Sometimes (maybe always, but I don’t think so) when cauliflower is baked awhile, it can begin to take on a kind of brownish tinge. When cauliflower is cooked through and through, it does have a translucence. You can see it in the photo above. IF you can overlook that part, and IF you like cauliflower,  you’ll find this dish very satisfying. I think I could just eat a bowl of this and forget the rest of the dinner. I do love vegetables.

And . . . well . . . this cauliflower is decadent. Not only does it have Gruyere and cheddar cheese in it, AND 2 cups of heavy cream, but it also has half a cup of blended whiskey in it. The recipe comes from Mary Ann Vitale, a San Diego chef and restaurateur (do note how that word is spelled – for the longest time, some years ago – I thought people were misspelling the word, I thought it was supposed to be restaurant-eur. But no, the n is missing in the word). Anyway, Mary Ann visited Scotland awhile back – maybe more than once, I’m not sure – and just savored the food. Everything about it. She sought out famous restaurants, probably befriended a few of the chefs/owners, and came home each time knowing she wanted to create her own version of several dishes, but keeping true to the traditional recipe. She recently did a class demonstrating  5 recipes from Scotland that all used Scotch whiskey. When in —-fill in the word — Scotland – – –  you use whiskey!

We talked about the whiskey in general, in the class – she loves single malt (once in awhile I’ll have some also, and I learned to appreciate its finely balanced flavors in Scotland many years ago – I still have a bottle of Dalwhinnie single malt – it’s a sweeter single malt with honey notes – I bought on the return trip – that’s got to be 20 years ago). In these recipes I’ll give you in coming days, Mary Ann used Dewar’s. A perfectly acceptable blended Scotch whiskey. This is not the time to pull out your very fine, and very expensive single malt. No, just use the regular stuff.

This is one of those recipes from the class. What’s unique about it is that the thickener used is oatmeal. Yes, oatmeal. Back in the early days, flour wasn’t always available, so they used what their grew, and oatmeal is a very good thickener, and you’ll never know it’s there. It’s not like you’ll suddenly get a taste of your morning cereal here – you only use 2 tablespoons of oatmeal anyway. The cauliflower, cut into florets, is cooked for about 5 minutes in boiling water (undercook them), drained and then placed in a buttered casserole.

Meanwhile you make a cheesy cream sauce with heavy cream, the Gruyere (a French cheese, but so flavorful) and Cheddar (make it Scottish cheddar if you want to be authentic, but any sharp WHITE cheddar will do, even a New York one), then the oatmeal and the whiskey. You add salt, pepper and a bit of nutmeg (freshly grated). The sauce is poured over the top and THEN you sprinkle the top with some toasted walnuts. Different, huh? And it’s baked for 30-45 minutes. When you pour the sauce in, it will be a bit on the loose side – that’s the way it should be – it thickens up as it bakes. And if you want to be able to eat all that luscious sauce, serve the cauliflower in a small bowl or ramekin. With a spoon!

What’s GOOD: Oh my. I thought every single, solitary morsel of this dish was magnificent. But then, I like cauliflower! The cheese, the sauce, and particularly the toasted chopped walnuts on top. Don’t overlook that part – it added a really nice texture to the dish. Unexpected, for sure.

What’s NOT: well, the cream and all that cheese. You can try cutting down on the quantity of cream and cheese – won’t be quite so good – but you’ll get the gist of it.

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Fennel isn’t everybody’s favorite vegetable. Some folks don’t even know what it is. It didn’t used to be a “regular” at the market, but it certainly is in my neck of the woods. Every market carries it, even Trader Joe’s (theirs are the least expensive I’ve found). I love the stuff – eating strips of it out of hand, or softly simmered in something until it’s silky tender.

Here on my blog there’s another recipe for fennel that’s probably my favorite – Baked Fennel – with Parmigiano shaved on it. It’s divine. I haven’t made that in awhile, but this time I wanted to make something different. I read about this recipe online (at Fine Cooking). I made half of the below recipe and I had ample left over. I sent most of it home with my D-I-L Karen, enough for them for a meal. Vaughan, my grandson, did take one itty-bitty-teensy-weensy bite and proclaimed a resounding “no.” Even though I told him it had orange juice in it. Nope, he was having none of it. He used to be much more adventuresome about food, but as he’s getting older (he’s 7), and probably with peer pressure at school at lunchtime, he’s much more picky. He doesn’t like whipped cream. What kid doesn’t like whipped cream? Well, he doesn’t. He loves green beans, though. I can always get a home run with him if I bring green beans. He wants food to have texture – whipped cream doesn’t have any, and this cooked fennel had very little (too soft for him, I suppose). But he loves marshmallows. Go figure!

Fennel does have a hint of anise to it  (it’s in the same family) – which probably turns off some people – but to me it’s very mild, and when it’s cooked, I don’t get any of that anise flavor at all. So if you’ve never liked raw fennel, you might like it cooked.

First, with this dish, you brown the wedges of fennel in some olive oil until they’ve taken on some golden brown tinges. Then those are removed to a baking dish. Then you add garlic to the pan, then wine and broth. The orange juice is added along with some toasted fennel and coriander seeds, salt and pepper. The orange peel strips (that you shave off the orange with a peeler) go in to flavor the whole dish. Foil covers the dish and it bakes for 1 1/4 hours. Hopefully you have a few fresh fennel fronds to sprinkle on top. At right is a photo I took of the dish before it was baked.

What’s GOOD: I happen to love the texture of baked fennel – soft and smooth. Easy to slice. It becomes quite bland when it’s cooked, so you do want to have some other flavoring (hence here the orange, fennel seed and coriander seeds). I liked it just fine. It’s not exactly a colorful dish, so the orange strips certainly enhance its appearance.

What’s NOT: nothing really – it was delicious.

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Do you often think of serving beans as a side dish to beef? Can’t say that I do, but these were really delicious with the Italian Beef in Barolo wine (you can see it in the background). They’re great on their own – the beans – and you could probably add some broth and make it a soup if you have any left over. Or better yet, whatever part of the Italian Beef (and sauce) you have left over, add that into the soup. Sounds like a plan to me!

When my DH was alive, because he was a Type 1 diabetic, I really limited carbs, and figured it was just as well for me too. Not that we didn’t eat any, just that I limited them, or we had very small portions. So, when I was at a recent cooking class with Diane Phillips, I certainly took note of the serving of a bean side dish with a roast. The beans were exceedingly easy to make, and were a very nice textural change. Diane said the roast could be served with mashed potatoes or noodles, but these beans . . . well, they were really delicious.

In the recipe below directions are included for both stove top and slow cooker. Both are easy – stove top takes about 2 hours, and in the slow cooker it will take 8-9 hours on low or 4-5 on high. Make these the day before you need them – they’ll taste even better. That way you’ll have the slow cooker available to make the roast.

Did you know how/why what we used to call a crockpot was changed to slow cooker? I certainly didn’t. Diane has written 2 cookbooks about using such appliances, and she knew enough to call them slow cooker books. Rival (the brand) trademarked the name “crockpot” decades ago, so only something made in a Rival pot can be called a recipe for a crockpot or a cookbook would only be published by their company. Interesting, huh? Diane also told us in the class that she followed the testing done by Cook’s Illustrated about any of these types of appliances. According to the tests, Rival brand’s crockpots run about 20° higher temperature than nearly all the other brands. She doesn’t use Rival at all. But she recommended the All-Clad (which is what I have, but I also use my risotto maker as a slow cooker because it has a smaller capacity (more suitable for me, now).

So, back to the beans . . . it’s best if you allow the dried beans to sit overnight amply covered in water, which plumps them up some and gives the cooking a little kick-start. You cook a bit of pancetta, garlic and fresh rosemary, add it all to the slow cooker with chicken broth or vegetable broth, cover and cook. How simple is that?

What’s GOOD: these make a really nice side to a tasty meat dish. Or it could be an entrée too, but I’d probably add more flavoring (like celery, fresh fennel, even carrots) if I were doing it that way. And remember my suggestion – after serving for an main meal, turn the left overs into soup with any other goodies you’ve got hanging around your refrigerator.

What’s NOT: nary a thing, other than you need to plan ahead – soak the beans overnight – make them – and they’ll be better if you make them a day ahead of serving anyway.

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Oh, how I love Brussels sprouts. I just don’t understand why some people don’t like them. My mother wasn’t very inventive with them (maybe back in the 50s when I was growing up nobody was very inventive with them) as she just boiled them in water and maybe added butter. But I like them even that way, though I sauté them rather than leech out all the nutrients by boiling them in water. But nowadays, there are so many more ways to make them interesting.

Often I just make halved Brussels sprouts sautéed cut-side down in a bit of oil and butter, in a pan and probably my favorite method is just to add a little drizzle of maple syrup during the last 10 seconds in the pan. I don’t even need the bacon, or prosciutto, or ham, or other goodies people often add.

My blog already has a bunch of Brussels sprouts recipes, but they’re enough of a favorite of mine I’m happy to add yet one more. This one is SO simple – bacon and walnuts (oh, and salt and pepper). That’s it. You do have to roast this in the oven, so yes, you do dirty-up two pans – one for the bacon and walnuts, and then a big baking sheet (lined with parchment – makes for easy clean-up) for the roasting part of it. This recipe is yet another from that marathon cooking class I went to with Phillis Carey and Diane Phillips. This is Phillis’s recipe. I eat my share of veggies, and I’m not a vegetarian, but I think I could eat an entire plate of this. The only fat in it is the bacon – and you do use the bacon grease (instead of oil) to lubricate the Brussels sprouts before roasting them. Altogether delicious.

What’s GOOD: this recipe isn’t going to send you over the moon – some of my other Brussels sprouts recipe on my blog may be more exciting, but this one was really good. Worth making as a variation. And all things considered, you could limit how much bacon you put in it and it would be fairly healthy. If you did that, you’d likely need a bit of oil to help with the roasting.

What’s NOT: nothing that I can think of.

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Looks rich, right? Yes, it is. There is cream in it, and those fabulous caramelized onions on top. Oh my yes, this one is downright fabulous. Serving it with a simple grilled protein (chicken, pork chop, steak) would make this not such a guilty pleasure. Make it you must, though.

It was over a month ago I went to the cooking class in San Diego where Phillis Carey made this dish. And there were mmmm’s all around the room as we devoured our rather small portions. The caramelized onions on top gave it some crunch, and the butternut squash itself was unctuous. I’m thinking about making this soon, in a much smaller quantity just because it was so delicious.

All the ingredients in this dish are relatively ordinary (squash obviously, onions, cream, fresh thyme, a bay leaf, a tiny bit of grated fresh nutmeg, butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese). So if you’ve got the squash on hand, and if you keep heavy cream and milk or half and half on hand as well, you likely have everything else in your pantry to make this without a trip to the grocery store. Make it super-simple and buy the already cut butternut squash if you can find it. You’ll end up with smaller pieces (because the cubes will need to be sliced) but in the finished dish, I doubt that would make any difference.

The squash, once prepped and sliced is gently simmered in the cream and milk (or half and half) until the squash is tender (about 30 minutes) and nearly all the dairy has been absorbed. Meanwhile you caramelize the onion – that does take awhile. Phillis said 8 minutes, but I doubt I’ve ever caramelized an onion in that short a time. Be careful and don’t burn it! The squash is put into a buttered casserole, the onions go on top then the grated Parm. It can be made the day ahead up to this point and baked a bit longer (instructions are in the recipe below). Altogether wonderful.

What’s GOOD: every morsel is delicious. The texture (the soft squash and the crispy onions and cheese) is wonderful in the mouth. And yes, it is rich, so you won’t want a huge portion.

What’s NOT: if you’re counting fat grams, don’t make this. Enough said.

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Just plain yummy side dish casserole. The Gruyere cheese is what makes it, so don’t skimp by using something else. Use the imported cheese, the real stuff. You can substitute other cheeses, but I think the Gruyere is perfect.

Need a casserole to go with just about any kind of protein? It would be great with steak, pork chops, chicken, even a sturdy, full-flavored fish. Or, you could even eat this as a vegetarian entrée. It’s just SO delicious. As I mentioned above, the Gruyere cheese (it’s a very unique Swiss cheese) is, to me, what makes this dish over the top. It’s not low in calorie, however, since it contains heavy cream and full-fat milk. The potatoes bring enough starch to the dish that it all sticks together beautifully.

The potatoes, sliced just perfectly at 1/4 inch thick (it helps if you have a slicer to do this) are simmered in the cream and milk until they’re nearly done. Meanwhile you make the corn and spinach mixture which gets layered in between 2 layers of the potatoes. See photo below at left with just one layer of potatoes and the layer of spinach and corn.

Another layer of potatoes goes on top, see photo at right, then you add lots of cheese on top, bake for 25 minutes covered with foil, then 10-15 more without the foil and you’re ready to go. You can also make this the day before, bring to room temp and bake in a low oven to reheat. This recipe is a keeper. From the cooking class recently with Diane Phillips.

My cousin Gary just about made this whole thing for me – we took this to a Christmas Eve dinner at my son’s home. Every last bite – and I mean ever bite, was slicked clean. Had many, many compliments on the dish.

What’s GOOD: every morsel – the cheese, the potatoes, the spinach. Everything.
What’s NOT: it does take a bit of time to put it together – make a big batch so you can have left overs.

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These were actually the orange-fleshed type of sweet potato, some call yams (but they’re not, they’re just a different variety of sweet potato). They made a great side for our Thanksgiving dinner. Even though it says maple sauce, it wasn’t all that sweet, so don’t compare it to similar dishes that are loaded with brown sugar and/or marshmallows. NOT!

I can’t take credit for making this – my daughter-in-law, Karen, did, but the recipe is online. She said they were fairly easy to make. The sauce can be made ahead and just reheated before drizzling it on top. In the original recipe the sweet potatoes were left in big chunks, but Karen mashed them (probably because the little kids would eat more of them, and they did).

Note in the picture how there are the little niches/lines across the top – I’ve often seen Karen spoon pureed things into a casserole dish (potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots) and make those crevices – such a more attractive top than the way I might do them – plop them in the dish and smooth the top. She uses a big, flattish kind of spoon and makes thick rows with the crevice between each. So when she drizzled the maple sauce on top, that sauce was quite visible in those crevices. Pretty, huh? I thought so. Clever girl, my daughter-in-law!

If you’re taking this to someone else’s home, just bake and wrap it up tight, reheat the sauce at the last minute and drizzle on the sauce.

What’s GOOD: loved the flavor – not only the maple sauce (which isn’t all that sweet, surprisingly enough) but the pecans added crunch, yet there weren’t enough of them to distract from the potatoes themselves. Altogether delicious and very pretty too, if you do it with the crevices you see in the photo.

What’s NOT: I can’t think of anything. I wouldn’t use canned yams for this, but then, I’m partial to freshly baked things anyway.
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Kale Salad with butternut squash and a warm cider vinaigrette. Delicious!

Has kale salad reached its zenith? Perhaps. And waning? Or not? I really don’t know. We realize, because it’s shouted from the magazine rooftops, that it’s one of those super foods, so very good for us. And there are recipes by the gazillion on the internet for it. So, here’s one more!

There are 4 couples of us – oh, see, there I go – I still think of myself as part of a couple – probably always will – so there are 3 couples and me, the widow, who meet for a gourmet dinner, lunch or brunch every few months. We have plenty of good laughter, conversation about food, travel, sports, etc. You know, the usual, when any group gathers. Except that this group says a prayer before every dinner, which is really nice. And we have wonderful food. So I’m sharing the recipes for a couple of the dishes from that last gathering. It was a brunch. This salad is served cold, not hot. Hence it’s a salad, of course, not a hot side dish. Silly me! Anyway, Dianne made this salad and we all loved it. It’s a slight riff on an Ina Garten recipe. Ina’s called for arugula, and her version is tossed with the dressing just before serving.

This riff on Ina’s salad is made with baby kale (if you can find it – it’s a bit softer and not quite so chewy) and Dianne allowed the dressing to sit on the greens for awhile (so technically it’s no longer a “warm” salad dressing) to help soften up the kale, then she added in the other ingredients and garnished with shaved Parm.

What’s GOOD: loved the color, for sure. The slightly bitter, from the kale, and sweet, from the squash, made a lovely taste in the mouth. A different side dish. Very nice. I liked it.

What’s NOT: nothing really – finding baby kale can sometimes be a challenge (I’d  use arugula if you can’t find the baby kale, but if you really like the regular kale, go for it).

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Previously, I’ve posted a recipe for Mexican Street Corn, but oh gosh, this version is so much better. I really didn’t know how to make it prior to my other attempt at it – just got suggestions from the waitress at a restaurant and glanced at a few recipes online. But this, oh, I’ll be making it several times this summer. Just be sure to have Cotija cheese on hand, cilantro and limes.

Making this dish is actually very simple. You can make up the spice/herb mixture ahead of time (except for adding the cilantro). You can crumble up the Cotija ahead of time and have it chilling in the refrigerator in the pan you’ll use to roll the corn on it. Husk the corn and have that all ready to go too. Fire up the grill and slow-grill the corn. You DO want grill marks (see the photo) but you don’t want to burn it. Don’t put anything on the corn – just grill it, rotating it several times over the course of 15-20 minutes or so. Do watch it carefully.

If you search recipes on the internet for Mexican Street Corn, you’ll find several, but none that do all of the things Phillis Carey did with it in the corn-themed cooking class I went to recently. And Phillis absolutely NAILED it with flavor. Not only the spice mixture (cumin, oregano, garlic) but doing it in the order she did – grill first, lightly film the corn with mayo (so everything after that will stick to it), sprinkle on the spices and cilantro, then roll the corn in Cotija cheese. Serve and pause as you listen for all the “mmmm’s.” Fabulous. Of all the recipes in this particular cooking class, I think this one was the best, by far.

What’s GOOD: all the flavors in combo with the corn. The cheese, the spices, and of course, the delicious sweet corn. This recipe is a winner. Make it, okay?

What’s NOT: not a single thing except that if you’re making this with a dinner and having to do it all, you’ll want to have everything else about your dinner all ready, because you do need to stand over the corn and watch it and turn it, but then, you’ll need to assemble it while it’s still pretty hot.

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Risotto goes really well with grilled meat, and even in the heat of summer. When you make it in the Breville risotto cooker, it’s pretty seamless and easy, and if you barbecue outside, the kitchen stays cool. If you have an outdoor plug somewhere and a way to cook it there, you could even make the risotto on your patio! Then you’d have zero heat in the kitchen!

Recently my friend Cherrie and I combined our efforts and did dinner in their backyard. Our friend Joe was here too, so the 4 of us had a lovely meal on their cool Eucalyptus-shaded back deck. Part of the plan was that I was going to teach Bud how to do boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the barbecue without cooking them to dry leather. Bud has been a master barbecuer for decades, and he was very, very skeptical, but he was willing to try. Cherrie basically doesn’t buy chicken breasts to grill because she was convinced you can’t grill them and have them moist. I showed them how!

I do have to laugh – you’ve read it here before in recent weeks – I really don’t know how to do the actual act of barbecuing. Dave always barbecued. I did tell him HOW to do it, but I’d never done it myself. I did grill a steak a few weeks ago with success, but for the last month my barbecue has been out of commission  until my outdoor kitchen countertop is completed. So I still have some lessons to learn about the heating-up and temperature controlling of the barbecue. The cooking technique, though, I know, because I  used to tell Dave how to do it. So with Bud to control the barbecue temp, I felt pretty sure we could do it.

I defrosted 2 packages of Costco’s plump boneless, skinless chicken breasts and made the same recipe I posted a week or so ago – the Cha Cha Cha Jerk Chicken. I had the spice mix already prepared (I’d made double when I did it before), so I just marinated them in the pineapple juice and orange juice mixture with the spices added. They marinated for 24 hours. I drained the breasts, patted  them dry with paper towels and Bud grilled them for a couple of minutes on each side (to get pretty grill marks) then I had him bring them back into the kitchen. He was a bit perplexed about this part. I said “trust me.” I sliced each breast into wide strips, put them back into the marinade briefly, then put them back on the platter and out to the barbecue they went. I told Bud to just grill them for about 1-2 minutes on the cut sides (where you you certainly see that on the inside the chicken wasn’t done). He wasn’t so sure, but he did as I asked, and sure enough, they were perfect. The only different thing we did was to pour the marinade into a small saucepan and simmer it until it reduced down and we served that on the side. It was pretty hot (spicy heat) so it didn’t take much on each portion. And yes, the chicken was almost dripping in juices. Cherrie couldn’t believe it. A week later they had a big 5th of July party and used boneless, skinless thighs, and Bud was so proud of himself – he used the same technique and the chicken was SO moist. A different recipe/marinade, but grilling for grill marks, back in the marinade, then cut into a couple of long strips and back on the grill for 2-3 minutes, maybe a few more for thighs and they were done. Delicious.

So, now, back to risotto. Cherrie had yet to try to adapt her Breville BRC600XL The Risotto Plus Sauteing Slow Rice Cooker and Steamer to one of her own, existing risotto recipes. There are numerous recipes in the cook-booklet that comes with the cooker, but she wanted to branch out. So I showed her how to do it. The recipe below is made (and written up) in the traditional way, but it was quite simple to adapt it. Everything was cooked in the risotto cooker. I sautéed the shallot in oil and butter, then added the rice to harden it a bit before we moved to the next steps. I added in the mushrooms and let them cook for maybe 2-3 minutes. We used a LOT more mushrooms than the original recipe called for. Then I just poured in 3-4 cups of the broth. I left a little bit out, and did end up adding more at the end, and even a bit of water to get it loose enough to suit both Cherrie and me. Cognac and cream gets added in, plus some Parm and Italian parsley.

The recipe comes from the 1987 risotto bible – Risotto: More than 100 Recipes for the Classic Rice Dish of Northern Italy. I guess it’s still in print – probably because it’s just so classic and filled with great recipes. My poor old, spine-cracked copy has seen a lot of use over the years, and this recipe is one I’ve made many times over the years. Just not recently.

What’s GOOD: I don’t think I’ve ever met a risotto I haven’t liked, unless it’s been overcooked (like they often are in mediocre restaurants who don’t understand how it’s supposed to be). This one is a winner. The cognac adds a lovely undertone, a rich flavor. The mushrooms (ample) provided some veggie with our dinner (although the photo doesn’t show many of them). Altogether wonderful recipe. This makes a beautiful company side dish.
What’s NOT: nothing except the making of it if you use the traditional stir-stir-stir method. That part’s a bit tedious. Enlist help from your family or guests. Children might not like this with the cognac – the alcohol surely cooks out – but it does add a flavor that kids might not like. If so, leave it out, but substitute more broth or water.

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