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Tag Archives: high fiber; vitamin rich

Roasted Cauliflower Caesar

This New York Times recipe is a full flavored take on cauliflower. Served warm or cold it works both ways. The cauliflower can be roasted ahead of time and served cold with the dressing and added parsley or it can be reheated and tossed with the cold additions. I prefer the warm cauliflower.

Slicing thick slabs of cauliflower was a great way to cut this up. It somewhat falls apart into uneven pieces which you can break further apart as you choose.

It’s great as a side salad or a vegetarian main dish. I’ve also made it with broccoli which is good too but the broccoli adds even more flavor to this dish.

Ingredients

1 medium cauliflower (2 pounds)

1/4 – 1/2 cup capers, drained

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper

1 lemon, zest and juice (1/4 cup or so)

1/2 cup Parmesan finely grated plus more for serving

1/4 – 1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 anchovies, drained and chopped, optional

2 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 cups whole leaf Italian parsley

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
  2. Remove outer leaves from cauliflower and cut into large pieces. Trim stem so the cauliflower can stand upright. Slice thick slabs, about 5, and break off flowerettes. Pieces can be small or quite large and you can cut them into bites at the table.
  3. Place all cauliflower bits and pieces on a large baking sheet. Toss with capers and olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread cauliflower evenly without overlapping to promote browning.
  4. Turn cauliflower mixture over after 15 minutes and roast another 15 minutes. Color should be lightly or medium browned. Capers will be crisped.
  5. Remove from oven and set aside. In a large bowl combine dressing ingredients: zest and juice of 1 lemon, mayonnaise, Parmesan, Dijon, garlic, anchovies, salt and pepper. I don’t add the anchovies.
  6. Just before serving scrape all of the cauliflower into the salad dressing. Toss in as much parsley as you like. I added 2 cups which is twice as much as the original recipe.
  7. Serve onto plates and add more Parmesan to each.
  8. Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as side dishes.
Roasted Cauliflower and Capers

Caesar Dressing

Christmas Dinner Salad

Voila!

Split Pea Soup

Split Pea Soup

This is comfort food that’s easy, traditional and quick! The soup is not puréed as my Moms was. It’s still a smooth satisfying meal!

The ham bone adds alot of flavor. The size and type makes a difference. Honey Baked Ham bones are sweet, traditional ham bones are not. You can also use ham hocks instead of a ham bone. Try it!!

A large meaty ham bone adds big flavor
Diced carrots are added the last few minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large white onion, chopped

4 ribs celery, diced

2 large cloves garlic, minced

2 large bay leaves

10 black peppercorns

1 pound dried split peas, rinsed

4 cups chicken broth or your choice of broth

4 cups water

1 ham bone or 2 ham hocks (Honey Baked Ham is our favorite for ham bones!)

1 pound carrots, peeled and diced

2-4 tablespoons dry sherry, optional

Directions

  1. Heat up a large Dutch oven, saucepan or slow cooker and then add oil
  2. Sauté onion and celery until tender, not browned. Add garlic and sauté another minute
  3. Add bay leaves and peppercorns, split peas, broth, water and ham bone. Cover and simmer until ham is falling off bone, about 1-2 hours or longer for slow cookers
  4. Remove bone from soup and cut off ham into bite size pieces as you trim away any fat and skin. Return ham to soup or keep separate and add ham to individual bowls as you serve it.
  5. If you like, add sherry to the soup for its flavor at this time. Another option is each person can add a splash of sherry to her own bowl at the table when serving since everyone may not like the flavor
  6. Add the carrots to the soup and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes
  7. Serve piping hot in big bowls.
  8. The soup thickens as it cools. Add broth or water to leftovers when reheating if it’s too thick
  9. Voila!