serve this with any kind of a sandwich or toast, like sautéed tomatoes on garlic-rubbed toast.

1 large or 2 medium green cauliflowers
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems removed, leaves finely chopped
½ cup thinly sliced Spanish green olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt and freshly-ground pepper

1. Cut the cauliflower into small florets; peel and dice the stems. Put the parsley, olives, and capers in a bowl.
2. Steam the cauliflower over boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes. Dump it into the bowl and toss well with the other ingredients. Add olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt and season with pepper. Toss again. Taste for salt and serve.

Sicilian cauliflower salad

cauliflower parsley garlic capers olives lemon kalamata olives

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This is yet another variation on the “cauliflower with capers & lemon” theme… I love those flavors--I bet you will, too. It’s based on a recipe in James Peterson’s Vegetables. If you can get green cauliflower, it makes the salad even prettier than usual! I can sit down and just eat a big bowl of this for lunch.

If you don’t prefer the anchovies, just leave them out—the kalamata olives and capers are nice and briny even without them.

½ cup kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 anchovy filets (optional), rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 small bunch flat-leaved parsley, leaves chopped
1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into small florets

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil.
2. While the water heats, make the sauce. Chop the olives and combine them in a big bowl with the capers, garlic, anchovies and parsley. Add the olive oil and lemon juice.
3. When the water boils, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the pot. Cook the cauliflower florets in the pot for about 4 or 5 minutes, just until tender (taste often!). Drain (don’t rinse), and toss the cauliflower into the bowl with the sauce.
4. Taste the salad and add salt, lemon, oil, and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Savoy cabbage and sage on pasta with toasted walnuts

walnuts spaghetti onions parsley pasta cabbage carrots soba savoy cabbage

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I love this recipe! Here’s another of my pasta recipes that has loads of vegetables and not so much pasta. Healthy, healthy, healthy! Make this especially when you can get fresh Alaskan Savoy cabbage—it’s so sweet and delicious! The combination of sweet, browned onions, sweet Alaskan carrot slices, and the salty, toasted walnuts… it’s fantastically flavorful Fall food! It’s inspired by a recipe in rebar modern food.

One nice thing about this recipe is that you don’t need to put any cheese on it, because of the salty, roasty-toasty walnuts. Try it with just the nuts before you heap Parmesan on it!

½ pound whole wheat pasta, or buckwheat soba
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion (or 2 medium onions), diced
sea salt or kosher salt
6 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon red chile flakes
1 tablespoon dried sage (or ¼ cup fresh sage, minced)
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme (or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves)
1 medium head Savoy cabbage, halved, cored, and cut into ¼-inch thick ribbons
½ to 1 cup vegetable stock, bean broth, or water
3 medium carrots, cut into thin half-moon slices
1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (optional)
freshly ground pepper
½ cup walnuts, toasted for 15 minutes in a 350-degree oven
1-2 tablespoons toasted walnut oil (optional—but I love to use Loriva oil)
½ bunch parsley, leaves chopped finely

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta.
2. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and sauté the onions with ½ teaspoon salt until golden. Add carrots and sauté for another couple of minutes, then add the garlic, chiles, and herbs for several more minutes.
3. Stir in the cabbage with another ½ teaspoon salt and the stock or water, and add enough stock to keep the cabbage from sticking in the pan. Continue to sauté the vegetables until the cabbage is tender.
4. Meanwhile, add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the boiling water and cook the pasta until tender.
5. Chop the walnuts coarsely and toss them in a small bowl with the toasted walnut oil (if using) and a generous pinch of salt.
6. Just before serving, taste the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar to taste, but don’t overdo it—you want to be able to taste the flavors of the vegetables and the toasted walnuts.
7. To serve, put a small mound of pasta on each plate, and mound a big pile of vegetables on top. Sprinkle with toasted, salted walnuts and chopped parsley.

parsley pesto

parsley garlic pasta pesto

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You can use this pesto for the Savoy cabbage & potatoes with pesto recipe, or you can just put this on pasta. I’ve used it to spread on pizza dough, too, as a sauce. It’s great! And parsley is a lot more affordable than basil, too. 

Whatever you do, don’t use curly parsley. It has hardly any flavor, and the texture is awful, no matter how long you puree it.

2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
4 cups packed Italian (flat-leaved) parsley leaves
½ cup pine nuts
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1. In a food processor, chop the garlic with the salt.
2. Add the parsley leaves and pine nuts, and turn on the motor, beginning to grind the parsley. It’s OK if all the leaves aren’t incorporated yet.
3. While the motor is running, pour in the olive oil gradually. Let the blade run for a while to puree the mixture. It won’t be very smooth, but it’s hard to get the parsley pesto smooth, anyway—the leaves are very tough, and it’s almost impossible to get the blender to get it smooth. 
4. Taste for salt, and add more as needed.
5. Use what you’d like for tonight’s dinner, then scoop the rest into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze flat.

To serve on pasta:
Put a generous dollop of pesto in the bottom of a large bowl. When the pasta is about done cooking, scoop a few spoons-ful of the pasta cooking water into the pesto and stir it up until it has the consistency of heavy cream (add more water until it’s just right).  Then add the pasta and toss with the pesto until well-combined. Add more pesto (diluted with hot pasta cooking water) until the pasta is nicely green and is flavored to your liking. Don’t be afraid to add a lot--the parsley pesto is less potent than basil pesto (but quite delicious in its own right).

cauliflower with raisins & pine nuts on pasta

cauliflower tomatoes spaghetti onions parsley pasta raisins pine nuts

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This is a really fun and unusual pasta dish! As usual, I make tons of veggies relative to the pasta! It’s based on a similar recipe in Peter Berley’s Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. If you’re not adding the optional cheese, the pine nuts and salt are crucial to the dish. (I really don’t think this dish needs cheese—try it first without before you sprinkle!)

I haven’t tried this without the saffron, and I’m sure it would still be good without it, but the saffron does add a nice flavor. You can find it at Summit Spice & Tea Co., along with really full-flavored bay leaves, hot pepper flakes, sea salt, and any other spice you might need for other dishes!

This makes a big batch, because our Alaskan cauliflowers are usually quite large, and it seems silly to give you a recipe for a half a cauliflower. It makes good leftovers, too! But if you want a small batch, just halve this recipe.

1 large cauliflower, cored and separated into smallish florets
sea salt or kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 large bay leaves
½ teaspoon saffron
½ to 1 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (to your taste)
¼ cup tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
¾ cup raisins
1 cup water
½ cup dry white wine
½ pound pasta (spaghetti or rigatoni, for example—I like to use whole-wheat pasta)
½ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
freshly-ground black pepper
½ cup pine nuts, toasted in a small skillet over medium heat until lightly browned
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 2 tablespoons salt. Add the cauliflower and cook until just barely tender, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the cauliflower, but reserve the water for cooking the pasta.
2. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, sauté the onions in a large, non-stick skillet in the olive oil until golden-brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves, saffron, and red pepper flakes and sauté for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, optional tomatoes, raisins, water and wine. Raise the heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the cauliflower, and stir well to combine. Let it sit, off heat or on very low heat, while you cook the pasta.
4. Return the cauliflower water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender.  Drain.
5. Add the parsley to the cauliflower sauce, and season to taste with salt and fresh-ground pepper. (It is likely to need quite a bit of salt. Don’t be shy!)
6. Put a small pile of pasta on each plate or pasta bowl, and pile high with cauliflower. Garnish with lots of toasted pine nuts. Try it first, and if you like, add Parmesan cheese!