Tasting Spoons

In the most recent issue of Food & Wine, I spotted a recipe for Spanish mackerel (I don’t think we can even GET mackerel in this part of the world; at least I’ve never seen it) with a Cauliflower Tabbouleh. Well, I promptly discarded the part about the mackerel and extracted the part about the tabbouleh.

Tabbouleh (or tablouli, plus other spellings, I’m sure) is a Middle Eastern cold salad mostly composed of bulgur wheat. I well recall the first time I had tabbouli with bulgur wheat, in about 1966. A friend of my mother’s served it at a lovely luncheon (back in those days ladies did lots of luncheons in one another’s homes). At the time I was mesmerized by the delicious combo of the chewy bulgur wheat, lemon juice, cucumber and fresh tomatoes. My DH doesn’t care much for tabbouleh, or I’d make it occasionally, but then, it’s really high in carbs, which we try to limit. So that’s why this recipe – made with cauliflower instead of bulgur wheat - looked like such a WOW recipe. I had to try it, pronto. My DH still didn’t like it, but our guests were totally mystified about what it was - one thought it WAS bulgur wheat.

This version is a bit different than the traditional tabbouleh that I know, since it contains smoky paprika, shallot, sherry vinegar and preserved lemon. No lemon juice. I may add a squeeze of the juice if I make it again, just because I like lemon juice so much, and it’s a required ingredient in my book. What I started with was one of these new-fangled colored cauliflower heads. It was a gorgeous golden yellow color even inside. Made it more interesting to look at than traditional white, but it did taste the same. The recipe came from Jason Wilson, chef at Crush, a restaurant in Seattle.

If you’re looking for a way to use vegetables, in a different way, this will fool lots of experts. They absolutely would NOT know this is cauliflower. Yes, there is a tiny bit of crunch to it – I mean, the cauliflower is raw – but cauliflower is mild to the tooth. You drop the florets into the feed tube of the food processor fitted with a coarse grater attachment – no pressure to be on it – allow the pieces to shred all on their own. The photo here shows what the shredded cauliflower looks like.

Then you make a fragrant small pan of oil, garlic, cumin, paprika and shallot. It’s cooked very briefly, then tossed in the cauliflower. After that you add the other ingredients: just the rind of some preserved lemon, mint, tomatoes, sherry vinegar, parsley and chives. That’s it. No cooking other than the minute or two with the garlic and fragrant spices. Different? Yes. Tasty? Yes. Repeat it? Well, maybe, maybe not. I fiddled with the proportions (more tomato, parsley and mint), but that’s all. I used very little preserved lemon, but maybe it was too much. The dish had a quite tart taste. Lemon juice in lieu of sherry vinegar might be better too.

Cauliflower Tabbouleh

Recipe By: Food & Wine magazine, July 2008, from Jason Wilson (chef) at Crush.

Serving Size: 6

1 1/2 pounds cauliflower — 1 small head

2 teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic — minced

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika — either mild or hot, or half and half

1 whole shallot — minced

1 1/2 teaspoons preserved lemon — rind only

1 tablespoon mint — chopped

1/2 cup tomato — seeded, diced

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar

1/4 cup chopped parsley — or more if desired

1/4 cup chopped chives

1.  Fit a food processor with a coarse shredding disk.  With machine on, drop the cauliflower florets through feed tube without pressing, and process all cauliflower until finely grated.  Transfer the cauliflower to a medium bowl and toss with the salt.  Let stand at room temp for 30 minutes.

2.  Drain the cauliflower and squeeze out any liquid; return cauliflower to bowl.

3.  In a small skillet, heat 6 T.  olive oil.  Add the cumin, paprika and shallot and cook until the mixture is fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook just briefly.  Do not allow garlic to burn.  Let cool slightly, then pour the mixture over the cauliflower.  Add the preserved lemon, mint, tomato, sherry vinegar and the parsley and chives to the cauliflower.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Toss and serve.  Or refrigerate for a couple of hours and serve.

Per Serving: 161 Calories; 14g Fat (73.8% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 760mg Sodium.

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